An independent UK healthcare body dedicated to improving patient experience and supporting frontline staff in the sector says National Health Service (NHS) personnel have become the “shock absorbers” of an overburdened system.
It goes on to say positive staff experience is essential for employees to be at their best with patients.
In a report published on Thursday entitled ‘Behind Closed Doors’,the not-for-profit Point of Care Foundation urged organisations to prioritise staff experience and bolster efforts to prevent stress and burnout.
“While it is positive that most NHS trusts now have strategies to engage their staff, there is patchy evidence of their effectiveness,” said chief executive of The Point of Care Foundation, Jocelyn Cornwell. “In the face of increasing pressures, it is vital that organisations take visible action which demonstrates their commitment to listening to staff,”
The release cites concerning facts and figures including the fact that 2% of NHS health and social care staff suffer work-related anxiety and depression compared to 1.2% of the overall British workforce.
The foundation recommends support for bottom-up drives that support staff and multi-tier actions to support best practice with patients.
It says that frontline staff need to put their own wellbeing first and use their own knowledge and that of patients to take positive action on care. The foundation also suggests organisations provide staff with improved access to psychosocial support.
“It is very clear that greater attention to how people feel, what they do and how they stay primarily focused on "point of care" activity delivers better outcomes and is what our patients and public want,” said Chair of NHS Improvement, Ed Smith about the report.
“In an
environment in which staff themselves don’t feel cared about, it is hard to
deliver personalised care,” the foundation said.
Source: Point of Care Foundation, NHSImprovement
Image Credit: Pixabay
