Speaking at the recent NHS Innovation Expo conference, NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens set out how NHS organisations will be supported to help their staff to stay well, including serving healthier food, promoting physical activity, reducing stress, and providing health checks covering mental health and musculoskeletal problems – the two biggest causes of sickness absence across the NHS.
Estimates from Public Health England put the cost to the NHS of staff absence due to poor health at £2.4 billion a year – accounting for around £1 in every £40 of the total budget.
This figure is before the cost of agency staff to fill in gaps, as well as the cost of treatment, is taken into account.
The new £5m initiative has three pillars:
- a major drive for improved NHS staff health, spearheaded by a group of leading NHS hospital, mental health, ambulance, community and clinical commissioning group employers, in partnership with NHS Employers and Public Health England
- a new nationally specified occupational health service for GPs suffering from burnout and stress, in partnership with the Royal College of GPs and BMA General Practitioners Committee
- national action by NHS England working with Public Health England and other agencies to challenge and support catering contractors and PFI providers to raise the standards of food and nutrition.
Stevens said: “NHS staff have some of the most critical but demanding jobs in the country. When it comes to supporting the health of our own workforce, frankly, the NHS needs to put its own house in order.
“At a time when arguably the biggest operational challenge facing hospitals is converting overspends on temporary agency staff into attractive flexible permanent posts, creating healthy and supportive workplaces is no longer a ‘nice to have’, it’s a ‘must-do’.
“And at a time when the pressures on GPs have never been greater, we need to extend the local practitioner health programmes that have been shown to help GPs stay healthy and get back to work when sick.
“Equally, it’s time for PFI contractors and catering firms to ‘smell the coffee’ – ditch junk food from hospitals and serve up affordable and healthy options instead. Staff, patients and visitors alike will all benefit.”
Ten local NHS organisations and NHS England itself, collectively employing around 55,000 staff, have agreed to lead implementation of this new programme.
Each will commit to six key actions that include promoting exercise, health assessment and support.
In particular they will “ensure patients and staff are always offered healthy options in restaurants, cafes and vending machines on site, and actively promote healthier options through targeted promotions”.
To meet this commitment, NHS England plans to meet the major hospital catering vendors and PFI contractors to discuss how to ensure the NHS leads the way in offering healthy food to its staff and patients.