Staff support in a National Health Service mental health trust in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: qualitative study

Abstract

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the impact work can have on healthcare workers and the importance of staff support services. Rapid guidance was published to encourage preventive and responsive support for healthcare workers. Aims To understand mental healthcare staff's help-seeking behaviours and access to support at work in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to inform iterative improvements to provision of staff support. Method We conducted a formative appraisal of access to support and support needs of staff in a National Health Service mental health trust. This involved 11 semi-structured individual interviews using a topic guide. Five virtual staff forums were additional sources of data. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to identify key themes. Results Peer-based, within-team support was highly valued and sought after. However, access to support was negatively affected by work pressures, physical distancing and perceived cultural barriers. Conclusions Healthcare organisations need to help colleagues to support each other by facilitating open, diverse workplace cultures and providing easily accessible, safe and reflective spaces. Future research should evaluate support in the evolving work contexts imposed by COVID-19 to inform interventions that account for differences across healthcare workforces.

Ethnic inequalities among NHS staff in England - workplace experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Our study also found alarmingly high exposure to negative workplace experiences related to harassment and discrimination among ethnically minoritised NHS staff during the pandemic. These findings are consistent with the most recent NHS staff survey 1 and UK-REACH 34 in addition to being supported by multiple qualitative studies that have explored similar workplace experiences among ethnically and racially minoritised groups [35][36][37] . The short-term and long-term impacts of such experiences are likely to take a toll on the mental and physical health of employees [38][39][40] , as well as their dependents and social networks, with implications for career progression, intention to remain at the NHS, and salary 2 .…”

Ethnic inequalities among NHS staff in England: workplace experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…These findings are consistent with the most recent NHS staff survey 1 and UK-REACH 31 in addition to being supported by multiple qualitative studies that have explored similar workplace experiences among ethnically and racially minoritised groups. [32][33][34] The short-term and long-term impacts of such experiences are likely to take toll on the mental and physical health of employees, 35 as well as their dependents and social networks, with implications for career progression, intention to remain at the NHS and salary. 2…”

Call to Action: The Need for a Standardized Emotional Debriefing Model for Clinical Settings

“…When a system is in chronic stress, it creates a barrier for clinicians to access support, even when that support is available (Smith et al, 2022). In formulating a standardized emotional debriefing model, there are several factors to consider.…”