Healthcare Worker Support

10.1 The Welsh Government recognises the importance of ensuring that healthcare workers can access effective psychological and emotional support during and after a pandemic. Supporting the wellbeing and psychological safety of staff remains a priority for the Welsh Government and existing work in Wales provides a strong foundation that aligns with the intent of this recommendation. 10.2 Wales already has services and guidance in place to support staff. During the Covid‑19 pandemic, Wales introduced a range of support for staff wellbeing, including a bespoke, confidential wellbeing support line for NHS staff, social care workers and volunteers on the frontline. This model showed the importance of making support easy to access, confidential and available quickly when pressure on services increases. 10.3 Wales also developed a workforce risk assessment tool in partnership with employers and trade unions. This helped staff and organisations consider whether a person may be at higher risk of serious illness from Covid‑19. As well as looking at government guidance, research and evidence, the risk assessment tool looked at factors such as age, sex, ethnicity, health conditions and Body Mass Index. A similar approach could be adapted for a future pandemic, based on the latest evidence about the disease involved. 10.4 Since the pandemic, the Welsh Government has continued to strengthen its approach to workforce wellbeing. The Health Education and Improvement Wales, Health and Wellbeing Framework (Best Practice Guide for NHS Wales) sets out what NHS organisations in Wales should do to support staff consistently across Wales. 10.5 The Welsh Government has asked all NHS organisations in Wales to explain how they have reviewed the wellbeing support available to staff. This includes what impact the support has had, examples of good practice, areas where support could be improved, and what further action is being taken. 10.6 The Welsh Government has identified ways to scale up support quickly in a future pandemic. This work will help ensure staff can access support from the start of a public health emergency and continue to receive support during recovery. 10.7 The Welsh Government is committed to learning from the findings of Professor Kevin Fong’s observational visits to Critical Care settings. His findings, provide valuable insight into pressures faced by frontline staff and the kind of support they needed at the time.

The Scottish Government accepts this recommendation in principle. The learnings of the pandemic have informed the development to our current wellbeing offer, and staff wellbeing will be an urgent and early priority in the event of a future pandemic. Feedback from CIREG has also highlighted the importance of ensuring that staff wellbeing is an early and urgent priority in any future pandemic response.

We recognise that wellbeing is essential to delivering safe, high-quality care and supporting our health and social care workforce to deliver better outcomes for patients and communities. Through the Staff Governance Standard, Health Boards are already required to recognise that staff wellbeing should be paramount in the design and operation of services. We know that investing in wellbeing helps retain staff, reduce absence, and build a sustainable workforce.

We have maintained the wellbeing programmes which were introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic. Over £2.5 million is invested annually through boards in national wellbeing programmes that support staff mental health, return to work and retention, and improve patient safety and care, in addition to the work boards do at a local level. Wellbeing services include a 24/7 compassionate listening service via the National Wellbeing Helpline (delivered by NHS 24), self-service resources through the National Wellbeing Hub, and access to psychological interventions and therapies. In addition, registered staff can receive confidential mental health support through the Workforce Specialist Service. In the event of another pandemic, we would look to build on this work, scaling it up rapidly to meet demand.

In a future pandemic, we propose to closely monitor staff wellbeing and morale through regular online surveys, and building on the regular conversations that already take place with board level wellbeing champions, in order to ensure the wellbeing work we do is timely and based on need.

Through the Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce (NMT), we have commenced work which would contribute to this recommendation: how to enable reflective support when nurses and midwives face traumatic situations at work; and ensuring access to reflective practice, peer support, or restorative supervision at a time that is suitable for staff. We will build on and learn from this, expanding it to other areas of the workforce and increasing provision in the case of another pandemic.

In relation to peer visits, the learning during Covid-19 highlighted the importance of manager support and peer connection especially for those working from home and those redeployed. Capacity and infection control measures would need to be taken into account when facilitating ‘peer visits’ and the approach would require flexibility.

We will work with Health Boards to develop a list of appropriately trained peer supporters and reflective practice facilitators, within health and social care, which would enable us to set up peer support groups in short order (in person or online as appropriate) to enable staff a regular opportunity to reflect upon and redress their psychological and emotional experiences.

Four nations engagement has already begun on these areas, and while delivery will take place on a devolved basis given the structures already in place, information and good practice sharing will continue between the four nations.

The government will work in partnership with NHS organisations, healthcare employers and professional bodies to ensure that a clear and scalable programme of psychological support can be rolled out in the event of a future pandemic. Plans will set out clear triggers for scaling psychological support, alongside a defined minimum offer available to all staff.

No statement on delivery from Department of Health and Social Care has been found in the sources searched. This is separate from the response above.