Mental health service available to support Coventry and Warwickshire social care and health staff on Social Care Day of Remembrance and Reflection
Social care and NHS staff across Coventry and Warwickshire are being reminded that the recently launched service is here to support with their emotional wellbeing on the Social Care Day of remembrance and reflection which takes place on Thursday 17th March.
The With Staff in Mind HUB is raising awareness of the new service which has been developed for Coventry and Warwickshire Health and Social Care, an alliance that brings together all organisations that look after public health and social care across Coventry and Warwickshire, such as care homes, in-home care providers, social services, GPs, Pharmacists, Dental Practitioners etc. as well as other social care and NHS staff.
The HUB, called ‘With Staff in Mind’ (WSIM), has been set up to provide an additional level of support to social care and NHS staff in response to the pressures from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impact this has had on staff emotional health and wellbeing.
Whilst everybody felt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the social care sector and NHS faced levels of demand on services which they had never seen or experienced before. This was coupled with staff shortages for both sectors.
A report by Workforce Intelligence estimated that 7.3% of the roles in adult social care were vacant in 2019/20, equal to approximately 112,000 vacancies at any one time. The report found that registered nurses in adult social care had a much higher turnover rate (41.3%) than their counterparts in the NHS (9.4%). The report estimated the most influential factors which result in workers leaving their jobs, which included workers with high sickness rates being more likely to leave, and suggested that the daily stress of care work can contribute to absence through sickness. The percentage of days lost to sickness in the social care sector was around 7.5% between March and August 2020, compared to 2.7% pre-COVID-19. This includes those self-isolating and shielding, as well as those who were unwell (including COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 related illness).
The challenges faced by the social care sector over the past two years have been well documented in the media. It has been a particularly distressing time for care home workers who continued to provide care for patients throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, while managing outbreaks and staff isolation periods in addition to understaffing.
Frontline NHS staff working in acute trusts and primary care also faced similar pressures, and the ‘With Staff in Mind’ HUB is available to all health and social care staff.
Jo Kucharska, Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Lead for Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub at CWPT, said: “The ‘With Staff in Mind’ HUB has been developed to support our social care and NHS staff who will undoubtedly be feeling the ongoing emotional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I would encourage anybody who works in the social care sector or NHS within Coventry and Warwickshire who is struggling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, or with their emotional wellbeing in general, to get in touch with the service.
“The service is free to access, confidential, and you will be supported with advice and information which will enable you to access the right service to support your individual needs. The service also offers advice and support to managers/leaders, as well as offering group sessions and workshops to teams who are collectively struggling with the emotional impact of their work at this time.”
The ‘With Staff in Mind’ HUB can provide support for several issues that staff may be experiencing. These include (but are not limited to):
- Stress and promoting resilience
- Anxiety and low mood
- Bereavement and grief
- Trauma (e.g., stemming from COVID-19)
- Burnout
- Impact of COVID
Staff can self-refer into the service, or alternatively with consent, a manager can refer on their behalf. For team-based sessions, a manager can refer their team to the service.
Healthcare staff and managers can contact the service at:
Freephone: 0808 196 3921
Email: wsim@covwarkpt.nhs.uk
Website: https://www.withstaffinmind.co.uk/