Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of its people as it is recognised that to deliver high quality care the NHS needs people who are healthy, well and at work. Research shows that where Trusts prioritise health and wellbeing and actively engage with their people morale, loyalty, innovation and productivity all increase resulting in a better patient experience with improved patient outcomes and reduced mortality. In addition, many of our people are local residents and improving their health and wellbeing will result in a healthier local population.
Co-Production
From start: Yes
During process: Yes
In evaluation: Yes
Evaluation
Peer: Yes
Academic: No
PP Collaborative: Yes
Find out more
Joanne Smith - Health and Wellbeing Project Manager
Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of its people as it is recognised that to deliver high quality care the NHS needs people who are healthy, well and at work. This commitment is reflected by the Executive and Clinical Lead being the Director of Nursing, the Chief Executive and the Board fully support this important agenda as part of the People Plan. Research shows that where Trusts prioritise health and wellbeing and actively engage with their people morale, loyalty, innovation and productivity all increase resulting in a better patient experience with improved patient outcomes and reduced mortality. In addition, many of our people are local residents and improving their health and wellbeing will result in a healthier local population.
For 2017/19 a national NHS CQUIN has been set for improvement of health and wellbeing of NHS staff – achieving a 5 percentage point improvement in two of the three NHS annual staff survey questions on health and wellbeing, MSK and stress over a period of 2 years.
1. Does your organisation take positive action on health and well-being
2. In the last 12 months have you experienced musculoskeletal problems (MSK) as a result of work activities?
3. During the last 12 months have you felt unwell as a result of work related stress?
Our ongoing Health and Wellbeing Programme guided and informed by our internal steering group has plans in place to support this CQUIN. However, it is clear that the inputs required to continue to improve health and wellbeing cannot be delivered by one project team alone as there are multiple co-dependencies that contribute. Current work is focusing on building on the progress to date, and an assurance reporting system is in place ensuring health and wellbeing is sustainable across all our Networks and Directorates.
Our People Plan (developed in partnership with the Kings Fund) is now in full delivery mode with health and wellbeing a golden thread that runs through the plan and our approach to leadership. Also, our Workplace Wellbeing Charter action plan drives Trust wide work with accreditation planned for 2018.
We continue to conduct an annual Health and Wellbeing Survey, and now have over 300 Health and Wellbeing Champions who receive a monthly Newsletter and health promotion resources including Change4life, One You and NHS Choices. These Champions distribute, display and discuss health and wellbeing information along with coproducing and hosting work base activities and events.
Our Trust induction features health and wellbeing and we have adopted values based recruitment. In addition and as a reliable, evidenced based source of information and support for our people we have a Share Point site (Intranet), the section entitled Staff Zone reflects the Five Ways to Wellbeing and the importance of physical health and mental wellbeing.
At Lancashire Care we understand the need to support the psychological wellbeing of our people, for both clinical and non-clinical roles stress in the workplace impacts on the delivery of safe and high quality services, people’s resilience and their experience at work.
We continue to offer ‘Schwartz rounds’ the purpose of which is not to solve problems, but to explore the human and emotional aspects of the experience of delivering care and the challenges that people face from day to day. The use of a large group of people brought together around a facilitated topic encourages reflective practice that promotes wellbeing, resilience and empathy.
Wider Active Support
We continue to attend and contribute to the NHS Employers Health and Wellbeing network, online resources, national and local updates, face to face networking, the space to share best practice and new ideas have all supported progress at Lancashire Care.
In partnership with Lancashire MIND planning is taking place for a Lancashire Workplace Health Conference for February 2018 which will focus on mental wellbeing. LCFT will host a number of workshops highlighting our approach to leadership and culture change, ultimately to share best practice and support a wide range of local organisations
Co-Production
Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust recognises that the health and wellbeing of its people is vital to drive the delivery of high quality care. We are a Mindful Employer and aim to ensure that wellbeing is integral to the employment experience, part of our vision states ‘People at the heart of everything we do’.
Our whole Trust approach is based on coproduction, it is essential that we work together collaboratively in order that ‘Health and Wellbeing’ lives in every part of the organisation. In order to bring about culture change our overarching ethos is that together we adopt a ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ approach by upholding and communicating the principles of workplace health and wellbeing, whilst challenging others when they do not.
A specific quality priority has been identified around supporting people with stress and workplace trauma and a number of Quality Improvement (QI) projects are now in place using QI methodology and the LIFE QI system. One such project being driven by Health and Wellbeing is entitled ‘How to support mental wellbeing and work related stress’. A cohort of Managers and Team Leaders from across our Networks and Support Services has been identified to develop and test out a preventative, responsive approach with support resource and training.
Also, Resilience Roadshows are taking place at a range of Trust venues throughout October 2017; these are planned and supported by Champions providing beneficial engagement through true coproduction. Work colleagues come together around the principles of the Five Ways to Wellbeing, Time to Talk and can also receive their flu jab!
Looking Back/Challenges Faced
We pride ourselves on exploring opportunities to collaborate and link up, connect and work together to bring about change. Lancashire Care delivers a wide range of services from a number of bases across a large geographical area, it is vital that we understand our services. More recently an organisational reset took place which presented challenge, with many leaders changing roles. Delivery safe, quality services whilst making cost improvement savings can cause stress, hence our ongoing work to support alleviating this.
Large scale change theory continues to inform our approach, allowing us to frame and reframe, attract in the willing and maintain momentum is achieved through motivation and engagement. Constant visibility and profiling of Health and Wellbeing is essential, articulating that this agenda is a shared one for the benefit of the Trust and its people.
Sustainability
Our aim remains to have a whole Trust approach, one that runs through every layer of the organisation and is ‘how we do things’. This can only be achieved by embracing our collective and appreciative approach to leadership; in addition our Trust Values provide a backbone that should keep us strong.
This said, as with many quality improvement and culture change programmes the need to maintain momentum is recognised. Thus, continually identifying individuals with the passion and understanding of the benefits to both the organisation and its workforce will ensure that we have the right people in the right place, people that can continue to drive and initiate positive change.
Evaluation (Peer or Academic)
Currently our activity has not been formally evaluated; however this remains a future consideration. We ensure that we are guided by evidence, and continually evaluate and seek feedback on all aspects of our Health and Wellbeing activity. Nationally the NHS Staff Survey shows us our engagement levels and evidence does suggest that this is liked to health and wellbeing. Internally our annual Health and Wellbeing Survey tracks our year on year progress and supports us to identify areas for improvement. Also, a submission has been made to the Health Service Journal awards under ‘engagement’.
Sharing
Internally communicating and sharing regarding Health and Wellbeing progress and activity is done via the following ways:
• The Steering Group
• Assurance reporting to the People Sub Committee
• The Pulse – online weekly news
• Engage events
• Network meetings
• Health and Wellbeing Champions
External sharing is ongoing with our partners, as already commented on. As a Trust we fully embrace the sharing of best practice and the importance of building good working relationships in order that learning is continual.
Outcomes
Our success has been all about our people, their pictures, their stories, their activities and their enthusiasm. Collectively there has been an overwhelming internal success, whether captured or not these actions have started to generate large scale culture change. Embracing a ‘community of purpose’ approach i.e. working together to support each other and quality service delivery. Focusing on the positive, we are working together appreciatively and collaboratively influencing our overall leadership, and will ultimately bring the biggest rewards.
Is there any other information you would like to add?
We are confident that we have achieved a stepped change, engaging widely with our people we are seeing, feeling and hearing the positives from investing in health and wellbeing. However, we understand that we need to remain ‘real’ as working in the NHS continues to bring its challenges both nationally and locally.
• Comment for our Chief Executive
At Lancashire Care we whole-heartedly recognise how important the health and wellbeing of our people is. We know that how we treat our workforce makes a huge difference to how they feel, and in turn how they are able to support patients and service users. Living our values, putting people at the heart of everything we do; our People Plan really captures and drives this whole approach. Thus we continue to place a strong focus on health and wellbeing for all the positive impact it can bring.
