Health and wellbeing
Staff sickness absence
| 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total days lost | 27,736 | 50,882 | 35,672 |
| Total staff | 2,206 | 2,428 | 2,285 |
| Average working days lost (per WTE) | 13 | 21 | 17 |
Referrals to Staff Wellbeing Service
| Total number of referrals | Self-referral | Manager referral | Contacts to Hub | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 602 | 401 | 201 | 571 |
| 2021/22 | 401 | 232 | 169 | 710 |
During 2022-23 the service has seen the post pandemic impact on healthcare staff, in relation to both their emotional and physical wellbeing. This has led to increased activity for the Staff Wellbeing Service (SWS) specifically and across Lincolnshire Staff Wellbeing Hub.
The service is seeing presentations of stress, anxiety, depression alongside burn out, fatigue and work-related stress.
Alongside a comprehensive therapy team delivering NICE guidance interventions, the service offers a range of therapeutic workshops and drop-in sessions. These range from burn out, moral injury, sleep, assertiveness, and a drop-in session for anyone experiencing symptoms of perimenopause and menopause.
The workshops continue to be well attended by staff across LPFT and our system partners.
We also deliver a session at Trust Induction around boosting wellbeing and keeping yourself well at work, using the circle of wellbeing, which was developed specifically to support our staff. This has been very well received with many new starters commenting that it demonstrates the Trust’s commitment to supporting staff wellbeing and clearly aligns with our values of compassion, integrity and valuing everybody.
As part of our workshops the team also deliver specific team sessions to support team wellbeing and functioning.
The system-wide Staff Wellbeing Hub has continued to develop and is now fully integrated into the Trust’s Staff Wellbeing Service. It has become the central point for referrals, queries and support for staff both inside LPFT and within the wider health and care system.
The service initially received funding from NHS England to support the development and function of the mental health and resilience hub - known locally just as Lincolnshire Staff Wellbeing Hub. This funding has now been committed for a further year by NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board to allow the service provision to continue into 2023-24.
The Hub now operates a telephone and email helpline during Monday to Friday 9-5, as demand for an out of traditional working hours service is no longer present. However, this is reviewed regularly and may be subject to change depending on need.
The helpline continues to offer immediate initial assessment, time to talk and brief interventions around supporting wellbeing, guided self-help, or referral into more appropriate services for their need, including assessment in the staff wellbeing core service, LPFT crisis team referral, assessment by psychiatrist and assessment followed by treatment by Lincolnshire NHS Talking Therapy service for non-LPFT staff.
Everyone contacting the service for wellbeing support is offered an assessment of need. The mean wait for assessment is two days, but some people do wait longer where their availability has impacted and/or their health presentation.
| Days between contact and assessment | % of all referrals received |
|---|---|
| 0-7 | 52.3% |
| 8-14 | 22.9% |
| 15-21 | 9.5% |
| 22-28 | 3.8% |
| 29+ | 3.8% |
Employment pathway
The employment support pathway has been in operation since July 2020 and to date supported 370 staff who were absent from work, or significantly struggling to maintain work.
The pathway aims to support staff who are at risk of becoming absent form work, or who are absent from work with a fast-track assessment of need within five working days of referral. This assessment is carried out by an occupational therapist who has specialist skills in providing practical support to facilitate and maintain health, wellbeing and recovery and support our staff to overcome barriers which may be preventing them maintaining work.
Between April 2022 and March 2023 we supported 145 staff and their managers, where appropriate, with advice, workplace adjustments and specific occupation based therapy to support the person to maintain work or return to work.
The mean time between referral and initial contact/advice was two days, with a full assessment where appropriate, taking place on average within seven days of referral.
Some feedback received from staff who have been supported on the pathway includes:
“Since approaching staff wellbeing for support, I have been listened to and supported throughout.
I first worked with XXX, who helped me to find ways to cope with my mood. I especially appreciated the additional support when I was off work and to help return to work (via phased return, plan)- I felt that XXX had my best interests at heart. So very very grateful! Could not recommend the service and the team highly enough.”
“I just want to say that XXX was fantastic throughout our sessions and found her to be very validating. XXX was very supportive in getting me back to work and listening to my point of view.”
“Hi XXX, I’m really really very well thank you, I have actually been into work this morning, spoken to staff & patients and spoken to YYY about starting back to work in January, my sick note runs out on XXX and going in at end of next week, hoping to be able to start back on phase return soon after, I was in a very dark place & now finally see daylight & like it so all positive here…. Thank you so much"
Psychological debrief and support
In addition to assessment, therapy and workshops for staff, the service also offers support to teams who have experienced a critical incident, including loss of a service user or colleague. This offers additional external support alongside that offered by their manager and colleagues to hold a reflective space for all affected.
Musculoskeletal care
Fast track access to physiotherapy for musculoskeletal issues is provided as part of the wider package of benefits offered to staff from the Staff Wellbeing Service.
Referral rates for this service have increased over this period, with staff identifying home working and increased time on technology as being a factor impacting on their musculoskeletal health.
Musculoskeletal referral rates
| 2019-20* | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
|---|---|---|
| 128 | 155 | 168 |
* No hands-on therapy was provided in 2020 due to social distancing requirements of pandemic
Staff can self-refer for physiotherapy for a musculoskeletal problem and be offered assessment and treatment from our in-house physiotherapist, or referral to one of our external providers, depending on their location.
In-house assessment can include a full DSE and seating assessment with recommendations for specialist equipment and seating, onward referral to GP for further investigations, as appropriate
The cost for the service provided by external physiotherapy companies will be around £18,500 this year. Exact figures will depend on whether all people take up their full allocation of six available sessions.
Eye vouchers and cycle to work scheme
As part of our health and wellbeing offer, the Staff Wellbeing Service also manages requests for eye care vouchers and cycle to work applications.
These continue to be a popular staff benefit. Data for last year is given as a comparison.
| 2021-22 | 2022-23 | Cost to organisation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cycle to work applications | 19 | 18 | 0 |
| Eye care vouchers | 326 | 463 | £7,871 |
Lincolnshire system working and partnerships
The Trust has continued to be very active in supporting the health and wellbeing agenda across the Lincolnshire health and care system, including:
- Development of workshops to support system staff with burn out, moral injury and boosting wellbeing.
- Support with wellbeing for individual teams across the system.
- Access to specifically designed applications to support general wellbeing.
- Producing and updating a central hub of wellbeing resources that all system partners can access.
- Active engagement with Health and Wellbeing Programme Board.
