Stress in the NHS: Research and practical solutions

A report released by the NHS employers - part of the NHS Confederation bringing a fresh approach to managing workforce issues in the NHS - suggests over 60 per cent of NHS organisations believe up to half their staff may be suffering from workplace stress. Further main findings include:

1) 62 per cent of respondents estimated that up to half their employees might be under stress within their organisation.

2) 35 per cent of respondents said their organisations had carried out a stress risk assessment on staff (mainly every one to three years). The rest either hadn’t carried out an assessment, or didn’t know if they had.

3) 29 per cent of respondents said their organisation had a stress policy and a further six per cent said they had plans for such a policy.

4) Counselling was the most popular stress prevention technique used by organisations: 74 per cent of respondents said their organisation offered this to their staff. 43 per cent said their organisation redesigned or restructured jobs to tackle stress; 42 per cent said they offered stress management training and education training programmes and 40 per cent offered health checks.

5) 63 per cent of respondents thought stress was discussed at senior management/board meetings anywhere between every few months to a couple of times a year.

You can access the press release directly here. The report - Workplace Stress in the NHS - can be seen through the following link. By following the link you can also get advice on workplace stress from either an employer and/or staff perspective. More employers should do this sort of thing.