Careers
If you would like to write for our careers section email the editor at [email protected] or @NScareersEd
A culture of ‘presenteeism’ and an inability to take time off mean many nurses continue to work when they feel unwell. Cathy Comerford reports
TOO BUSY TO BE SICK?
RESOURCES RCP report on staff wellbeing tinyurl.com/RCPwellbeing British Heart Foundation Health at Work: tinyurl.com/BHFHaW
NURSING STANDARD
Boorman’s 2009 review, which found that the NHS could save £555 million each year in sickness absence if employers looked after staff health. ‘Nurses are expected to cope, so even though they are unwell, they may be asked to continue working,’ she says. ‘We feel that if nurses could access support services, recovery times could be shorter.’
Taking it seriously
Large multi-site trusts make it hard for staff to attend occupational health appointments, according to Jill Maben, director of the National Nursing Research Unit at King’s College London. ‘If we really wanted to take staff health care seriously, it should be offered where staff are,’ she says. NHS Employers assistant director of employment services Ruth Warden says the onus is on line managers to talk to nurses about their health and wellbeing. ‘We sometimes don’t find out staff are sick,’ she says. ‘If we don’t know that someone is struggling, it cannot be addressed’ NS Cathy Comerford is a freelance journalist
Scheme makes staff wellbeing a priority Nurses at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust are to have access to the same public health services as patients under a new scheme. The trust is one of the first to have a joint public health strategy for patients, staff and local residents, backed by a £150,000 investment. ‘We have had a staff wellbeing programme for the past four years,’ says the trust’s head of occupational health and wellbeing Tamsin Radford. ‘We have looked at ways of integrating patient services with what we are doing for staff. We achieved the Safe Effective Quality Occupational Health Service accreditation, in part because of these initiatives and because of our day-to-day work dealing with sickness absence,’ she says. The health initiatives at the trust include: Increased access to staff counselling facilities. Mental health training pack for managers. Free nicotine replacement therapy pilot. Removal of ‘junk’ food from vending machines, healthier food available in canteens Occupational health referral for free gym activities. ISTOCK
Almost half of health workers have postponed visiting a doctor because they are unable to take time off, a survey has found. Nurses were among the 81% of health workers who go to work feeling too unwell to do their job. Nearly half of the 1,300 people polled by the British Heart Foundation said workload has prevented them from keeping hospital and doctor appointments. RCN senior employment relations adviser Kim Sunley says employers using more punitive management approaches to sickness absence has resulted in ‘presenteeism’ among health workers – meaning they are coming to work when they are unwell. Staff shortages also meant nurses were reluctant to take time off. Ms Sunley says: ‘If nurses do not seek treatment, they end up with burnout, long-term absence and being very unwell.’ Nurses’ insight into their own health could also put them off seeing a doctor, according to Lucy Kenyon at the Association of Occupational Health Nurse Practitioners. ‘Nurses may decide to prioritise work over a doctor appointment,’ she says. RCN counselling coordinator Tanya Koch says a culture change is needed so that employers encourage nurses to practise self-care – an echo of Steve
may 6 :: vol 29 no 36 :: 2015 71
Nursing Standard 2015.29:71-71. Downloaded from journals.rcni.com by UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY on 11/15/15. For personal use only.
If you would like to write for our careers section email the editor at [email protected] or @NScareersEd
A culture of ‘presenteeism’ and an inability to take time off mean many nurses continue to work when they feel unwell. Cathy Comerford reports
TOO BUSY TO BE SICK?
RESOURCES RCP report on staff wellbeing tinyurl.com/RCPwellbeing British Heart Foundation Health at Work: tinyurl.com/BHFHaW
NURSING STANDARD
Boorman’s 2009 review, which found that the NHS could save £555 million each year in sickness absence if employers looked after staff health. ‘Nurses are expected to cope, so even though they are unwell, they may be asked to continue working,’ she says. ‘We feel that if nurses could access support services, recovery times could be shorter.’
Taking it seriously
Large multi-site trusts make it hard for staff to attend occupational health appointments, according to Jill Maben, director of the National Nursing Research Unit at King’s College London. ‘If we really wanted to take staff health care seriously, it should be offered where staff are,’ she says. NHS Employers assistant director of employment services Ruth Warden says the onus is on line managers to talk to nurses about their health and wellbeing. ‘We sometimes don’t find out staff are sick,’ she says. ‘If we don’t know that someone is struggling, it cannot be addressed’ NS Cathy Comerford is a freelance journalist
Scheme makes staff wellbeing a priority Nurses at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust are to have access to the same public health services as patients under a new scheme. The trust is one of the first to have a joint public health strategy for patients, staff and local residents, backed by a £150,000 investment. ‘We have had a staff wellbeing programme for the past four years,’ says the trust’s head of occupational health and wellbeing Tamsin Radford. ‘We have looked at ways of integrating patient services with what we are doing for staff. We achieved the Safe Effective Quality Occupational Health Service accreditation, in part because of these initiatives and because of our day-to-day work dealing with sickness absence,’ she says. The health initiatives at the trust include: Increased access to staff counselling facilities. Mental health training pack for managers. Free nicotine replacement therapy pilot. Removal of ‘junk’ food from vending machines, healthier food available in canteens Occupational health referral for free gym activities. ISTOCK
Almost half of health workers have postponed visiting a doctor because they are unable to take time off, a survey has found. Nurses were among the 81% of health workers who go to work feeling too unwell to do their job. Nearly half of the 1,300 people polled by the British Heart Foundation said workload has prevented them from keeping hospital and doctor appointments. RCN senior employment relations adviser Kim Sunley says employers using more punitive management approaches to sickness absence has resulted in ‘presenteeism’ among health workers – meaning they are coming to work when they are unwell. Staff shortages also meant nurses were reluctant to take time off. Ms Sunley says: ‘If nurses do not seek treatment, they end up with burnout, long-term absence and being very unwell.’ Nurses’ insight into their own health could also put them off seeing a doctor, according to Lucy Kenyon at the Association of Occupational Health Nurse Practitioners. ‘Nurses may decide to prioritise work over a doctor appointment,’ she says. RCN counselling coordinator Tanya Koch says a culture change is needed so that employers encourage nurses to practise self-care – an echo of Steve
may 6 :: vol 29 no 36 :: 2015 71
Nursing Standard 2015.29:71-71. Downloaded from journals.rcni.com by UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY on 11/15/15. For personal use only.
