In April 2020, Captain Sir Tom Moore, aged 99 years old, started walking in his garden to raise money for NHS Charities Together, and by his 100th birthday had raised over £30 million. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle and died early in 2021.
NHS Charities Together earmarked £352k of the money raised and invited NHS Grampian to bid for it. In 2021, We Care, and NHS Grampian Charity worked together to prepare and submit the bid, and it was successful.
The intention of the bid is to support staff with the impact of Covid19, such as increased stress and reduced individual and team resilience. The bid aimed to augment NHS Grampian's current staff wellbeing provision provided through We Care. The successful bid involved the following 6 projects:
• Long Covid Staff Support
A 0.5 whole time equivalent (WTE) Occupational Therapist aims to provide occupational therapy support to staff who are experiencing Long Covid to help them manage fatigue and physical, emotional and cognitive symptoms. This project will support teams in the workplace with the emotional and functional impact of Long Covid; enable staff to remain at work; reduce recovery times and provide ongoing support.
• A bid for Coaching
Coaching is an existing, well-utilised and established support for staff. This project would aim to enhance and supplement the existing support available by further training and developing the coaching programme by allowing it to expand and include wellbeing coaching.
• Trauma Risk Management (TRiM)
A 0.4 WTE Assistant Psychologist will assist with evaluation and research components required for the TRiM work stream. This project aims to support staff who have experienced traumatic incidents and adverse events in the workplace. NHS staff are considered a high-risk group for experiencing trauma in the workplace. Staff feedback and broader research indicated that staff have experienced higher traumatic events and morale injury rates during the pandemic.
• Mindfulness
Staff report increased stress levels, reduced resilience and ability to cope with day-to-day stressors. Evidence demonstrates that Mindfulness helps people to manage and reduce stress, and research shows the value of using Mindfulness in the workplace to help staff manage stress and improve wellbeing. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an eight-week structured group programme led by a trained teacher. MBSR has been extensively researched as a treatment for depression, anxiety and other long-term conditions and as a way to sustain good mental health.The Mindfulness project, which is no longer active ran from April 2022 – July 2023. We would like to thank staff who participated in the project and to those who delivered it, including staff in NHS Grampian and the Highland Mindfulness Group.
• Values Based Reflective Practice
The Values Based Reflective Practice Lead Facilitator submitted a bid for a 1 WTE VBRP® Facilitator for one year. VBRP® is a reflective practice initiative all about the conversation. It helps staff take time to look at what's going on for them and aims to support staff so that they can provide the care they came into the NHS to provide.
• Project Support Officer
A 1 WTE project support officer post to support all CT bid work was filled in August 2022 for two years. Each of the above projects requires support for delivery and evaluation (data collection, statistical analysis, report writing) and to ensure effective implementation and outcomes. Should you require any further information on the CT bid, please get in touch with Lorraine Valenzuela at lorraine.valenzuela@nhs.scot