When Dr Steven Boorman released his interim report into NHS health and wellbeing, I am sure he wasn’t prepared for the media scrum that went with it. ‘Fat, Unfit NHS Staff Top the Sick League,’ screamed the front page headline in the Times, with the Mail and Express jumping on the bandwagon.
The report was seized on as an opportunity to denigrate our health workers, just when the NHS was riding high in the public’s esteem, as a result of the debate on public healthcare in the US.
The over-riding point that comes out of this interim report is very clear – a healthy workforce provides good patient outcomes. It recognises that to achieve that aim it is essential to do away with the patchy occupational health system that exists at the moment, and provide comprehensive schemes across the UK. That means managers taking a responsible approach to the health and wellbeing of their staff – one of the pledges in the NHS constitution.
The review does refer to obesity in a general sense, but there is absolutely no mention of specific obesity levels and there is certainly no reference to nurses particularly as an obese group. In fact ,the sole reference to nurses (and midwives) as an occupational group is related to presenteeism, where the report highlights that their personal commitment means they attend work more often, even when feeling unwell.
Of course staff must play their part to achieve the goal of a healthy lifestyle. Like the rest of the population, NHS staff are not immune from the stresses and strains of modern living, or to the time pressures against achieving healthy living – in fact shift working can be positively unhealthy.
Night staff should not have to queue up at a vending machine or resort to fast food outlets such as Burger King or MacDonalds or KFC – they are no substitute for decent canteens, with a healthy choice of food.
That’s why, armed with the interim report, trusts should be looking at where they can start making a difference now.
And a good starting point might be to tackle the serious levels of violence inflicted on NHS staff each year. Last year almost 56,000 NHS workers were attacked in England alone. This leads to staff needing time off to recover, not just from their physical injuries, but from the psychological trauma.
UNISON’s own surveys have found consistently high levels of stress among NHS staff who cite various reasons. These include staff shortages, inadequate training, unsocial hours, targets and restructuring, as well as the daily threat of violence. Managers take note.
Any actions to promote a healthy lifestyle need to be available across the whole health team – from managers to clinicians, from psychiatrists, to cleaners and admin staff.
Over the years, NHS staff have proved that they always rise to emergencies and this current swine flu pandemic is no exception. We need a healthy workforce, ready to tackle the difficulties ahead and that means staff should have their flu jabs.