In a recent report co-authored by Jeanette Phillips, CEO of Flexicare UK and The WoWW! Business co-founders Kevin M Thomson and Chris Masters, it is argued that the NHS nursing strikes that will take place before the New Year go far beyond a simple pay dispute.
In fact, the report says that the strikes are indicative of ‘un-wellbeing’ that is rife throughout the health service, and indeed in the whole care sector.
‘Strike For Pay?’ argues that while low wages do not help the ‘financial health’ of nursing staff, poor personal wellbeing and what Kevin M Thomson refers to as ‘organisational wellbeing’ are also part of the equation. An equation where ‘financial wellbeing’ is comprised of much more than money worries (financial health).
Kevin told The Leaders Council: “If you are in the NHS, then you will know the strike is not about pay. We heard this clearly at the Leaders Council’s care sector policy roundtable meeting.”
The following quotes from the ‘Strike For Pay?’ report sum up much of the sentiments from those within the industry:
“In all my roles in healthcare, I have found the culture is extremely judgemental towards staff sickness, in particular, mental health. Given the emotional and stress burden of the job, this has always shocked me.”
“I’ve spent a lot of money on professional help for this and had many periods of sick leave where I’ve felt pressured and even guilty about being absent. There is a culture of over-professionalism and hierarchy in the NHS which makes personal conversations difficult, no matter how often they're encouraged. This is all ties into what we call ‘organisational wellbeing’ or ‘wellbeing at work’.
“While wellbeing is superficially something that is supported in the NHS, in reality, the feedback we’ve had from healthcare staff paints a picture of a culture that is all about how much they can get out of you for the cheapest price. Everyone is left in the same situation: low morale, poor staffing levels, poor pay, unsafe working conditions, and lots of people wanting to leave meaning churn is high and recruitment is a challenge.”
Kevin said that understaffing and mental ill-health among staff were two of the main reasons why nurses were backing strike action along with low pay, and that this had been corroborated by those in support of the strikes.
The report quotes some of the feedback from YouGov’s ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing Connect survey’. This was commissioned by The WoWW! Business – and sponsored by Jeanette Phillips’ Centre for Practical Innovation in Care [CPIC]. ‘Strike For Pay?’ looked into staff wellbeing in the NHS and the care sector with the YouGov Health & Care Professionals [HCP] panel.
The survey’s responses painted a bleak picture of staff financial wellbeing, with some reporting that they were concerned for their financial security and the future of themselves and their family. Some responded to say they were struggling with debt, others finding it difficult to make ends meet and several respondents suggested that they were unable to receive a pay rise from their NHS Trusts due to their job description, even though they were taking on responsibilities beyond what was stipulated in their contracts. Any requests for their job description to be changed to enable a pay rise were rebuffed.
A lack of organisational and financial wellbeing, Kevin highlighted, creates a vicious circle that renders one’s personal wellbeing even worse off.
Kevin said: “We hear so many responses like ‘I don’t want to burden others’ or ‘I don’t want to be dramatic’, yet some of these people have contemplated suicide because life working in the NHS has become so intolerable.
“Working life for these health workers is affecting every other aspect of their life. They are depressed, yet don’t want to discuss it openly. With most NHS staff struggling, it’s difficult to find support and positivity from colleagues.
“All of this has resulted in a first for the NHS: a strike across the UK that this report says is not just for pay but understaffing and critically over poor mental health and wellbeing.”
The situation, the report argues, has put two NHS core values (and brand names) of ‘care’ and ‘trust’ at risk.
Kevin said: “The key messages from ‘Strike For Pay?’ can be summed up as ‘don’t care’ and very definitely ‘don’t trust’.
“Health staff feel that there’s no point discussing their wellbeing when nobody in the NHS seems like they care. For them it is all a pretence to tick boxes.
“There’s also a lack of trust in that staff don’t trust other people to not pass information around their wellbeing and mental state around. They fear that if their real state of mind becomes known, they’ll be judged and treated differently as a result.”
If this toxic triumvirate of ‘un-wellbeing’ – comprised of ‘workplace, personal and financial un-wellbeing’ - is not addressed by NHS leaders and by government, Kevin believes that the strikes will continue and lead to adverse effects on patient outcomes and the UK economy.
“We believe it is vital to make NHS leaders, care leaders and government aware of these findings so that they can truly understand the impact on staff mental health and wellbeing that the current situation is having.
“Personal wellbeing, financial wellbeing and organisation wellbeing are the three core drivers of positive mental health and an overall sense of general wellbeing. We need to start realising this, taking it more seriously and take tangible action.
“What we are able to point to with the Five Ways To Wellbeing as a globally evidenced framework of wellbeing is that organisational wellbeing is not something to be done in isolation of the issues below what we call the ‘Wellbeing Iceberg of Personal and Financial Wellbeing’
“It is as important to understand that financial health such money related issues is not the same as ‘Financial Wellbeing’, which includes the 'Number One Way to Wellbeing': how well you connect through work, at home and during play with others on the issues that impact most on your life.”
Image by Roger Blackwell from Norwich, UK - 4 of the earliest Junior Doctors outside Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NNUH A3, on Wikimedia Commons
