Dr Steve Boorman

Doctor Steve Boorman’s report into the health and well-being of NHS Staff was published yesterday. Boorman summarised it like this: “Today’s report sets out a vision for change that places the health and well-being of staff at the heart of how the NHS operates.  Delivering the review’s recommendations will help improve patient care, help the service save money, and support NHS staff to lead the way in improving public health.” More specifically, some of its main recommendations are:

• That NHS organisations should have a prevention-focused health and well-being strategy in place for all staff;

• That senior management should be made accountable at each organisation for staff health and well-being - which will be measured as part of the annual assessments of NHS performance; and

• Early interventions for staff with musculo-skeletal and mental health conditions should be introduced, to help minimise the time staff must spend suffering with these problems, and support early return to work.

The NHS and the Department of Health have reacted positively. Those savings Dr Boorman mentions are of particular relevance in an environment increasingly emphasising efficiency: it has been estimated that, if implemented, the report’s recommendations could save up to £555 million per year. The pledge in the NHS Constitution to keep staff healthy - which was of course also an emphasis of High Quality Care for All - is certainly therefore about efficiency, but also, as the Director General of NHS Workforce, Clare Chapman, said today, about staff becoming “ambassadors for health with patients, their families and the communities in which they live.”

The Secretary of State, Andy Burnham, welcomed the report, too: “I am accepting Steve Boorman’s recommendations and committing to help NHS organisations implement them.  We hope that by making these improvements we will provide real benefits for NHS staff and patients.” To this end, the Department of Health today published an action plan for implementation, setting aside £6.5 million for putting in place the national infrastructure that will be needed to support delivery.

“There is a solid connection between staff health and well-being and good standards of patient care,” said the Head of Health at Unison today. Achieving quality care efficiently is, of course, the big idea of this site: Doctor Boorman’s review proposes some very positive steps in that direction.