Government Accepts Boorman Report to Improve Wellbeing of NHS Staff
British Health Secretary Andy Burnham recently announced that the Government has accepted all recommendations made in an independent report on the health and welfare of the NHS staff.
Dr Steve Boorman fronted the report that was commissioned by the Department of Health. It is expected that nearly 3.4 million working days and 555million pounds in a year will be saved when the recommendations of the report are implemented.
The final report has made 20 proposals, including the introduction of a health and well-being strategy for NHS workers that focuses on prevention. It also proposes that the senior management at each organisation should be made accountable for the employee’s health and welfare. It recommends that a yearly assessment be undertaken to ensure that staff are well cared for.
The report also calls for an early intervention for workers with musculo-skeletal and mental health problems so that their suffering is lessened and they can return to work at the earliest.
Burnham said the purpose of the NHS is to enhance the quality of people’s lives and that this cannot be achieved if NHS works are themselves unhealthy. He added that he was accepting Boorman’s recommendations and was committed to seeing that they are brought into effect by NHS organisations. He hopes that the initiative will actually prove advantageous to the NHS staff and that the patients will be benefited.
Burnham added that the Government wants NHS to be a model for all other organisations in valuing its workers just like its patients. He also pointed out the implementation of the recommendations could save about 555million pounds every year, which could be invested to improve services for patients.
The health department has released a proposed action plan for the execution of the recommendations and has allocated 6.5million pounds for the same.
All organisations need to make appropriate efforts to protect the well-being of staff, click CIPD, for courses by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, which impart training to managers to successfully manage appropriate policies and procedures and improve upon management skills to help tackle stress in the workplace.
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