Abstract
How much do we value our workforce? The demand from the workforce is clear but the actions of politicians, less so. Patients are feeling the effects of a workforce crisis in waiting time and outpatient delays. Constant talk of a workforce strategy has failed to produce a viable workforce plan. The impact on staff is clear and was brought into sharp focus by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A new study highlights the moral distress experienced by palliative care staff, and the effect this had on their mental health and wellbeing. 1 The challenge, say Andy Bradshaw and fellow researchers from the UK, is to implement organisational, structural and policy changes. The quotes are some of the most vivid you will read in a qualitative study. “You can’t help but feel that you haven’t done enough,” said one staff member, “even though I know that we have.”
The workforce crisis is also evident in social care, and if anything the crisis is deeper. Lara Shemtob and Kaveh Asanati explain how “the sector lacks unifying guidance around workforce standards, despite facing many of the same occupational hazards and risks”. 2 One solution is to use the much-touted health and social care levy to address the unmet need of social care workforce health and wellbeing, they say, although any optimism is guarded.
It’s simple logic that neglecting the health and wellbeing of staff affects patient care. When there are pressures everywhere, from an urgent need to “green up” surgical practice 3 to using health data to transform outpatient care for people with long-term conditions, 4 the success of these worthy initiatives hangs by the delicate thread of staff wellbeing. Just as systematic reviews are only as persuasive as the research they rely upon, 5 critical care decision making driven by machine learning is only as good as the people interpreting the data, 6 or an effective pandemic strategy depends on understanding what endemicity really is, 7 staff are only as effective as their wellbeing allows.