Health and wellbeing Café

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Midlands, Acute

The problem

The finance and procurement directorate needed to ensure that all members of the team had the opportunity to develop and maintain good mental / physical health and well-being. Supporting the well-being of staff should be the commitment of any responsible employer to avoid staff experiencing long term health conditions, to prevent individuals from disengaging with our aims and objectives and, potentially, even leaving the organisation.

The challenge

How might we promote and prioritise the mental and physical well-being of all members on the finance and procurement directorate team in a sustainable and inclusive manner? This challenge seeks to explore innovative and effective ways to support the holistic health and wellness of team members to prevent long-term illnesses, maintain staff engagement and reduce attrition rates within the organisation.

The outputs?

The monthly café will continue, all members of the directorate are invited and are able to contribute at a level they are comfortable with. Attendance has been high, and we have had strong engagement with the wider team. As well as the café, the addition of the newsletter means that the content of the café is shared with the whole directorate to ensure staff have access to links and information they may find useful.

The outcomes?

Mental health and well-being is now a standard part of our thinking as a directorate. The café is a regular meeting in the calendar, and feedback from the meeting is delivered as part of our monthly engagement events to the finance and procurement directorate, chaired by the CFO.
Numerous members of the directorate have now completed mental health first aider courses, and more are booked onto future training sessions, to assist and improve our own understanding and offering for mental health and well-being.
The newsletter is an important output from the cafés. The ability to share the links to items such as Park Run or podcasts about sleep enables us to increase the wealth of knowledge and understanding of self-care in the directorate.