Ethnic inequalities among NHS staff in England: workplace experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic

A paper aiming to determine how workplace experiences of National Health Service (NHS) staff varied by ethnicity during the COVID-19 pandemic and how these experiences are associated with mental and physical health at the time of the study

NHS CHECK: A study snapshot

An article summarising NHS CHECK's key findings to date and how it has worked so far.
Click to read the paper

Moral Injuries in Healthcare Workers: What Causes Them and What to Do About Them?

A narrative review of the research - including our own - that exists about moral injury in healthcare workers.
Click to read the paper

Suicidal thoughts and behaviour among healthcare workers in England during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal study

During the COVID-19 pandemic, concern has been raised about suicide risk among healthcare workers (HCWs). We investigated the incidence risk and prevalence of suicidal thoughts and behaviour (STB), and their relationship with occupational risk factors, among National Health Service HCWs in England between April 2020 and August 2021.
Click to read the paper

Prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder and common mental disorders in health-care workers in England during the COVID-19 pandemic

Previous studies on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of health-care workers have relied on self-reported screening measures to estimate the point prevalence of common mental disorders. Screening measures, which are designed to be sensitive, have low positive predictive value and often overestimate prevalence. We aimed to estimate prevalence of common mental disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among health-care workers in England using diagnostic interviews.
Click to read the paper

Investigating the psychosocial impact of the pandemic on healthcare workers

Protocol for a cohort study featured in the BMJ Open looking at the profound effects of the COVID 19 pandemic on the mental health and wellbeing of healthcare workers.
Click to read the full paper

Supporting the mental health of NHS staff as part of post-pandemic recovery

In December 2021, we brought together researchers, NHS staff, professional bodies and policymakers in a Policy Lab to consider the study’s implications. We looked at questions around the current needs of staff, the use and effectiveness of available support, likely future needs, and implications for the effective provision of future support.
Click to read the full paper

The Foundations App and improving mental health and well-being in healthcare workers

The Foundations app was created by Koa Health to support mental wellbeing by providing content to help users deal with topics like stress, insomnia, anxiety and more. This app was tested in an RCT amongst over 1,000 healthcare workers.
Click to read the full paper

‘You get looked at like you’re failing'

A reflexive thematic analysis of experiences of mental health and wellbeing support for NHS staff
Click to read the paper

'It hurts your heart'

Frontline healthcare worker experiences of moral injury during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moral injury is defined as the strong emotional and cognitive reactions following events which clash with someone’s moral code, values or expectations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, increased exposure to potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs) has placed healthcare workers (HCWs) at risk of moral injury. Yet little is known about the lived experience of cumulative PMIE exposure and how NHS staff respond to this.
Click to read the paper

Moral injury and psychological wellbeing in UK healthcare staff

Potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs) can negatively impact mental health. The COVID-19 pandemic may have placed healthcare staff at risk of moral injury. The Aim: To examine the impact of PMIE on healthcare staff wellbeing.
Click to read the paper

Free-text response paper

Capturing the experiences of UK healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A structural topic modelling analysis of 7,412 free-text survey responses.
Click to read the paper

A challenge met, or a tsunami to come?

An opinion piece looking at mixed signals about the mental health of the NHS workforce. A Lancet Psychiatry article investigating the media headlines regarding the mental health of the NHS workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic, who had predicted large scale problems ahead. Click to read the opinion piece

Ethnic inequalities among NHS staff in England - workplace experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic

This paper will determine how workplace experiences of NHS staff varied by ethnic group during the COVID-19 pandemic and examine how these experiences are associated with mental and physical health at the time of the study.

Moral injury in healthcare workers: what causes them and what to do about them?

This paper focuses on HCWs’ experiences of moral injury (MI), including potential causes and ways to reduce them. There are myriad challenges that influencedevelopment of MI, such as chronic understaffing and the pressure to treat high numbers of patients with limited resources. There are also multiple impacts of MI: at the individual-level, MI can lead to increased staff absences and understaffing, and prolonged patient contact with limited decision-making power. COVID-19 exacerbated such impacts, with a lack of organisational support during a time of increased patient mortality, and uncertainty and heightened pressure on the clinical frontline associated with scarce resources and understaffing. Click to read the pre-print