9. IJB Report Staff Wellbeing Update 081122 FINAL
North Ayrshire Council · 17 November 2022
Back to Integration Joint Board — 17 November 2022 and its agenda
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Integration Joint Board 17th November 2022 Subject : Primary Care & Social Care Workforce Health & Wellbeing Update Purpose : This report is for awareness and to provide the Integration Joint Board with an update on the Staff Wellbeing Programme. Recommendation : The IJB is asked to: • note the content of this report and support the ongoing development and delivery of the Staff Wellbeing Programme, and • to approve the continuation of funding for two years, setting aside £250k from the Winter Funding carried forward from 2020-21. Direction Required to Council, Health Board or Both Direction to :- 1. No Direction Required x 2. North Ayrshire Council 3. NHS Ayrshire & Arran 4. North Ayrshire Council and NHS Ayrshire & Arran Glossary of Terms HSPC Health and Social Care Partnership CFJS Children’s Families and Justice Services HCC Health and Community Care 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 Scottish Government allocated a total of £108,590 to North Ayrshire Health & Social Care Partnership in financial year 2021/22 to support the wellbeing and mental health of the Primary Care and Social Care workforce, as well as meeting practical needs over the winter period. 1.2 The Partnership Senior Management Team endorsed a proposal to set aside additional funding of £250,000 to continue the staff wellbeing programme for the next two years, to be funded from the earmarked reserve in place from Winter Funding, the IJB is asked to approve this allocation. 1.3 This funding gives equal priority to those working in primary care and social work/social care sectors, including independent contractors, out of hours services, volunteers, carers, personal assistants, and support staff.
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2. BACKGROUND 2.1 Key areas have been identified as local priorities, recognising the opportunity to build on existing local approaches: • Support for teams to ‘take a step back’ together and participate in wellbeing opportunities • Mindfulness Interventions • Support and management of distress and anxiety; Post-traumatic stress disorder; bereavement; staff affected by ‘long Covid’. 2.2 A survey of social care staff was undertaken in November 2021 seeking views on what wellbeing activities they would benefit from and some of the emerging themes were: Physical Activity • Vouchers for various physical activities including swimming, golf, water sports, gym classes, dance classes, trampolining • Organised walking groups in localities • Discounted gym memberships Pan Ayrshire, not just North • A lifestyle coach who could visit teams and encourage staff to have a more active lifestyle Mental Health Support • One to one or group psychological support • Mindfulness training • Vouchers for holistic therapies • Mental health & wellbeing training for managers • Designated wellbeing mentors • Links to National Trauma work & Staff Psychological debriefing • More physical face-to-face interaction to help support people's mental health Leisure/Recreational Activities • Discounted access to spa facilities eg The Gailes • Restaurant vouchers • Reflexology, head and shoulder massage vouchers – also available in the workplace • Team lunch / meal vouchers • Cinema tickets
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Staff Wellbeing Hub(s) • Designated quiet areas within offices where staff can access for some head space • Hubs for Care at Home staff to access toilet facilities and a cup of tea during the winter months • A space where staff can meet and support each other Management support • Regular conversations with managers about experiences • Reduction in back-to-back Microsoft teams with no breaks • Experiencing burn-out from the virtual environment • Some teams and colleagues would benefit from face-to-face gatherings for a coffee and a walk along the beach, as an example, to catch up in person rather than over a digital channel Many of these themes have been addressed via the Primary & Social Care Grant Scheme, Ongoing Mindfulness and Optima Health workshops. With winter approaching consideration is being given to areas where frontline staff, particularly Care at Home staff who do not have a fixed staff base, can touch down. 2.3 Programme Implementation & Progress Update National and Local Supports The HSCP developed an information sway, which was shared across all partners and included in all Staff Wellbeing communications which has shared all of the local and national supports across staff and teams. 2.4 Physical Activity Paths for All - online Workplace Walking Course This is an interactive online course which helps get colleagues moving more in and around the working day. The course provides ideas, knowledge, and skills to develop and deliver a successful workplace walking initiative. KA Leisure Activities On two occasions in recent months there has been an opportunity for staff to receive a free 3-month gym pass to KA Leisure facilities. 100 passes have been allocated on a first come, first served basis. This has been very popular with staff taking the opportunity of a free 3-month trial and several have gone on to continuing a gym membership at corporate discounted rates.
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In addition, KA Leisure have delivered online weight management sessions, as well as physical activity and yoga sessions. 2.5 Mental Health Mindfulness Everyday Mindfulness Scotland have delivered several 4-week online programmes over the last year, using a mix of presentation and mindfulness practices, focus on anxiety and stress, fight or flight and rest and digest. The “time for you’ course contains short power point inputs to give information about stress and the stress response, followed by a variety of mindfulness practices to manage this response. This involves mindful movement / stretching, alongside breathing and other relaxation techniques. Over the last year, 137 staff have completed the mindfulness programme and positive feedback has been received on this method of supporting staff. Examples of feedback : ‘It’s so difficult to get time to look after ourselves that I didn’t see how I was going to fit this in, but I did and the time was in the evening when I’ve got other commitments, but this has made me commit to myself and it’s made all the difference to my stress levels’ ‘I just want to say I didn’t think this on-line was going to work but it does. I was so much more able to join in when I was in my own home environment. I know its all about using the practices and so I’m determined to try and make the time’ ‘I want to say I am not a group person and I wasn’t sure about it at the beginning, but I loved the group experience and will miss it. It has helped me to destress from difficult things at work. I want to try and keep up my practice and I enjoyed sharing with the others and would love it if there was a once-a-month type group /online type thing’ ‘The group motivated and helped me to keep going with my practice and I find that I am sleeping better and less anxious than I have ever been for some time’ ‘At the start of the course, I wasn't particularly sure what I was going to learn, but it became clear as we progressed through the course. The course was very well delivered, and the explanations/teaching of the techniques and practices were excellent. I feel I have benefited greatly in myself and in my work with service users’ Optima Health Workshops Since the implementation of the Staff Wellbeing programme, the following suite of online workshops have been delivered by the Council’s Occupational Health provider, Optima Health and were attended by 129 staff: • Psychological Impact of Working from Home • Emotional Wellbeing
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• Sleep • Financial Wellbeing • Returning to the workplace The following workshops are currently being delivered: • Digital Wellbeing Workshops • Menopause Workshops • Winter wellbeing workshops 2.6 Primary Care & Social Care Grants Scheme The Grant Scheme has been operating since March 2022. Applications were invited from teams across North Ayrshire (including all Health & Social Care Partnership staff, GPs and Primary Care staff, Third & Independent Sector providers who are commissioned by the HSCP, Personal Assistants, volunteers, and Unpaid Carers) for funding to support staff health & wellbeing activities, which would be arranged/delivered by staff for local teams. Applications are considered by the Primary Care & Social Care Grants Committee and must meet one or more of the following criteria: • Support for teams to ‘take a step back’ together and participate in wellbeing opportunities, • Support and management of distress and anxiety; PTSD; bereavement; staff affected by ‘long Covid’ Some examples of wellbeing applications we have received to date. • Outdoor Group Activities – including Tree Tops, Cumbrae Cycling and Wellbeing Day Retreats • Yoga Sessions • Therapy Treatment and Training including reflexology, TRE, reiki, and Indian head massage • Escape Rooms • Fitness & Wellbeing equipment including a cross trainer and exercise bike • Self-Care plans, mindfulness, and positivity cards Grants are payable via the Council’s Sundry Payment Scheme, ensuring appropriate governance and adherence to the Council’s Financial Regulations, and the business support team have successfully developed sector wide booking arrangements, advertising campaigns and automated processing arrangements. At the time of writing there has been a total of 207 applications since the commencement of the Scheme with 180 accepted, 8 partly funded, 5 pending awaiting more information, 3 withdrawn and 11 rejected.
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The graph below shows the status of each application per service area. HSCP services have submitted the most applications to date with Children, Families and Justice Services having submitted the most applications to date, closely followed by Health and Community Care. The graph below shows the breakdown of applications awarded per service area for last year and this year’s budget, totalling £129,055. A further £5,990 is currently on hold awaiting further details. The bar chart below gives a brief description of the application activities that has been accepted so far. Wellbeing Therapy and Team Development Activities have had the most applications. 23 51 5 43 16 27 15 2 1 22 4 23 2 2 2 21 1 1 HSCP Business HSCP C,F&JS HSCP Finance & Transformation HSCP H&CC HSCP MH&LD Primary Care Third Sector P&SC Grant Scheme Application Status (N=207) Accepted Hold - Pending Partly Funded Rejected Withdrawn £15,670.65 £28,961.35 £1,604.00 £33,842.00 £10,952.00 £25,378.60 £12,646.70 HSCP Business HSCP C,F&JS HSCP Finance & Transformation HSCP H&CC HSCP MH&LD Primary Care Third Sector Breakdown of applications awarded per service area (£129,055)
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The graph below shows the geographical breakdown of where the P&SC fund has been spent per area, illustrating that the majority of activities and spend has taken place within North Ayrshire. 2.7 Adult Social Care Fund A bid was submitted to the Workforce Wellbeing Fund for Adult Social Work and Social Care in July 2022 for £9,864 and this was successful. The funding will deliver wellbeing events over a 2-week period within KA Leisure facilities: Auchenharvie Leisure Centre, Stevenston, Garnock Community Campus, Glengarnock, Portal, Irvine, Vikingar!, Largs Campuses in Arran and Millport 1 2 2 3 1 2 2 4 4 82 85 Beauty Treatments Team Office Equipment Team Vouchers - Costa Coffee Team Exercise Equipment Team Wellbeing Resources Team Development Activity Wellbeing Therapy P&SC Grant Scheme Acitivity Accepted Partly Funded £70,467.40 £17,618.00 £4,150.00 £18,556.75 £1,000.00 £528.00 £1,000.00 £14,375.15 £1,360.00 North Ayrshire East Ayrshire South Ayrshire Glasgow Loch Lomond Stirling Renfrewshire Online Purchase Online Resources Breakdown of P&SC Grant Scheme awarded per Area
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The following activities will be delivered: • Menopause awareness sessions • Mindfulness exercise sessions • Weight management sessions • Mental Health Awareness Sessions • Appointments for health check ups • Appointments for Massage sessions • Appointments for manicures As per the criteria for the Workforce Wellbeing Fund, the approved grant is to fund initiatives for those staff working only in the Adult Social Care/Social Work field and does not include staff working in Children’s Services, NHS staff and Partnership support staff. The Partnership Senior Management Team has agreed that grant monies can be moved to expand this wellbeing work to all staff in the Partnership, reflecting our integrated approach. 3. PROPOSALS 3.1 Anticipated Outcomes The wellbeing of the health and social care workforce remains a key priority and it is recognised that teams are fatigued because of unrelenting pressures. It is important therefore that continued wellbeing initiatives are put in place to support staff on an ongoing basis. 3.2 Measuring Impact An evaluation process is in place to capture the views of staff against each wellbeing activity. In addition, the Primary Care & Social Care Grant Scheme seeks feedback from staff on approved wellbeing grants relating to the application process and evaluation of the activities undertaken. 4. IMPLICATIONS 4.1 Financial Total Spend to Date At the time of writing the Partnership has allocated the following spend on staff wellbeing: 2021/22 Scottish Government Allocation £108,590 2022/23 Total Spend to date £67,525
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Caroline Cameron, Director Author: Lynne Ferguson, Manager Business Administration lferguson@north- ayrshire.gov.uk Tel: 01294 317700 4.2 Human Resources Supporting staff wellbeing across the entirety of the HSCP including our commissioned care providers, primary care staff is a priority for the HSCP and IJB. 4.3 Legal None 4.4 Equality/Socio-Economic None 4.5 Risk N/A 4.6 Community Wealth Building Most of the spend on activities and resources has remained within North Ayrshire. 4.7 Key Priorities Continued support for staff wellbeing supports one of the IJBs strategic priorities to Develop and Support our Workforce. 5. CONSULTATION 5.1 Consultation has taken place on a multi-agency basis, as well as via a staff survey previously described, which was also shared with Trade Union. The third and independent sector leads were invited to join the small grant scheme group to support the scoring of applications.