Mental health and the healthcare sector

Mental health is a regular topic in the news as more and more people uncover conditions that affect their day-to-day lives, and these conditions have the potential to significantly impact their ability to perform at work. For these employees, reasonable adjustments made by employers can help them fully participate in the workplace.

Mental health issues are just as prevalent in healthcare as any other industry.

Back in April 2020, the Local Government Association published its own 13-page guide, Health & Wellbeing Information for Care Staff (Health & Wellbeing Information for Care Staff, 2020). Coming out at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the guide advised on areas such as emotion management, symptoms of stress, managing feelings, dealing with bereavement and the need to talk. A ‘simple’ document, it made clear that it's ‘ok to not be ok’.

More recently, in October 2022, the CQC published the 2020–21 edition of State of Care (Care Quality Commission 2022 Oct 21). It detailed the impact of the pandemic on mental health. In particular, it wrote that ‘in June 2021, a report by the Samaritans identified healthcare workers as one of five groups whose suicide risk may be exacerbated as a result of the pandemic’, and that a June 2021 ‘report from the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee concluded that burnout is a widespread reality in today's NHS.’