Freedom, football and fatigue

It will have not escaped your notice that there have been a number of very positive things happening this week. 

On Monday the Prime Minister provided an overview of the Government’s roadmap to ease all covid restrictions. So called ‘Freedom day’. We also celebrated the NHS 73^rd birthday, not a landmark anniversary as such, but an opportunity to pay tribute and say a huge thank you for your massive commitment and hard work during a difficult and unique year.  And of course, we got the rare celebration of England getting through to the final of the Euros.

So, hopefully these things will have lifted your spirits a bit and provided some moments of joy.

But the mood still feels a little flat. People are anxious about what a return to ‘normality’ will bring in the context of rising covid cases. There don’t seem to be as many England flags and pennants on cars as you would expect and I even managed to drag my hubbie out open water swimming when the football was on so he missed the first half. Not sure he would normally do this!

And, for staff in the NHS, we are grateful for the appreciation people have shown during the 73^rd birthday celebrations, it is absolutely right to pay tribute to the courage and compassion of our staff. However, we know that this year has left its mark and many people are tired and burnt out and worrying about what the next year is going to bring. We know that demand for our services and expectations on our ability to deliver are rising and this is going to be incredibly challenging when we start from a place of tiredness.  

At the start of the pandemic, people were anxious, of course. But also highly motivated and engaged. You absolutely rose to the challenge. In recent months, however, exhaustion has set in. The sheer length of the pandemic, the yo-yo effect of good news followed by bad news, staffing pressures and increasing service demand are stressors that have brutally worn people down. 

And this isn’t just about those on the frontline. If the thought of another day of back-to-back MS Team meetings makes you want to hide under the covers, you are not alone. If you boot up your laptop, open your inbox, and see hundreds of new messages — many beginning with, “I hope you are well” - and your heart sinks, you are not alone.

Corporate teams have also had the redesign consultation on top of this. It’s been necessary to go through this structural change, which is partly financially driven, but we know it’s been hard. If we could have done it in a different way at a different time, we would have. I am sorry about the extra pressure this has piled on.

We also can’t separate work pressures from home pressures, whether we’re working in a ward or at the dining room table. They don’t sit in separate boxes.

As I’ve highlighted before, some of you have lost loved ones. Some of you have partners who have lost their jobs or children who aren’t coping. Some of you have missed out on experiences and life milestones, like weddings and funerals. You may be tired of the safety protocols. You may be tired of the pressure to have made ‘good use’ of the restricted free time or make up for it going forward. I certainly felt that if I heard one more time that Shakespeare wrote King Lear while in quarantine during a pandemic, I was going to lose it!

Being mentally and physically exhausted tends to lower resilience and boost feelings of dread and helplessness. And if we’re exhausted and our ability to cope is lowered, then we’re less able to do anything about those negative feelings. Stress and burnout will undermine everything we are trying to do if we don’t find solutions.

Our board is taking this extremely seriously and discussing what we can do; from securing more funding from commissioners to looking at innovative workforce solutions, there will be a significant focus on workforce development over the coming months. And also, because we can’t expect you to thrive professionally if you’re struggling personally, we need a holistic approach to wellbeing which is attentive to the needs of the whole person. We need to think about how to help you recover in a good way.

And it continues to be important that we take every opportunity to show our appreciation, so we are exploring what a staff appreciation event might look like to say thank you for everything you have done over the last year.

It is so positive that the NHS has received the George Cross collectively for 'acts of the greatest heroism'. Coincidently, it was my 37^th wedding anniversary the week of the NHS 73^rd anniversary (and I did think I deserved a medal for making it so long in a marriage!), but how well deserved is the George Cross award to the NHS. Absolutely amazing.

So, we will keep working hard to find solutions and do everything we can to support you. We know it’s tough out there still. In turn, please look out for yourself and others. Make sure stress assessments are taken within your team. Take regular stock of how you are feeling and coping. Try and set boundaries, work regular hours, and please make sure you take your holidays.

You are the beating heart and pride of this organisation - our most precious resource.

Best wishes,

Claire

You can follow me on Twitter @ClaireMolloy2