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A new study has found that our psychological support service is helping staff at Barts Health NHS Trust feel better, cope better, and remain in their roles.

Researchers from Queen Mary University of London evaluated the impact of the Team Barts Health Psychological Support Service (PSS), which we set up during the Covid-19 pandemic with funding from Barts Charity.

The study, published in Psychological Services , found that staff who used the service showed improved mental wellbeing and lower stress compared with those who did not use it. Burnout and resilience also improved among service users over the course of the study.

The staff reported that they valued how easy the service was to access, how flexible it was around shift patterns, and how genuinely listened to they felt. Many said the support had a positive knock-on effect for their working life and, for some, their decision to stay in their role - those whose wellbeing improved were 14% less likely to say they intended to leave their job.

Chanelle, a Paediatric Staff Nurse at The Royal London Hospital, started to feel overwhelmed after being redeployed to Adult Critical Care during the pandemic, and so accessed one-to-one sessions with her hospital’s psychologist. She said:

If I hadn’t looked for help, I worried that I would have had a breakdown, and I wouldn’t have stayed in nursing. I had three sessions and felt I could talk freely with her. The sessions gave me space to open up and be honest. It massively changed the way I saw things; I never wanted to talk about my feelings before. But after speaking with her I began speaking to colleagues and it was refreshing to see that everyone was experiencing the same things as me. Since then, I’ve been encouraging my colleagues to tap into the sessions too - the psychologists have a real level of expertise.

The PSS offers free, confidential one-to-one and group sessions with clinical psychologists across our five hospitals: Royal London, St Bartholomew's, Whipps Cross, Newham, and Mile End.

As well as therapy sessions, the team runs reflective practice groups, mindfulness sessions, and post-incident support, and signposts colleagues to wider services where needed.

Since the service launched, more than 22,500 members of staff have been supported, and 97% of those who used it said they would recommend it to a colleague.

Dr Ajay Gupta, study author, clinical reader at Queen Mary University of London and honorary consultant in clinical pharmacology and cardiovascular medicine, said:

These findings demonstrate the clear benefit of a psychological support service dedicated to healthcare staff. Alongside improving staff wellbeing, investing in these services may also bring favourable returns on investment by helping reduce sickness absence, improve staff productivity, and reducing staff turnover.

Due to its success, the team share best practice, challenges and opportunities in NHS psychological support through a special interest group spanning 42 NHS Trusts.

Daniel Waldron, group chief people officer at Barts Health NHS Trust, said:

This study enables the significant learning, gathered since Covid, about the needs of healthcare workers to be shared more widely for greater benefit.

Fiona Miller Smith, chief executive of Barts Charity, said:

We're proud to support the psychological support service, which is making a huge difference to the wellbeing of NHS staff. Supported staff deliver the best care, and so services like this are needed so that patients get the best health outcomes.

Accessing the service

The psychological support service is free and open to all Barts Health staff, with sessions held face to face at your hospital or online.

Find out more about the impact of the service on the Barts Charity website, or you can find information on accessing the service yourself via WeShare.