UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 27 APRIL 2023
Reversing the damaging impacts of burnout, stress and toxic work environments will be vital to the future prosperity of the National Health Service (NHS), according to a leading academic.
Professor Adam Crizzle, a visiting lecturer at Birmingham City University (BCU) specialising in human behaviour and emotional responses,says ensuring the wellbeing of NHS staff has to be a priority.
He also believes an innovative MSc module that is already been used effectively to upskill healthcare professionals across the West Midlands could be hugely beneficial to that process.
“When students complete the MSc module, which has been running for five years, not only do we consistently hear of students reporting an increase in confidence and resilience levels, but we also hear how it has supported their mental health,” said Professor Crizzle.
“It is particularly interesting to hear how students have used the module content to help them through the stress levels that accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Following years of serious concerns surrounding the welfare of healthcare professionals, a 2022 government report acknowledged that very public external and internal pressures had created a tense and stressful work environment within the NHS.
The report also recognised that not enough work had been done to identify and develop first-rate leaders to manage and drive change in health and social care.
Against a backdrop of industrial action from across the healthcare profession, Professor Crizzle has assembled an impressive cast of experts from healthcare, education and business to discuss some of the issues facing the NHS at a conference at BCU’s City South campus in Edgbaston on Wednesday 7 June.
The STEM to STEAM 2023 Healthcare Conference: Enhancing Mental Health and Workplace Culture will feature keynote speaker Professor Neena Modi FMedSci, Professor of Neonatal Medicine at Imperial College London and a former president of the British Medical Association and The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Panellists include Helen Gordon, Chief Executive of The Science Council, Geeta Sidhu-Robb, a five-time winner of the Entrepreneur and Businesswoman of the Year award, John Mark Williams, Chief Executive of The Institute of Leadership & Management, and Professor Ann-Marie Cannaby, Group Chief Nurse at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust.
“The conference is particularly relevant to the demands resulting in the sentiments around burnout, toxic workplaces and stress, as well as pay, that has driven recent strike action,” said Professor Crizzle. “Unfortunately, culture and enhanced behaviours won’t be fixed by pay alone. Hence, this is what we will aim to draw out in the conference.”
The panellists will discuss a number of issues facing the NHS and consider whether now is the time to improve leadership provision within the healthcare system.
There will also be an in-depth discussion on the MSc module that has been used to enhance workplace welfare and culture amongst health professionals across the West Midlands.
By combining the Intelligent Behaviour Analytics (IBA®) framework with content from a health, wellbeing and performing with confidence programme at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, the module explores how individuals can enhance their leadership and collaborative skills, become more resilient and confident, and perform under pressure.
Loraine Mahachi, an endoscopy clinical nurse lead and professional nurse advocate at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, and Dr Jane Powell, Programme Lead for the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Systems Education Partnership Group, have both completed the module.
“I feel more empowered, confident and have better self-understanding that I’m making decisions that I would have been reluctant to,” said Mahachi, while Dr Powell said the module had provided her with “lifelong skills that will support and enhance my personal and professional life”.
BCU has also created a series of short courses built on the content in the MSc module that is being accessed by doctors, nurses and teachers across the West Midlands.
For more information about the conference, including tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/stem-to-steam-2023-healthcare-culture-conference-tickets-461657749757