Health and wellbeing guardians: guidance and support
Protecting the health and wellbeing of your NHS employees is crucial. Without a healthy workforce, your organisation cannot deliver quality and effective patient care. Decisions made at the board level often impact staff, so it’s essential to have a health and wellbeing guardian on your board. This role ensures that the health and wellbeing of your employees remain at the core of your organisational strategy.
NHS Employers, on behalf of NHS England (NHSE), have developed two resources specifically designed to help you support your new health and wellbeing guardians in their role:
- Wellbeing guardian on the board: this resource showcases how board members can collaborate with and support the health and wellbeing guardians to foster a culture of wellbeing.
- Wellbeing guardian poster: this poster outlines the role of the health and wellbeing guardian and its connection to the broader responsibilities of NHS boards.
These resources have been developed in partnership with the NHS health and wellbeing guardian network, HRDs, NHS regional health and wellbeing managers and NHS health and wellbeing leads. They are intended for NHS boards and health and wellbeing guardians in large healthcare organisations, such as integrated care boards (ICBs), provider organisations and large primary care organisations (for example, federations). They outline how all board members play a vital role in supporting health and wellbeing guardians to create a culture of wellbeing.
Health and wellbeing in an organisation is everyone's responsibility. Senior leaders have a duty to support and champion the health and wellbeing of staff at the board level. The guidance document and poster may be useful to your health and wellbeing guardian, human resources director / chief people officer and chair to help facilitate discussions with your wider board level roles on how they support employee wellbeing in their leadership roles, thereby supporting the health and wellbeing guardian.
The Long Term Workforce Plan emphasises the critical importance of retaining our valued NHS workforce. Evidence tells us that those in caring roles often wait until they become unwell or very unwell before raising their hand and seeking support. Employers must prioritise their wellbeing initiatives and evaluate the staff experience at every career stage. The NHS People Promise highlights seven key elements essential for fostering a positive staff experience.
A supportive and enriching work environment is crucial for encouraging staff to stay committed to their roles. This is supported by the NHS Growing occupational health and wellbeing together strategy, which aims to improve the health and wellbeing services for our NHS people, to keep them safe and healthy, and empowered to pass good care onto our patients.
Organisations can also utilise existing resources, such as the NHS Health and Wellbeing Framework toolkit, which includes a diagnostic tool to self-asses your organisation against each section of the NHS health and wellbeing framework model. It provides a view of where your organisation should prioritise its health and wellbeing efforts and will give you an understanding of health and wellbeing within the context of your organisation and the diversity of your NHS people.
Further information
For more information and resources to support your health and wellbeing guardian you can visit the NHS England website.
