While the importance of mental wellbeing in staff has been long recognised, the Covid pandemic has thrown this further into the spotlight. The occupational therapy acute wellbeing champions, supported by primary care occupational therapy, have developed a number of initiatives to support their teams.
At University Hospital Hairmyres, a questionnaire was developed to monitor staff morale. Feedback revealed that staff would be interested in mindfulness and monthly wellbeing events. In response, specialist occupational therapist Shauna Nitsch and occupational therapist Gina Ely, thereafter set up mindfulness and meditation sessions, which may be continued in the future if there is an increase in demand. They have also signposted staff to the wellbeing centre and developed various incentives to boost staff morale, such as a kindness wall.
At University Hospital Wishaw Louise Houston, specialist occupational therapist, and Rayanne McHugh, occupational therapist, gathered information from the team to discover how they were feeling and what they would like to engage with. They thereafter began a number of projects, including creating a wellbeing hub as a central point for staff to access and keep up-to-date with projects. Pay-day treats were organised as well as mindfulness sessions. The aim for the future is to continue to build on the support within the team and, as Covid restrictions relax, reunite as a team for future activities.
At University Hospital Monklands Iona MacGregor, specialist occupational therapist, and Lauren Paton, assistant practitioner, initially created an interest checklist to send round the team to see what activities staff were interested in. In response, they created a ‘Positivitree’ that displays different tasks/challenges for staff to complete each month. They also have been using ‘You’ve been mugged’, where a member of staff fills mugs with treats and encloses a positive message to then give to a staff member. The team is taking great delight in celebrating birthdays and holidays and incorporating mindfulness and wellbeing sessions into their team meetings.
Caroline Robertson, assistance practitioner at University Hospital Monklands, said: “I wasn’t too keen on trying mindfulness, but once I did one session in our team meeting I realised how much I actually benefited from it.”
