Healthcare staff suffer from high levels of stress and burnout. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, around a third of European nurses and doctors and half of US doctors were experiencing burnout. In the UK, trends indicated growing staff stress levels, with the percentage of National Health Service (NHS) staff reporting feeling unwell due to work-related stress increasing by around 10% between 2009 and 2018. The impact of the pandemic on healthcare professional wellbeing is currently unclear, but a growing body of evidence indicates significant increases in staff stress levels.
HUBAL is a timely, rapid and topical project which will evaluate services offered by the West Yorkshire and Harrogate (WYH) Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub. The hub is one of 40 regional dedicated staff hubs which were established to support healthcare staff with Covid-19 pandemic related pressures. The WYH hub serves 100,000 staff including those based in the NHS, social care and voluntary sector and offers a range of different interventions.
HUBAL will be conducted over 6 months and and will provide detailed information about the impact of the WYH hub on staff services. The evaluation has been funded by WYH hub. The Principal Investigator is Dr Judith Johnson and the Co-Investigator is Dr Chris Keyworth.