Cuts to NHS staff wellbeing hubs criticised by nurses

The network of 40 hubs was launched in 2020-21 as a way for NHS staff to get fast access to support with any wellbeing or mental health issues they were facing, including pandemic-related trauma.

"We have a duty of care towards them and their mental health for the foreseeable future"

Jill Maben

However, government funding for the hubs ended on 31 March 2023, leaving their future hanging in the balance.

In a letter seen by Nursing Times, NHS England confirmed to regional directors on 3 July that it would provide £2.3m for the hubs for 2023-24, after which time dedicated funding is set to end.

In its letter, NHS England acknowledged that this funding was only enough to maintain a “scaled-down” hub network this year, which could involve one hub being in place per region.

The British Psychological Society (BPS) has been leading a campaign against the closure of the hubs, supported by other health groups including the Royal College of Nursing (RCN).

The BPS estimates that the annual cost of running the 40 hubs is in the region of £40m, making the £2.3m allocation “woefully” short.

Meanwhile, in May, the RCN reported that a third of the hubs had already closed.

The RCN is among the signatories to a new letter, sent last week by the BPS, to NHS England and health and social care secretary Steve Barclay calling for a rethink on the funding cuts for the hubs.

The letter states: “The offer of £2.3m to be shared across seven NHS regions falls a long way short of requirements on the ground, failing to cover even basic staff costs.

“The recognition from NHS England that this funding proposal would necessitate providing only a ‘scaled-back’ hub provision is deeply worrying considering the escalating demand that NHS Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hubs are experiencing.”

Other nursing professionals and academics have also criticised the plans to scale back the hubs.

Jill Maben

Professor Jill Maben, professor of health services research and nursing at the University of Surrey, has published research papers on the mental health impacts of the pandemic on nurses in the UK.

Speaking to Nursing Times, Professor Maben said the need for mental health support for nurses was ongoing, despite the crisis period of the pandemic being over.

“We know from our longitudinal research study with nurses that they have been ‘forever altered’ by the pandemic,” she said.

“Nurses experienced [post-traumatic stress disorder], high levels of stress and anxiety, and some of these are still ongoing.

“Nurses put their own mental health needs second to provide care for patients at a time of national crisis, and we have a duty of care towards them and their mental health for the foreseeable future.

“It is so disappointing to hear, that the government is not providing sufficient funds for this vital support to continue.”

She further questioned: “How can we expect nurses and other healthcare professionals to put themselves forward for the next pandemic, when it has become obvious that they will not be taken good care of afterwards?”

Meanwhile, a nurse who shared their views with Nursing Times said the hubs were still needed by a “large number” of staff including those facing burnout.

They said: “I totally disagree with [the scaling back of the hubs], the aftermath of Covid will last a long time.

“There is still a large number of staff that require support. There is a large number of staff who require these services due to lack of staff and burnout.

“To get our staff better and back into work they need support which is getting taken away.”

The outbreak of the pandemic caused Nursing Times, in April 2020, to launch the Are You OK? campaign to lobby for sufficient mental health support for nurses during and after the pandemic.

The campaign is ongoing, and our latest survey of nursing professionals, published in February 2023, found that for many, their mental health was worse than it was during the peaks of the pandemic.

In total, more than 40% of the almost 1,000 respondents described their current mental health and wellbeing as “bad” or “very bad”.

In its letter to directors, NHS England noted that the initial government funding for the hubs was allocated on a “non-recurrent basis in response to the pressure on the workforce from Covid-19”.

It said its £2.3m allocation was being made "as part of the transition towards a sustainable model for staff health and wellbeing support which is based on a preventative, local level approach".

However, Sarb Bajwa, chief executive of the BPS, said the reduction in funding for the hubs was “deeply worrying”.

He told Nursing Times: “Alongside our colleagues across health and care organisations, we’re once again urging the health secretary and NHS England to reconsider its inadequate investment in staff wellbeing.”

He warned that the recently published NHS workforce plan “simply cannot be achieved in the short or long term if staff don’t have the mental health support they need and deserve”.

The decision from NHS England comes as the organisation faces a potential budget shortfall of £7bn this year.

Responding to the letter from BPS and partners, an NHS spokesperson said: “Staff wellbeing is a key part of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan and £2.3m has been made available to maintain support for staff through mental health hubs, alongside a wider set of health and wellbeing interventions.”