New local mental health and wellbeing hubs across England are all set to ensure the wellbeing of community pharmacy teams and healthcare staff.
The wellbeing hubs will offer a range of services such as free and confidential clinical assessments, following additional measures made by NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I).
These services are available to all pharmacists, technicians and support staff to use whenever they need to.
Confidential and free of charge for all healthcare staff, the hubs offer a clinical assessment and supported referral to the support one needs, such as talking therapy or counselling. It is open to healthcare staff from all services and settings regardless of whether one is dealing directly with Covid-19 patients or not.
Commenting, Claire Anderson, Chair of the English Pharmacy Board, said: “Pharmacists have continued to serve patients throughout Covid-19, helping the NHS cope with the unprecedented pressures of the past year. We warmly welcome the enhancement of NHS support for pharmacists wellbeing during the pandemic and the extension through new wellbeing hubs for the future.
“It’s crucial that the next steps of the NHS People Plan ensures a parity of wellbeing support for all health professions going forward. This must be backed by greater investment in education and training to meet the growing demand for pharmacists.”
To access the support, pharmacy teams have been suggested to use the regional navigation panel to find out details of the staff mental health and wellbeing hub which covers either the area where a staff work in, the area where a worker live in or both.
