Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals achieve gold for health and wellbeing

The accreditation invites organisations to submit evidence across thirteen categories, highlighting the efforts made to support teams in areas such as mental health, long-term conditions, and healthy eating. DBTH’s submission showcased the organisation’s dedication to promoting a healthy and supportive work environment for employees.

In recent years, the Trust’s health and wellbeing initiatives have yielded positive outcomes, with a range of initiatives such as: Complementary therapies, Reiki Seichem, menopause awareness sessions and support, physiotherapy, wellbeing trolleys, counselling and mental health support, as well as financial support and signposting.

Other achievements have included:

Colleague smear clinics: Often times it is difficult for individuals to attend routine cervical screening appointments, as such the team have set up smear clinics for colleagues who are due, or overdue. These sessions are also accessible at weekends and in the evenings. To-date, more than 150 colleagues have been seen, resulting in eight referrals to the Colposcopy team and 13 requiring a repeat sample in 12 months.

Know Your Numbers: These are routine blood pressure checks, offered by the Health and Wellbeing Team. Since their introduction in 2021, a total of 495 colleagues have been assessed, with 53 individuals with raised blood pressure referred to their GP for further evaluation and support.

Thunder the Therapy Dog: Thunder has recorded 40 visits to-date, providing comfort and support to colleagues, as well as patients, across the Trust, including high-pressure areas such as the Emergency Department.

Zoe Lintin, Chief People Officer at DBTH, expressed her delight at achieving the Gold level for the South Yorkshire Be Well @ Work Award, stating: “We are incredibly proud to receive this recognition for our commitment to colleague health and wellbeing. This achievement would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our Health and Wellbeing team – their efforts have made a significant impact and, on behalf of all colleagues, I want to share my thanks with them.

“Our approach to Health and Wellbeing is a core pillar of our newly launched People Strategy. A key focus of this five year document is to ‘Look after our people’ – this strand describes a number of key commitments of which looking out for the physical and emotional wellbeing of our colleagues is of paramount importance. I can’t wait to see how we can continue to develop in the future, ensuring DBTH is the very best employer it can be for the people of Doncaster, Bassetlaw and beyond.”

Councillor Nigel Ball, Cabinet Member for Public Health, said: “Congratulations to Doncaster Bassetlaw Teaching Hospital for achieving Gold accreditation for the South Yorkshire Be Well @ Work Award. Achieving this award demonstrates the commitment made to investing in employee health and wellbeing, that it is well embedded across the organisation with good engagement from staff.

“It was evident how dedicated the Health and Wellbeing team are to improving health and wellbeing and the level of enthusiasm and commitment they provide. The programme of support, initiatives and campaigns offered continues to promote, inspire, and provide a positive influence across the three sites of the Trust.”

In 2023, the Trust achieved an impressive response rate of 65.2% (approximately 4,252 colleagues) within the national Staff Survey. Evidencing improvements in health and wellbeing, highlights from the questionnaire revealed that the Trust had improved its scores for ‘We are Safe and Healthy,’ with a rating of 6.0 compared to 5.9 pre-pandemic. Additionally, 67% of all colleagues (higher than pre-pandemic levels) reported that the organisation took a positive interest in health and wellbeing, surpassing the national average of 57%.

DBTH is now working to achieve a Menopause Friendly Accreditation, and has been working closely with Channel 4’s Dr Dawn Harper to support colleagues.