Put OH at heart of tackling NHS burnout, urges SOM

A new approach is needed to tackle high levels of burnout among healthcare workers, including better use of occupational health support, a report from SOM, the Society of Occupational Medicine, has concluded.

The report, Burnout in healthcare: risk factors and solutions, has emphasised the importance of tackling the root causes of burnout, such as more manageable workloads, improving people’s ability to cope including peer support, and person-centred treatment.

The input and expertise of occupational health professionals needs to be a key part of any intervention approach, with OH teams also being properly resourced, SOM has argued.

The report follows the revelation that NHS England had an absence rate of 5.6% in 2022, the equivalent of losing nearly 75,000 staff to illness, often caused by burnout.

A total of 170,000 staff have also left, or are planning to leave, the NHS because of stress and workload pressures.

Drawing on research data from a wide variety of sources, the report found that those working in healthcare, such as doctors, nurses and care workers, are particularly prone to experiencing burnout.

According to the 2022 NHS workforce survey, more than a third of healthcare staff report felt burned out at work, with staff in clinical roles found to be most vulnerable.

Further data showed that more than half (54%) of doctors displayed signs of emotional exhaustion and nearly 40% of nurses ‘often’ or ‘always’ felt burned out at work.

The SOM report recommends primary, secondary, and tertiary interventions throughout the healthcare sector to protect employees against burnout and enable those returning from absence because of the condition to do so effectively and safely. It outlines these as needing to be:

• Primary level interventions. These are interventions that tackle the root causes of burnout. It is crucial to ensure workload is manageable, adequate support is available, leadership is compassionate, inclusive, and ethical and staff are recognised and rewarded for their work and achievements. Training managers to support the wellbeing of their staff, identify early signs of burnout and encourage help-seeking are also particularly important.
• Secondary level interventions. These focus on improving people’s ability to cope with the challenging aspects of their roles. Particularly effective strategies include enhancing opportunities for peer support, promoting self-compassion and self-care, providing training in a range of stress management tools, and helping staff maintain a healthy balance between their work and personal life.
• Tertiary level interventions. Finally, these focus on treatment and encourage a safe and healthy return to work. These include taking a person-centred approach to identifying the factors that contributed to burnout and taking appropriate steps to address them.

With burnout being such a pressing issue in healthcare, occupational health will be a crucial part of the solution, the SOM report argues. More investment in the profession is needed to expand OH through the government’s NHS workforce plan for England, it adds.

The report chimes with SOM’s long-running campaign for universal occupational health access.

SOM chief executive Nick Pahl said: “This new report outlines in detail why universal occupational health is so important in fighting burnout in healthcare. The NHS workforce plan’s aim is to reduce the overall leaver rate for NHS-employed staff from 9.1% (2022) to between 7.4% and 8.2% over the next 15 years.

“This can only occur by investing in occupational health – reversing burnout, tackling root causes, so that NHS staff can return to work well. SOM is committed to working with government and the NHS to meet these challenges head-on.”