March On Stress

Study shows need for improved mental health support for ICU staff

Added on the 20th January 2021

A new study published on Wednesday, 13th January 2021 has recommended that mental health support and access to evidence-based treatments for intensive care unit (ICU) staff is prioritised for intensive care staff.

March on Stress Director, Professor Neil Greenberg, led the King’s College London research in his role as academic professor at the university.

The research found that more than one in seven of the ICU staff who participated in the study reported thoughts that they would be better off dead, or of hurting themselves in some way, on several days over the past two weeks.

Around 45% of the sample self-reported symptoms of probable PTSD, severe depression or a severe anxiety disorder.

Professor Greenberg said: “Our results highlight the potential profound impact that COVID-19 has had on the mental health of frontline UK staff and indicate an urgent need for a national strategy to protect staff mental health and decrease the risk of functional impairment of ICU staff and for other clinical, and non-clinical, NHS staff who are working extremely hard in the most challenging of circumstances.”

March on Stress Business Development Director, Georgina Godden, said: “Our team at March on Stress is very proud of our work to provide evidence-based peer support training to the NHS, which we have been doing for a number of years now.

“Since the pandemic began in 2020, we have worked to provide additional training solutions to meet the ever increasing need to support our dedicated NHS personnel. This includes training which focuses on having psychologically informed conversations through a process called REACTMH®. This training provides short, focused sessions to help supervisors and leaders to better support staff that may be struggling.

“We will continue to support our frontline workers and all those who work in challenging roles across healthcare as well as other industries.”

For more information on March on Stress training and support options, please get in touch.

Read more:

The full study is available here:https://academic.oup.com/occmed/advance-article/doi/10.1093/occmed/kqaa220/6072139.

BBC news: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55630157.

Nursing Times: https://www.nursingtimes.net/news/workforce/covid-19-new-findings-point-to-widespread-trauma-among-nurses-13-01-2021/.

The Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/mental-health-of-nhs-staff-placed-under-further-strain-as-cases-continue-to-rise-b1786170.html.

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