Impact and Process Evaluation of the Healthy Workforce Programme

The NHS Five Year Forward View made a commitment ‘to ensure the NHS as an employer sets a national example in the support it offers its own staff to stay healthy’.

Working with colleagues at 12 NHS organisations from around the country, NHS England has established a programme to: • improve the health and wellbeing of our staff; • reduce sickness absence and the associated costs; and • demonstrate that the NHS is ‘getting our own house in order’ as we make a case for the role of work in supporting health and wellbeing.

NHS England is providing a range of support to a group of 12 NHS organisations as they extend the health and wellbeing offer to their staff.

This includes funding new or enhanced health and wellbeing services, encouraging a culture change in leadership, and training managers.

These are: • NHS Health Checks: lifestyle checks for staff aged 40-74 • Services to prevent and treat muscular-skeletal problems; • Services to prevent and treat mental ill-health; • A culture of strong leadership and management of staff health; • A range of healthy lifestyle support services These 12 NHS organisations will have a significantly more extensive health and wellbeing offer for their staff than is common across the NHS.

The intention is to roll this programme out nationally but before this is done; NHS England wishes to carry out an impact and process evaluation to establish the efficacy of the current roll out.

NHS England has gone out to tender utilising the the UK Shared Business Services Market Research Framework RM1086 MR130001 Lot 2: Strategic Planning & Development.