Summary
A blog by Dominic Anderson, Health and Wellbeing Programme Manager, and Luvjit Kandula, Chair, Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board – on wellbeing leadership in primary care and their ambitions for change.
Why should workforce wellbeing be incorporated into everyday practice?
That is the question we have been posing at Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board (PCB).
Workforce wellbeing shouldn’t be framed as an individual choice or luxury; it should be an embedded, organic part of professional life and team culture.
Research shows that managers have just as much of an impact on people’s mental health as their partner (both 69%), and even more of an impact than their doctor (51%) or therapist (41%) – Mental Health At Work, Workforce Institute 2023.
So, senior leaders play a critical role in shaping the culture and success of their organisations. Prioritising health and wellbeing not only benefits individuals personally but also has far-reaching positive effects on teams and the entire organisation.
In addition, it is an investment in leadership effectiveness, employee engagement, productivity and long-term business sustainability.
That’s why we’ve recently relaunched the ‘Being Well, the Leadership Development Training Programme’.
The programme is a leadership development opportunity for all primary care providers in Greater Manchester. In essence, it’s a practical way of delivering the ‘NHS workforce wellbeing ripple’ – a cultural shift, where wellbeing is not seen as a cost but a strategic investment.
It also recognises staff wellbeing as a form of prevention, one that reduces sickness absence, improves retention and enhances care. The evidence is clear: healthier staff deliver better care, stay longer and cost less.
Greater Manchester is one of the first integrated care systems to pioneer such a leadership programme via the primary care provider board. It enables all primary care disciplines to access training, to respond to workforce pressures as a wellbeing objective.
Some of us at the PCB have undertaken the national NHS England leadership and facilitation training to promote a culture of wellbeing, and empower managers and individuals with the tools they need to manage and maintain their wellbeing.
We’ve been delivering the programme to providers since October 2024 with a focus on some key learning outcomes.
We’ve learned that:
- Senior leaders play a critical role in shaping the culture and success of their organisations.
- Prioritising health and wellbeing not only benefits individuals personally but also has far-reaching positive effects on teams and the entire organisation.
- It is an investment in leadership effectiveness, employee engagement, productivity and in long-term business sustainability.
Supporting staff to be ‘well’ is recognised as operationally and strategically essential, and aligns with the Greater Manchester Primary Care Blueprint, the NHS 10 Year Health Plan, the NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan, and the NHS Health and Wellbeing Framework.
At the PCB, we are continuing a conversation with primary care providers to design ‘what good looks like’ for them.
We intend to make staff wellbeing the foundation for culture change for primary care in Greater Manchester, and a means of engagement and sharing good practice both within and across primary care and other systems.
It’s easier to start by identifying the ‘pebbles in our shoes’ – what gets in our way on a daily basis – than trying to move the boulders that exist, such as workload, staffing and technology.
In other words, we don’t need to make big changes to make a difference.
By asking questions like ‘what makes a good day at work?’ or ‘what can we do together to create more good days?’, it shifts the narrative from wishing organisations would make significant changes, to taking control ourselves of the small steps that build new habits that ultimately make a difference.
It helps people to see the organisation as ‘us’ and not ‘them’.
As a positive step towards our goal, members of the PCB team took part in Being Well, the Leadership Development Training Programme, and we’d love you to as well. You can check out the PCB website for available dates in November and December.
You could also:
- Incorporate a short team ‘check in’ on a regular basis
- Create a team wellbeing action plan
- Share resources, including the GM Wellbeing Quiz link with your team, and change something in your everyday practice using the GM Wellbeing Toolkit, designed to support you and your teams with practical tools and templates such as the Check-in Check-out Guide, as well as information on where to access support when you need it.
- Start a team conversation using the North West Civility and Respect Video Learning Scenario flipbook
When workforce wellbeing is taken care of, it’s not just about how we cope as individuals and teams, it’s not just about system capacity; it’s about how we thrive as sustainable and effective healthcare providers.
We’ll leave you with this pertinent quote from The Courage Of Compassion (Michael West, The Kings Fund, September 2020):
“We’re looking at how to develop good work environments…by changing the workplace factors that affect wellbeing and effectiveness at work, rather than focusing on ways to help people cope with negative working environments or providing treatment when they become unwell.
“Efforts must be focused on changing the factors that cause stress rather than only dealing with symptoms.”
