Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of NHS Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hubs on (a) NHS staff mental health, (b) NHS staff wellbeing, (c) NHS staff retention rates, (d) NHS staff vacancy rates and (e) NHS staff burnout.

No specific assessment has been made. Staff mental health hubs were established in October 2020 with funding subsequently extended to March 2023. They were funded on a non-recurrent basis using additional funding from Government as a short-term response to the pressure on the workforce from COVID-19.

To ensure that specialist support for staff remains available, NHS England has committed to a regional roll out and will provide a proportion of non-recurrent funding to be split across the regions using a weighted population approach during 2023/24. Regions and integrated care boards will have the ability to target funding where it is most needed.

The health and wellbeing of National Health Service staff is a priority. NHS England has developed a range of health and wellbeing support for staff and earlier this year published a strategy to grow and strengthen occupational health and wellbeing services across the NHS. NHS staff can continue to access NHS Practitioner Health, a national support service for staff with more complex mental health needs brought about by serious issues such as trauma or addiction.