Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of NHS Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hubs remaining open.

The 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, we have worked with NHS England to ensure a regional roll out with one or more mental health hub per region during 2023/24. This will ensure access to a clinical psychologist, assistant psychologists and support line staff, and ensure suitable administrative support for managing caseloads and supporting outreach to identify staff in need of support. Regions and integrated care boards will have the ability to target funding where it is most needed and to invest additional monies in the hubs where they feel this is needed.

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 National Health Service. NHS staff can continue to access NHS Practitioner Health, a national support service for staff with more complex mental health needs brough about by serious issues such as trauma or addiction.