Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of deploying psychological professionals to support the wellbeing of NHS staff during the covid-19 outbreak.

The Department asked NHS England and NHS Improvement to develop a comprehensive support package for all National Health Service staff during and after the COVID-19 outbreak.

As a part of this support package all NHS staff are now able to call or text a free number staffed by specially trained respondents, to receive support and advice for the pressures they face every day during the global health emergency.

Anyone who requires further help will be signposted to other services including specialist professional psychological support where this is needed. The phone line will be open between 7am and 11pm every day, while the text service will be 24 hours a day, seven days a week. More details, including the numbers to call, can be found online at the following link:

people.nhs.uk/help