Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce stress in the health sector workplace.

The health and wellbeing of National Health Service staff is very important to the Government. We anticipated that they would potentially need additional mental health support to help them face any additional stresses from COVID-19 response.

We commissioned NHS England and NHS Improvement at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak to develop a comprehensive package of emotional, psychological and practical support for NHS staff - building on local support already in place. NHS Employers’ latest mental wellbeing guidance also encourages managers to remind their staff to take breaks and discuss their emotional wellbeing.

The NHS People Plan will set out a ‘new offer’, detailing the health and wellbeing support that all NHS staff can expect to receive from their employer.