A ground-breaking South Yorkshire integrated health and care staff wellbeing programme to change the culture around menopause in the workplace has been highly commended for a prestigious health service award.
NHS South Yorkshire’s ‘Mission: Menopause’ received national recognition at the 2023 Health Service Journal (HSJ) Awards in London last night (Thursday 16 November) being highly commended in the Staff Wellbeing Award category.
NHS South Yorkshire has worked in partnership with 15 organisations from South Yorkshire’s local authorities, hospitals, primary care, social care, and the voluntary sector coming together to share learning and best practice on changing the culture around menopause in the workplace. All 15 organisations in the integrated care system are now accredited menopause friendly employers, the only example of integrated system achievement in the country.
Partners have been working together on initiatives and are showing a real commitment to making menopause something that is discussed in day-to-day conversations.
Brigitte Kaviani, Head of Health and Wellbeing for NHS South Yorkshire and lead for the programme said: “We are delighted to have been highly commended for our work to improve knowledge and wellbeing for our staff around menopause in the workplace."
“Awareness and education are essential to tackling the taboo of menopause and encouraging people to talk more openly about it."
“When we started the data was stark, we risked losing 10,000 South Yorkshire health and care staff due to menopause within five years. That’s 1 in 7 staff. Through our webinars and events, we have engaged 50,950 of our 72,000 workforce (70%) building a real community. We have also got leaders and staff talking openly about it.”
“We hope now that we can continue to take this work forward, changing the culture in South Yorkshire and encouraging other organisations across the region to do the same."
Mission: Menopause has previously won the NHS Employers award for wellbeing in the Healthcare People Management Association (HPMA) Excellence in People Awards in September.
Cathy Winfield, Chief Nursing Officer at NHS South Yorkshire said, “Congratulations to all our workforce and volunteers in health and social care across South Yorkshire who have worked hard to tackle the stigma around menopause and get people talking about it in their workplaces.”
Christine Joy, Chief People Officer at NHS South Yorkshire said, “Being highly commended at the HSJ Awards is a great honour and a wonderful opportunity to showcase our innovative approach to transforming culture for our entire health and care workforce, we know we are already having a positive impact as we have seen sickness absence and leaver rates reducing.”
To find out more about Mission: Menopause and the work across South Yorkshire visit: https://syics.co.uk/workforce-wellbeing/menopause-support-and-resources-health-and-staff
South Yorkshire healthcare providers were shortlisted in three categories:
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Staff Wellbeing Award: NHS South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), and South Yorkshire Integrated Care System (ICS) - Mission: menopause – changing culture in South Yorkshire
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Integrated Care Initiative of the Year: NHS South Yorkshire ICB, Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust, Primary Care Doncaster and Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber Foundation Trust and FCMS Doncaster - Doncaster Wound Care Alliance
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Mental Health Innovation of the Year: Sheffield Health and Social Care Foundation Trust - “Less Talk, More Action”: Listening to, and working with community leaders to reduce Race Inequalities in Mental health
