NHS TRUST AWARDED £10,000 TO HELP SUPPORT STAFF AFTER TRAUMATIC EVENTS

Following a successful bid the Isle of Wight NHS Trust has been awarded £10,000 from NHS England and Improvement to support staff and their mental health after they experience traumatic events in the workplace.

With the new funding, the Trust will train an additional 16 TRiM practitioners to help improve support for staff and help them understand the effects that a traumatic event can have upon them.

TRiM, known as Trauma Risk Management Methodology, is a system that the Isle of Wight Ambulance Service already has in place and has seen positive outcomes for its staff. Once fully trained the new funding will mean that the Trust will have 37 TRiM practitioners in place.

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An enhanced TRiM support process will also ensure that there is a coherent, considered approach to the organisation’s response and that management and supporting departments are involved.

Rob Jubb, Head of Health, Safety and Security, has said:

“Facing violence and aggression of any kind can be a frightening experience. As well as being physically injured, our staff may also be affected emotionally. We are committed to supporting our staff to help them cope and recover if they have been a victim of violence in the workplace.

“Whilst we have seen a reduction in the number of assaults over the last few years; in 2019/20 our staff reported 293 physical assaults and 245 verbal assaults compared to 2020/21 where we had 161 physical assaults and 236 verbal assaults, we are working hard to reduce these numbers even further.

“An enhanced TRiM support process will ensure that there is a coherent, considered approach to the organisation’s response and that management and supporting departments are involved.”

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Occupational Health Mental Health Practitioner, Steve Sargent, has said:

“Being able to expand our TRiM support process we mean that we are able to support our staff even better. TRiM is an important first step towards preventing work-related stress which can also be caused by instances such as dealing with a serious multiple casualty incident or any incident that causes profound emotion, such as the sudden death of an infant.

“Having more practitioners trained will contribute to building a resilient workforce and help staff build resilience and feel supported when they have been exposed to a traumatic event.”