Applying the Principles of Midlands Charter to Improve Well-being of Psychiatry Higher Trainee in BSMHFT

Abstract

Aims

The Midlands’ Charter outlines commitment to prioritise the restoration of postgraduate medical education and training impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic . The support provided must be accessible, inclusive, and culturally sensitive, with a greater understanding of current barriers that the trainees face to achieve this goal. This project aims to identify the barrier of receiving well-being support and to enhance psychiatry higher trainee's well-being in the trust by following the principles of Midland's Charter.

Methods

We designed an anonymous electronic survey, where multiple choice questions and Likert scales were used to quantify respondents’ levels of agreement with a range of statements. Questions were selected to capture baseline characteristic, rating of current well-being score, access to well-being support, barriers, and suggestion of improvement.

The survey was open for one month and was distributed to all psychiatry higher trainees working in BSMHFT.

Results

We identified a response rate of 81%.

One of the main themes of the survey that came up repeatedly was that trainees are struggling with clinical workload that sometimes overspilled to their personal time, which means family time is affected. More than half of the trainees reported that they do not know how to access well-being support in the trust. While the result was split in half when the trainees were asked if they have a well-being concern whilst working for the trust. Trainees said that there is very little support given to attend any nonrelated work engagement and they made grievance on the difficulty of accessing the trust occupational health and well-being services.

Conclusion

Since the inception of the survey, several recommendations were trialled. This include raising awareness among clinicals supervisors, where a video was uploaded on to the Trust intranet outlining the tips of becoming a good clinical supervisor. A well-being booklet was introduced as part of trainees’ induction, and this was also made available on the intranet. Lastly, an awareness on ST representative role was also highlighted so that they can continue to facilitate an ST forum meeting as platform to raise concerns.