NHS Trusts are one of the largest Merseyside employers with collectively over 35,000 staff, however their absenteeism rates are three times higher than in other sectors. This is adding strain to NHS organisations who have faced budget cuts and have staff working long shifts in high pressured environments.
Working together with 9 Trusts across Merseyside, MSP put together the #alltogetherfitterNHS campaign which included
• A Take your Trust to Rio step challenge
• A free programme of 16 sport and physical activity taster sessions
Through the Take your Trust to Rio Challenge, over 1,000 staff signed up to the Work Place Challenge, of those 86% of staff taking part were inactive, 90% said that taking part inspired them to be more active and one trust reported 67% lower absenteeism.
Through the free programme of 16 sport and physical activity taster sessions, over 130 people took part, of those 71% of staff taking part were physically inactive, 73% reported improved activity levels, with 37% shifting from ‘inactive’ to ‘active’. 43% tried their activity for the first-time and 98% want to continue, 50% reported improved wellbeing totals and one trust reported 96% lower absenteeism.
This campaign also provided an active difference through the consultancy and expertise provided for all the trusts to meet their CQUIN targets and together submit a business case to lever further investment for staff to take part in physical activity.
