NHS CHECK study
Understanding and mitigating the psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on NHS staff in England NHS CHECK study
NHS CHECK started as a major study of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the short and long-term health and wellbeing of all staff working within 18 partner NHS Trusts. The study continues to be as important as ever as pressures on the NHS continue due to many factors, not just the lasting affects of the pandemic. It will explore the various support programmes that staff may have taken part in to see how helpful they were, and examine whether there is other support that could be valuable.
What the research involves: It involves a longitudinal cohort study of >23,000 clinical and non-clinical staff from 18 acute and mental health NHS Trusts across England. Sub-studies include: 1) qualitative interviews about support services used/needed by staff; 2) an RCT of a smartphone wellbeing app; 3) gold standard diagnostic interviews to validate mental health screening measures.
What has the study found so far? https://nhscheck.org/study-findings/
Study Team and Further information: nhscheck@kcl.ac.uk
Funders: Medical Research Council; UCL/Wellcome; Rosetrees Trust; NHS England and Improvement; Economic and Social Research Council; Koa Health; NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, King's College London; NIHR Protection Research Unit in Emergency Preparedness and Response at King's College London.
Publications
NHS CHECK: protocol for a cohort study investigating the psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers. Lamb D, Greenberg N, Hotopf M, Raine R, Razavi R, Bhundia R, Scott H, Carr E, Gafoor R, Bakolis I, Hegarty S, Souliou E, Rafferty AM, Rhead R, Weston W, Gnanapragasam S, Marlow S, Wessely S, Stevelink S. NHS CHECK: protocol for a cohort study investigating the psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers BMJ Open 2021;11:e051687. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-051687 http://bmjopen.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/bmjopen-2021-051687
Psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on 4378 UK healthcare workers and ancillary staff: initial baseline data from a cohort study collected during the first wave of the pandemic. Lamb D, Gnanapragasam S, Greenberg N, et al Psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on 4378 UK healthcare workers and ancillary staff: initial baseline data from a cohort study collected during the first wave of the pandemic Occupational and Environmental Medicine Published Online First: 28 June 2021. doi: 10.1136/oemed-2020-107276 http://oem.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/oemed-2020-107276
Mixed signals about the mental health of the NHS workforce. Lamb D, Greenberg N, Stevelink SA, Wessely S. Mixed signals about the mental health of the NHS workforce. The Lancet Psychiatry. 2020 Dec 1;7(12):1009-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30379-5
Capturing the experiences of UK healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A structural topic modelling analysis of 7,412 free-text survey responses. Lamb D, Wright L, Scott H, Croak B, Gnanapragasam S, Docherty M, et al. (2022) Capturing the experiences of UK healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A structural topic modelling analysis of 7,412 free-text survey responses. PLoS ONE 17(10): e0275720. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275720
Moral injury and psychological wellbeing in UK healthcare staff. Williamson, V., Lamb, D., Hotopf, M., Raine, R., Stevelink, S., Wessely, S., Docherty, M., Madan, I., Murphy, D. and Greenberg, N., 2023. Moral injury and psychological wellbeing in UK healthcare staff. Journal of mental health, pp.1-9. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2023.2182414
‘It hurts your heart’: frontline healthcare worker experiences of moral injury during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hegarty S, Lamb D, Stevelink SA, Bhundia R, Raine R, Doherty MJ, Scott HR, Marie Rafferty A, Williamson V, Dorrington S, Hotopf M. ‘It hurts your heart’: frontline healthcare worker experiences of moral injury during the COVID-19 pandemic. European journal of psychotraumatology. 2022 Dec 19;13(2):2128028. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2022.2128028
‘You get looked at like you’re failing’: A reflexive thematic analysis of experiences of mental health and wellbeing support for NHS staff. Clarkson C, Scott HR, Hegarty S, et al. ‘You get looked at like you’re failing’: A reflexive thematic analysis of experiences of mental health and wellbeing support for NHS staff. Journal of Health Psychology. 2023;28(9):818-831. https://doi.org/10.1177/13591053221140255
Multicentre, England-wide randomised controlled trial of the ‘Foundations’ smartphone application in improving mental health and well-being in a healthcare worker population. Gnanapragasam SN, Tinch-Taylor R, Scott HR, Hegarty S, Souliou E, Bhundia R, et al. Multicentre, England-wide randomised controlled trial of the ‘Foundations’ smartphone application in improving mental health and well-being in a healthcare worker population. The British Journal of Psychiatry. Cambridge University Press; 2023;222(2):58–66. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2022.103
Prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder and common mental disorders in health-care workers in England during the COVID-19 pandemic: a two-phase cross-sectional study. Scott HR, Stevelink SA, Gafoor R, Lamb D, Carr E, Bakolis I, Bhundia R, Docherty MJ, Dorrington S, Gnanapragasam S, Hegarty S. Prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder and common mental disorders in health-care workers in England during the COVID-19 pandemic: a two-phase cross-sectional study. The Lancet Psychiatry. 2023 Jan 1;10(1):40-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(22)00375-3
Does it matter if there are errors in GHQ-12 response items? Croak, Bethany et al. The Lancet Psychiatry, Volume 11, Issue 6, 409 – 410 https://www.thelancet.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1016%2FS2215-0366%2824%2900109-3&pii=S2215-0366%2824%2900109-3
Suicidal thoughts and behaviour among healthcare workers in England during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal study. Padmanathan P, Lamb D, Scott H, Stevelink S, Greenberg N, Hotopf M, et al. (2023) Suicidal thoughts and behaviour among healthcare workers in England during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal study. PLoS ONE 18(6): e0286207. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286207
Moral Injuries in Healthcare Workers: What Causes Them and What to Do About Them? Rabin S, Kika N, Lamb D, Murphy D, AM Stevelink S, Williamson V, Wessely S, Greenberg N. Moral Injuries in Healthcare Workers: What Causes Them and What to Do About Them?. J Healthc Leadersh. 2023;15:153-160 https://doi.org/10.2147/JHL.S396659
Long COVID among healthcare workers: a narrative review of definitions, prevalence, symptoms, risk factors and impacts. Brendan Dempsey, Ira Madan, Sharon A M Stevelink, Danielle Lamb, British Medical Bulletin, Volume 151, Issue 1, September 2024, Pages 16–35, https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldae008
Post COVID-19 syndrome among 5248 healthcare workers in England: longitudinal findings from NHS CHECK. Dempsey B, Blake HA, Madan I et al Occupational and Environmental Medicine Published Online First: 02 October 2024. http://oem.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/oemed-2024-109621