Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing investment for mental health support for NHS staff.

In 2022/23, £45 million funding has been allocated to support the continuation of the national mental health and wellbeing support offer, which includes the 40 mental health and wellbeing hubs for health and social care staff in England. These hubs provide proactive outreach and clinical assessment and enable rapid access to evidence based mental health services and support.

The Professional Nurse Advocacy programme is delivering staff training and restorative supervision in England and the NHS Practitioner Health service provides a national support service for staff with more complex needs, such as trauma or addictions. The national health and wellbeing offer also includes a role for Wellbeing Guardians at board level. We are strengthening the role for occupational health services to a more integrated, preventative partner in supporting health and wellbeing.