Centre for Mental Health

Sainsbury Centre welcomes new move to improve mental health of NHS staff

3 March 2010

Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health today welcomes the launch of a new campaign to improve mental health and to tackle the stigma of mental ill health among NHS staff.

The Open Your Mind campaign was launched today by NHS Employers. It will identify good practice among NHS organisations and produce materials to help local efforts to improve the mental health of health service staff.

Sainsbury Centre joint chief executive Dr Bob Grove said: "Mental ill health among staff costs NHS organisations some £1.3 billion a year. Much of this can be saved by responding better when people first become unwell and by accepting mental distress as a fact of life that affects all of us from time to time.

"We warmly welcome the Open Your Mind initiative and hope that it will lead to a significant improvement, not just in the way the NHS supports the mental health of its staff but in how it recruits and retains people with a history of mental ill health. The NHS should be leading by example as an employer of people with mental health problems, showing other employers what can be achieved (and saved) by being more positive and supportive."