New app to help nurses at hospitals in Luton, Bedford and Milton Keynes with their mental health

Karen Storey and Rebecca Howard with the new app

A health and wellbeing app is being provided to nurses and other NHS staff in Luton, Bedford and Milton Keynes (BLMK) NHS Foundation Trust, to help with stress.

The move comes amid reports that more than 40,000 nurses have left the NHS in the past year, largely due to mental health issues.

NHS England and Improvement have seconded lead nurse Karen Storey to support the development of the app which contains resources specific to nursing needs such as reflection support, assertiveness and voice masterclasses. It is used by nurses at BLMK hospitals, which is supporting the launch of ShinyMind this week.

Dr Sarah Whiteman, Chief Medical Officer of Bedfordshire Luton and Milton Keynes Health and Care Partnership, said: “As a health and care system, we have embraced the innovation embodied by the ShinyMind app.

“We are very grateful to Rebecca Howard and her team for its development and for the very real and demonstrable improvements to our staff and patients, demonstrated by the pilots of the ongoing ‘Shine’ project.

The app has been co-created with the NHS, involving nurses, midwives and healthcare support workers, and has been proven to increase nurses’ positivity, helping them deal with stress more effectively and improve their well-being.

Lizzie Roberts, a nurse practitioner who uses the app, said, “I really enjoy using the ShinyMind app for meditation and resilience masterclasses. These really help to boost personal well-being.

A survey of 400 nurses using the beta version of ShinyMind found that 46% felt it had improved their productivity, 94% felt better as a result of its use, with the average improvement in well-being standing at 117%.

To launch the new app, ShinyMind enlisted the help of beloved British author and poet, Michael Rosen, who has penned a brand new poem dedicated to hardworking nurses, midwives and healthcare support workers. .

He said: ‘Nurses are the backbone of the NHS and literally saved my life.

“I believe the ShinyMind app will be a great source of information, advice and support for nurses and I really hope they download it to improve their well-being and continue to save lives.”

About Shirley A. Tamayo

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