A focus on staff care & development 

Staff Care & Development is one of six strands of the Culture of Care programme. It will support inpatient ward staff – from both NHS and independent providers – to develop team cultures and systems so that people on the ward feel safe and cared for. Through site visits and focus groups, reflective practice training and supervision, skills-based training, and coaching, the offer will focus on high-quality relational care, positive informal interactions on the ward, and psychologically safe environments.

Our offer lasts for six months, and we are running 3 cohorts over the next 2 years. The indicative start dates are:

• Cohort 1: September 2024
• Cohort 2: Early Spring 2025
• Cohort 3: Autumn 2025

We will advertise to register new teams prior to the beginning of each cohort.

Please note that the other areas of the Culture of Care programme, delivered by the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (NCCMH) and the Foundation of Nursing Studies (FONS), are managed separately.

Working with staff to build the Culture of Care standards into everyday culture

Between September 2024 and March 2026, the Staff Care & Development offer will support inpatient services to co-produce effective support for staff on mental health inpatient wards across 60 ward teams across England, through activities that improve culture of care and align to the 12 core commitments in the Culture of Care standards.

Our programme will:

• Work with mental health care services that provide care to inpatients
• Provide team learning, coaching, reflective practice and change projects
• Support cultural change, empower staff to co-produce and deliver change ideas, and build capacity for wards to improve culture independently
• Incorporate Lived Experience input at all levels
• Share and disseminate good practice and learning coming out of the programme

The Staff Care & Development Team

Our team comprises a diverse group of individuals from a range of expert organisations, including lived experience practitioners, former frontline staff, expert advisors and professionals with expertise in quality improvement and transformation in mental health services.

Together, we offer combined experience and expertise in coaching and mentoring organisations and individuals through continuous improvement, change and transformation.

We work closely and collaboratively with leaders and teams to solve complex challenges, and deliver on-the-ground co-produced change across health and care organisations.