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Magnet4Europe in UK

Improving Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Health Care Workplace

Overview

Mental health and wellbeing are among the highest priorities of the public health agenda in the European Union (EU). A large-scale European study of hospital work conditions and associated nurse and patient outcomes revealed high rates of job dissatisfaction and burnout, with burnout rates varying between 10% and 78%. Physician burnout rates ranging from 25% to 60% have been reported. Magnet4Europe aims to redesign clinical environments in more than sixty hospitals in six European countries (Belgium, United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Norway and Sweden) to promote the mental health and wellbeing of health professionals. Magnet4Europe will implement an evidence-based intervention based on the successful Magnet Recognition Program®, a voluntary hospital designation for nursing care excellence by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Countless studies have shown that Magnet-recognized hospitals have lower health professional burnout and safer patient care suggesting that the Magnet journey is an intervention that results in positive changes Magnet4Europe seeks to achieve.
The project is funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme from 2020 to 2023 (Grant Agreement 848031).

How does this research study work?

Magnet4Europe will be carried out between January 2020 and December 2023 in adult inpatient units.  The activities associated with implementing the intervention in participating European hospitals began in September 2020 (Nov 2020 England) in the first arm of the study – the waitlist control arm began 6 months later. It targets the five overarching principles of the Magnet® concept: (1) structural empowerment of clinical staff, (2) transformational leadership, (3) exemplary and evidence-based professional practice, (4) new knowledge, innovations, and improvements, and (5) empirical outcomes.  These principles will serve as a continuous feedback loop as to whether organizational changes are producing the intended outcomes for staff and patients. The Magnet® blueprint provides definitions of the principles and gives examples of evidence-based indicators that reflect progress toward achieving them.  To facilitate the implementation process, each participating European hospital receives support by one-to-one twinning with an experienced Magnet recognized hospital including annual on-site visits and by the creation of a critical mass of participating hospitals drawing public interest and promoting innovation, and replication.

Project coordination in UK

The UK project partners are located at University of Southampton, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and King's College London. 

Participating hospitals in Ireland

In England, a total of 12 NHS Hospital Trusts at 11 locations (see map) are participating. 

• Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Bradford
• Doncaster & Bassetlaw NHS Foundation Trust, Doncaster
• Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, Frimley
• Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucester
• University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, Kendal
• Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London
• Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London
• South TEES hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Middlesbrough
• Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Preston
• East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, Stevenage
• Torbay and South Devon Health Care NHS Foundation Trust, Torquay
• West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Watford

The British Healthcare System

Details on the functioning and characteristics of the British healthcare system can be found here.