Welcome to Hannah Greaves – the newest member of the Growing Occupational Health and Wellbeing project team

16th February 2022

We’re delighted to welcome our new Health and Wellbeing Lead, Hannah Greaves, who joined the AHSN NENC recently as part of the Growing Occupational Health and Wellbeing project team.

In her new role, Hannah will work closely with the team on the pilot project which brings together four NHS Trusts in the region (South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) with a single, integrated OH and Wellbeing service – designed to improve the OH support offered to NHS staff across the regional.

We caught up with Hannah to find out more about her role and what she’s most looking forward to!

 

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

I recently joined AHSN as the Health and Wellbeing Lead within the Growing Occupational Health Project.

I grew up in Pickering, North Yorkshire, and moved to Newcastle seven years ago to study Human Resource Management at University. I completed an undergraduate industrial placement year within HR at Newcastle Building Society in my third year. After university, I was offered a position within the HR department at Northumbria University and chose to specialise in wellbeing early in my career, whilst studying for my CIPD qualification alongside this. Supporting people’s wellbeing is something I’m passionate about.

 

What does your new role at the AHSN involve?

My role at the AHSN involves working alongside the Health and Wellbeing Leads across the four acute trusts to support the design, planning, and implementation of the evolved health and wellbeing framework (2021), and to facilitate a culture change of staff proactively accessing health and wellbeing resources.

In the initial stages of my role, I plan to identify the areas of progress and excellence across the organisations by facilitating a benchmarking review of current staff health and wellbeing through the use of the health and wellbeing framework diagnostic tool. Following the review, I intend to analyse the results and perform a gap analysis to inform what the health and wellbeing needs are for each organisation.

I am working as part of the Growing OH and Wellbeing team with the Programme Director, Project Manager and the Project Coordinator to help support the wider deliverables of the project, including establishing one integrated occupational health and wellbeing service initially across the pilot NHS organisation, one digital solution and a career pathway for staff.

 

What drew you to the position and what are you most looking forward to about your role at the AHSN?

I’m looking forward to meeting new people and having the opportunity to expand my knowledge around Occupational Health and Wellbeing in a different sector. One of the key things that I would like to do is drive change and provide valuable support based on my experience of delivering health and wellbeing initiatives for staff.

 

You’re joining a passionate team striving to improve quality of OH and wellbeing for staff. When you think about staff wellbeing, what does that mean to you?

Wellbeing is subjective and a much broader concept than simply ensuring someone is physically fit to do their job. There are so many factors that may affect someone’s wellbeing, however, the key to driving this project forward is to take a proactive approach by identifying new ways to support colleagues through the input of preventative measures, education, and by signposting to the appropriate resources for each individual’s health and wellbeing needs. To strive and continue improving the quality of OH and Wellbeing for staff, is also dependent on forming an inclusive culture and environment across the organisation where individuals feel valued and appreciated daily.

On a personal note, in terms of looking after my own wellbeing, spending the past couple of years working from home has allowed me a great sense of flexibility, which I cherish but it has also at times, been challenging.

I often find exercise is my main source of stress relief. Half the battle is forcing myself to get changed and getting started but it’s guaranteed that once I am in the middle of the workout, I always feel better for doing something – even 10 minutes of walking is a bonus some days. I enjoy taking part in activities such as yoga. It doesn’t always eliminate a bad mood entirely, but it definitely helps! Usually if this is the case, I need to reflect and go back to basic needs and figure out if I’m getting enough, sleeping, eating well or trying to juggle too many plates. I think self-care is vital and if anything, the pandemic has shown us just how important it is to prioritise our wellbeing and the things that make each one of us feel better.

 

Thanks to Hannah for taking the time to introduce herself to us. If you’re interested in finding out more about the exciting developments with the Growing OH and Wellbeing project, head over to the web page here to find out more.