Wellbeing Group

Mission Statement

“To work together as a community to provide support for each other, share resources and promote wellbeing across paediatric critical care in the United Kingdom & Ireland”

Thank you for visiting the Paediatric Critical Care Society Wellbeing page!

Who are we? The PCCS Wellbeing Special Interest Group formed in September 2020 and is a forum of interested professionals from different backgrounds, specialities and locations across the United Kingdom and Ireland who have an interest in the wellbeing of staff in paediatric critical care.

Why are we needed? We know that working in Paediatric Intensive Care (PICU) can be challenging with the potential risk of burnout, fatigue, post-traumatic stress disorder and moral distress. Psychological morbidity can impact our mental and physical health, as well as staff retention. We also know that PICU can be an immensely rewarding place to work and it is hugely important to look after ourselves and one another. Investing in staff health and wellbeing not only delivers benefits for organisations but ultimately for patients in our care. The NHS could not deliver high quality, effective care to patients without being able to rely on its teams.

What have we been doing? Your Wellbeing SIG has been working hard to promote and enhance wellbeing for our community. We had our inaugural meeting in September 2020 and have created a number of workstreams to create and help implement a national wellbeing strategy. These workstreams include framework development, peer support, research & evaluation, education, networking and information technology/social media. Each of these workstreams is exploring ways in which we can truly make a difference to your wellbeing. We hope to use this website to keep you informed and up-to-date on our progress. We also aim to provide you with useful resources and create a platform to share success stories from wellbeing teams across the country.

How can you help? I would encourage all of you to link in with your local wellbeing team to see how you can contribute at local level – and if you don’t have a local wellbeing team then this is a fantastic opportunity to create one! I would love to see representation on our SIG from every unit so please get in touch if this is something that interests you. We would also love to hear stories about your wellbeing initiatives so that we can share them with our community and celebrate your successes.

Keep an eye out for us on social media (look for #PCCSWellbeing on Twitter) and please make the most of our educational resources and research initiatives. And above all else, remember to look after yourselves, as well as each other.
#PCCSWellbeing

Best wishes,

Dr. Peter Donnelly
Paediatric Intensive Care Consultant, Glasgow Chair, PCCS Wellbeing SIG