Wellbeing Through Heritage for NHS Staff. Heritage Engagement and Participant Choice in the HerWellNHS Project

Workforce burnout is the highest in the history of the National Health Service (NHS) and is recognised as a dangerous risk to its future functioning. The extent of the crisis means that there is an urgent need for innovative, sustainable solutions that can be delivered at scale. The Heritage and Wellbeing for NHS Staff (HerWellNHS) pilot and feasibility study investigates the potential for self-directed visits to heritage sites to promote the wellbeing, compassion and work engagement for NHS staff who do not yet meet the clinical thresholds for support. This paper reports on visit choices made by NHS staff in HerWellNHS including site types, their characteristics, and how motivations for site choice align with self-described wellbeing needs. It includes the novel application of a machine learning model to extract predictors for participant visits to heritage with a green component versus urban built heritage. The results provide important insights into the feasibility of self-directed heritage visits as a scalable and sustainable public health intervention to support the wellbeing of NHS staff. They point to choice in heritage visit opportunities as vital in enabling NHS staff to build agency in meeting self-identified wellbeing needs in ways that respond to individual circumstances. They also provide insights into the development of strategies to support agency and independence, including removing barriers and providing positive opportunities as part of future intervention design, the role of psychological distance, and the potential for the Five Ways of Wellbeing to structure future heritage engagement by NHS staff.