Stress Awareness Month: April 2025.

April is Stress Awareness Month and let’s face it, there is a lot to be stressed about working in social care. It is therefore worth understanding some of the causes, signs and symptoms of, as well as some simple strategies for managing, stress.

It is also important for social care managers to have an understanding of stress in the workplace as the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act states:

“it shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees”

This includes protecting people from stress.

Causes of Stress in Social Care

While stress is a component of every job to some extent or another, health and social care environments have some additional stressors which are not present in other workplaces, these include…

High expectations from:

• People using the Service.
• Families.
• Other staff and managers.
• The local authority.
• The regulator: www.cqc.org.uk
• Staffing issues.
• Unsocial shift patterns.
• Emotional impact of working with at risk people.
• Working with life and death scenarios regularly.
• Low pay.

Other factors common to many workplaces include:

• Poor management practices.
• High workloads.
• Personal issues.
• Poor health.
• Relationship issues.
• Other caring responsibilities.
• Financial issues.

Notably care work, and the health and social care sector in general, has been increasingly in the public eye as a result of COVID-19 and the change in Government. More recently there have been public debates about fixing what is said to be a “broken” sector, which leaves many in the sector feel undervalued.

Effects of Stress

Notably stress can have a major impact on how people feel and gives rise to a number of physical signs and symptoms including:

• Palpitations.
• High cholesterol.
• Chest pain.
• Headaches.
• Indigestion.
• Increased risk of cancer.

While everyone has some of these symptoms some of the time, and many of us suffer these transiently when stressed, prolonged stress can contribute to some serious physical health conditions such as:

• Heart Disease.
• Hypertension.
• Ulcers.
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
• Diabetes.
• Asthma.
• Cancer.
• Infections.

Perhaps more commonly understood are the mental health signs and symptoms of stress including:

• Poor concentration.
• Mood changes.
• Disturbed sleep.
• Irritability.
• Personality changes.
• Changes in eating habits and behaviours.

Which in turn, when exposed to stress for long periods of time can contribute to the development of, or increase the severity of existing:

• Anxiety Disorders.
• Panic attacks.
• Depression.
• Burnout.

Managing Stress

Research has shown how a small amount of stress can be good for people in that it, stimulates us to set ourselves goals and achieve them. In extremes, however, stress can lead to serious physical and mental illness from which some people never recover.

Social care managers owe it both to themselves and their teams not only to understand the causes and effects of stress, but to also find strategies to help manage it.

On this #StressAwarenessMonth, the Health and Safety Executive are encouraging managers to focus on the five Rs:

• Reach out and have conversations.
• Recognise the signs and causes of stress.
• Respond to any risks you’ve identified.
• Reflect on actions you’ve agreed and taken.
• Make it Routine.

While the Stress Management Society have made their call to action this year #LeadWithLove, which is about leading with unconditional positive regard. Unconditional positive regard refers to a leadership style which accepts people for who they are, which is non-judgemental and is about nurturing people and relationships with people.

Strategies which apply to managers and leaders, and some to team members, in social care include:

• Keep up with supervisions – these allow people to offload and tell staff that their manager cares about them.
• Be aware of workloads – and ensuring these are distributed fairly according to ability.
• Prioritise the things that matter – for example making sure staff take their holidays.
• Provide access to training and development – for example certificated courses such as NVQs and QCFs etc.
• Find ways of celebrating with the team, for example:
• Team member of the month.
• Theme days, such as Children in Need and Red Nose Day.
• A team meal or trip out.
• Sending birthday and Christmas cards.
• Say thank you – only when it is deserved or it loses its value.

The best way to manage workplace stress is to not let it happen – preventing stress is better than trying to cure it. This means workplaces in which communication is open and honest and which reflects the Care Quality Commission’s “well led” quality statement:

“We have a shared vision, strategy and culture. This is based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and our communities in order to meet these”

When people feel valued and listened to their quality of life improves and the quality of the care they provide improves too.

It is a foolish Registered Manager and Nominated Individual who ignores the health and wellbeing of their staff and who fails to address the causes and effects of stress in the workplace.

Summary

Stress is a reality in all workplaces, especially those in which care is provided. Managers and leaders need to understand the causes and signs and symptoms of stress and work to alleviate these in their workplace. Stress which is not managed will give rise to ill health and poor care, while well managed care gives rise to happy and healthy staff and a better quality of care provision.

In this #StressAwarenessMonth 2025, managers should take the time to get to know a little more about stress in the workplace and the role they can play in preventing and / or managing it.

Bettal, can help Registered Managers and Nominated individuals manage a few areas of stress, for example by them subscribing to use our CQC compliant policies and procedures and using our Quality Statements Pre-Inspection Audit tool.

Contact Bettal Quality Consultancy today to learn how our comprehensive and value for money policies and procedures can help you achieve successful care provision and CQC compliance.

To find out more please email us or call us at 08085 020483 to get started!

Peter Ellis MA MSc BSc(Hons) RN
Consultant, Bettal Quality Consultancy