New app to help nurses at Luton, Bedford and Milton Keynes hospital with their mental health

Karen Storey and Rebecca Howard with the new app

A health and wellbeing app is being given to nurses and other NHS staff at Luton, Bedford and Milton Keynes (BLMK) NHS Foundation Trust, to help combat stress.

The move comes amid reports that more than 40,000 nurses have left the NHS in the past year largely due to suffering mental health issues.

NHS England and Improvement have seconded senior nurse, Karen Storey, to support the development of the app that contains resources specific to nursing needs such as reflective support, assertiveness and voice masterclasses. It is being used by nurses across BLMK hospitals, which is supporting the launch of ShinyMind this week.

Dr Sarah Whiteman, Chief Medical Director for the Bedfordshire Luton and Milton Keynes Health and Care Partnership, said: “As a health and care system we have embraced the innovation that is embodied by the ShinyMind app.

“We are very grateful to Rebecca Howard and her team for its development and for the very real, demonstrable improvements to our workforce and patients being evidenced through ongoing ‘Shine’ project pilots.

The app has been co-created with the NHS, involving nurses, midwives and healthcare support workers, and is proven to increase positivity among nurses, helping them manage stress more effectively and improve their wellbeing.

Lizzie Roberts, a Practice Nurse who uses the app, said: “I really enjoy using the ShinyMind app for meditation and resilience masterclasses. These really help build on personal wellbeing.”

A poll of 400 nurses using the Beta version of ShinyMind, revealed that 46% felt it had improved their productivity, 94% ‘felt better’ as a result of using it, with the average improvement in wellbeing standing at 117%.

To launch the new app, ShinyMind enlisted the help of beloved British author and poet, Michael Rosen, who has written a brand new poem dedicated to hard working nurses, midwives and healthcare support workers.

He said: “Nurses are the backbone of the NHS and literally saved my life.

“I believe that the ShinyMind app will be a great source of information, guidance, and support for nurses and I really hope they download it to help improve their wellbeing and continue to save lives.”