Nurses’ well-being: would discount meals at work help?

An NHS trust has received praise from nurses and other staff by providing free breakfasts and cut-price dinners to help them cope with the cost of living

An NHS trust is providing free or discounted meals to staff to boost morale and support them during the cost-of-living crisis.

Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (MKUH) is offering free breakfasts and £3.50 roast dinners ‘with all the trimmings’ on Sundays.

The trust launched a trial of cut-price meals in December to help nurses and other staff facing rising bills over winter. After an ‘overwhelmingly positive’ response it has extended the offering.

• RELATED: Nurses in the food bank queue: why has it come to this?

The trust’s director of corporate affairs Kate Jarman said: ‘From free breakfasts to discounted meals and vending machines, our initiatives were very well-utilised by colleagues, and as a result of overwhelmingly positive feedback we made the decision to extend this provision past the initial three-month trial.

Staff praise the scheme as better for well-being than yoga or resilience training

‘We will continue to listen staff feedback on the schemes to ensure we can support our colleagues’ well-being at work, now and in the future.’

Nurses and other healthcare staff praised the idea while others said it was a better well-being initiative than ‘yoga or mandatory resilience’.

• RELATED: Nurses are lying if they say they need to use food banks, MP insists

One nurse shared a picture of the roast, complete with a Yorkshire pudding, to say it cheered her up during her shift. Others said the smallest gesture can have the biggest impact for staff.

As the cost-of-living crisis continues, many health and care staff are struggling to make ends meet. Research by NHS Charities Together, released earlier this year, revealed around 550 nurses were among an estimated 5,000 NHS staff using food banks monthly.

Other NHS trusts have set up food banks or are considering schemes such as voucher programmes or food pantries

Many NHS trusts have set up food banks in a bid to support staff, with others also looking at other food support for staff such as voucher programmes or food pantries.

Household bills including energy prices, council tax, internet access and water increased as the new financial year kicked in on 1 April, putting further pressure on nurses’ bank accounts.

• RELATED: Food banks for nurses: survey offers glimpse of scale of crisis

In other news

• A four-day week for NHS staff? Here’s what nurses think
• Nurse stars in inspirational choir of worldwide healthcare staff
• Nurse to pay £55k over nursing home resident deaths