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NHS staff should have career breaks, says William

PA Media Prince William smiling at the camera and sitting in an armchair. He is wearing a dark suit and pale shirt.PA Media
The Prince of Wales visited NHS staff at the Royal Berkshire Hospital

The Prince of Wales has suggested NHS staff should have enforced career breaks to aid their mental health.

Prince William made the comment while visiting the Oasis Health and Wellbeing Centre and garden, at Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH) in Reading.

He attended a meeting to hear how health workers coped with the pandemic and chatted to staff who were on the frontline.

The prince told a small group of NHS staff who use the facility: "Unless there's almost an enforced break in somebody's career - as part of your career development - we're never going to get to the point where we can look after their mental health."

PA Media The Prince of Wales, patron of NHS Charities Together, walking in a garden with two men and a woman. There are tall ornamental grasses at each side of the path they are walking along. They are walking towards the camera.PA Media
Prince William toured the gardens of the Oasis Health and Wellbeing Centre

The RBH recorded the first person in the UK to die after testing positive for Covid-19, five years ago to the day on 5 March 2020.

The prince - a former air ambulance helicopter pilot - visited the trust's centre in his role as patron of NHS Charities Together.

The organisation provided about £3m to renovate the centre, which has a gym, yoga classes and a garden providing spaces for recreation, reflection and vegetable growing.

It launched its Covid-19 Urgent Appeal in 2020 and raised £162m to support NHS staff, patients and communities, working with a network of 235 NHS charities, based in every trust and health board around the UK.

PA Media Prince William sitting on a bench with five other people (NHS Staff) talking about their work on the frontline.PA Media
The prince chatted to staff from the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust who were on the frontline during the pandemic

Prince William listened as one senior nurse became emotional when he described not visiting his elderly parents in Italy for two years to protect them during the outbreak.

"Everyone in the NHS is there to care for others so the last person who gets looked after is the individual," the prince said.

"I've seen that when I've worked with doctors, nurses, paramedics - they always put it down the line, they don't want to put their workload on to someone else - how do you go around identifying the right people?

"For me, looking into the nation's mental health, if you like, over the last few years, unless there's almost an enforced break in somebody's career - as part of your career development - we're never going to get to the point where we can look after their mental health, because you always rely on the individual to put their hand up."

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