Introduction The Royal College of Psychiatrists position statement has described the importance of supporting the mental health and wellbeing of psychiatrists. It recognises the impact of wellbeing on quality of patient care, maintaining good mental health among staff and, crucially for trainees, on recruitment and retention to the profession. Trainee and junior doctors are recognised as a population at increased risk of poor mental health and suicide. During the Covid-19 pandemic further pressures on trainees made wellbeing particularly pertinent, trainees were working outside of their usual remit and faced changes to training pathways and exams. Remote induction, teaching and supervision due to Covid-19 restrictions impacted the information about wellbeing resources to which trainees were exposed. Trainees in the West Midlands Deanery have access to an excellent range of support via local and national services, however, anecdotally there has been a lack of trainee awareness and understanding of these resources.

Aims and objectives of the research project or activity Provide the key aims and objectives of the project, activityUsing a quality improvement project format we aimed to gauge the awareness and understanding amongst core trainees in the West Midlands deanery of the wellbeing and mental health resources available to them. We sought to identify which resources trainees were aware of, their understanding of how to access them, and what they provide. In addition we aimed to identify any gaps in trainee knowledge where further promotion of services was needed. Using this information we aim to improve signposting to available resources, and create wellbeing information easily accessible and applicable to all trainees in the deanery. or research

Method or approach 111 core trainees in the West Midlands deanery were invited to complete an anonymous online survey during November 2020. Results were presented in each of the four localities within the deanery as part of the post graduate teaching programme, and views were sought at that time on how to improve practice. A number of wellbeing resources were developed including posters for the doctor’s mess, leaflet inserts for induction packs and an online wellbeing page on the deanery postgraduate virtual learning environment. A further round of data collection took place in November 2022 following dissemination of the wellbeing resources to assess their impact.

Findings The initial survey response rate was 40% (44 respondents). 14% (6) of trainees felt well informed about the wellbeing resources available to them and 59% (26) somewhat well informed. 57% (25) who attended deanery induction and 82% (36) who attended local trust induction did not think wellbeing as a topic had been covered, or could not recall it being covered. Despite this, trainees were aware of a range of resources, with the most known being BMA Wellbeing, Psychiatrists’ Support Service and the local Peer Support Unit. Trainees identified ‘social media’ and ‘word of mouth’ as ways in which they were made aware of resources. A further round of data collection took place in November 2022 following dissemination of the wellbeing resources. 165 core trainees were invited to complete the survey, with a response rate of 18% (29 respondents). 17% (5) of trainees felt well informed about the wellbeing resources available to them and 55% (16) somewhat well informed. 55% (16) who attended deanery induction and 66% (19) who attended local trust induction did not think the topic had been covered, or could not recall it being covered.

Key messages Our initial results indicated that more work needed to be done at local trust and deanery level to make wellbeing a priority during induction and improve awareness of available resources. Following the development and dissemination of our resources trainees reported feeling more informed. We observed an increase in trainees recalling wellbeing as a topic covered as part of local induction. This suggests that inclusion of wellbeing resources in induction packs, doctors mess and hallways has been a successful way to improve access and availability of this information. This finding was reinforced by trainees identifying ‘induction’ as somewhere where they first heard about resources, along with ‘leaflets’ and ‘posters’ which were not identified in the initial data collection in 2020. However these results clearly show that further promotion of wellbeing at deanery and local induction is needed, until all trainees are aware of available resources. Several of the trusts included in the project have since signed the ‘Midlands Charter’ and appointed ‘trainee wellbeing representatives’ in efforts to address this, and the resources created during the project will continue to be updated and used in these efforts.