Three key steps to alleviating workplace stress: Diagnostic Radiographer Sean Duignan on the impact of pressures in the NHS

Sean explains that he fell into radiography. A health scare in his early 20s left Sean wanting to return to education to upgrade his job prospects – as well as figure out what he actually wanted to do. Over the course of conversations about careers and visits to job fairs, he encountered physiotherapy, occupational therapy and radiography, which caught his eye immediately.

Sean studied at Salford University from 1998 to 2001, then went on to work at University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust (now Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust) as a Diagnostic Radiographer. He remained there for the following 17 years, working his way up to Band 6.

Around 2003 – early into his career – Sean became interested in health and safety, and sought a role as a health and safety rep with the SoR. Part of that, he explains, was stress related. “I became very interested in how much it costs an organisation, and how organisations talk internally, from the employer to the employee side,” Sean says. “The trade union and human resources perspective, trying to get them to talk to each other – it’s all in a very different language.”

Sean’s dedication to the work landed him a role as a health and safety adviser for the Manchester trust from August 2014 to June 2015. There, he advised on all aspects of health and safety training, stress risk assessments and how to identify not just stress, but also the costs and savings related to stress. 

Off the back of that experience, Sean sought to develop his knowledge of stress and its workforce impacts. To that end, he obtained a postgraduate degree in occupational health and safety from the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health, an organisation that provides health, safety and sustainability qualifications. 

In 2018, Sean briefly took a role as a Care Quality Commission Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations inspector, before the siren song of radiography became too much to resist. He returned to work as a senior radiographer in 2019 at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (now Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust). His return came just before the onset of the Covid pandemic – and after two years there, Sean decided in 2021 to join the private sector as a senior radiographer at Spire Healthcare Group, where he still works now. 

But Sean did not forget his time involved in stress, health and safety, and how radiographers in particular can manage and mitigate it. In 2023, Sean met Bren at a presentation for the UK National Work-Stress Network. Bren has almost 30 years of experience in organisational psychology, specialising in work-related stress, bullying and harassment. Their shared passion drove the pair to found The Stress Company, which is dedicated to improving mental health and safety standards, offering guidance and support to both individuals and organisations.

The Stress Company has a number of methods to help employers and employees tackle stress in the workplace: bespoke training, corporate workshops, seminars and presentations – each session aims to provide care for, and attention to, the physical, mental, behavioural and cognitive health of everyone in the organisation. The overwhelming throughline, however, is ensuring cooperation and collaboration, says Sean.

With heavier and heavier pressures facing the workforce – more patients, more vacancies, less time, less resources – the demands on individual staff become heavier too. All too many times, Sean explains, he’s seen these factors lead to staff becoming aggravated, or even aggressive. “You’re cutting down on staff, but increasing the catchment for people,” he says of the recent trend towards ‘super trusts’. “It’s a never-ending cycle. You are going to get people burned out, and they will leave as a result. That’s what I’m seeing from a radiographer’s perspective.”

Actively managing stress, however, helps organisations create a healthier, more engaged workforce, enhance job satisfaction and nurture a positive workplace that drives long-term success.

Sean envisions the most effective changes emerging from collaboration between trade unions and hospitals’ HR departments. Together, they can work on practical, strategic methods of stress management. Whether this comes in the form of joint health and wellbeing initiatives, policy development, risk assessments and surveys or cooperative conflict resolution, both parties can identify stress-related issues early – such as workload concerns, bullying or poor management practices – and address them collaboratively.

High staff vacancies and growing patient waiting lists won’t make implementing these changes easy, however. In the meantime, what should staff do when stress starts to catch up to them? Sean suggests three steps to mitigate feelings of being overwhelmed in the workplace:

1. Talk to someone

This could be a colleague or friend, but it’s particularly important to speak to your manager. The first step to combating stress is emphasising just how much pressure is affecting you – if your manager doesn’t know, they can’t do anything about it.

2. Speak to your rep

Health and safety reps are there not just to support staff in meetings with managers, but to support teams psychologically. They can provide an additional perspective or an avenue to support that you might be hesitant to access otherwise. As a bonus, it shows them there’s an issue – because stress never affects just one person. 

3. Do something completely different

Whether that’s talking to people outside of the workplace so they know you need support or getting away from the workplace for coffee or lunch, changing the environment is vital. In particular, try to avoid taking work home or being available for constant communication. Hobbies, exercise, healthy eating and effective sleep are key. 

“It’s really difficult, because radiographers are needed 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Sean admits. “Stress is very lonely. But if you’ve got happy staff, they’re going to be more productive. You’re going to have better recruitment and retention. You’re going to have less cost associated with investigations for bad behaviour, individuals are going to go home well, and they’re not going to have acute or chronic stress.

“Working together is vital for minimising workplace stress and cultivating a healthier, more supportive environment. By fostering open communication and mutual respect, both parties [trade unions and HR departments] can proactively pinpoint sources of employee stress. This partnership not only facilitates constructive conflict resolution, it also helps build trust, enhance morale and promote a culture of wellbeing and shared responsibility.”