New film explores how nurses can better cope with stress and fatigue and achieve healthier lifestyles

No Yeah Buts: a film supporting nurses’ health is to be launched on 17 June 2019. Made by nurses for nurses, it explores the stress, anxiety and fatigue they experience and the ways in which unhealthy coping mechanisms can be replaced by healthy ones. The aim is to encourage more nurses to sign up for NURSING YOU, which includes a weight management app and resources for nurses to implement changes at their organisation.

The charity C3 Collaborating for Health, who created NURSING YOU with the RCN and the app with MAXIMUS UK, joined with Human Story Theatre to use an arts-based approach to tackle this sensitive issue. As one nurse says: ‘We can all talk about death, but fat is our taboo.’ The film is sponsored by Health Education England and the Burdett Trust for Nursing.

We meet Sally, a 59-year-old community nurse who eats junk food in her car; Josie, a 40-year-old ward sister, who slurps wine to help her unwind at the end of a shift; and Rachel, a 32-year-old student nurse who smokes to make her feel more confident and suppress her appetite.

They talk directly and emotionally about the pressures they face including the lack of healthy food options in hospitals, the culture of snacking to boost energy levels and the unhelpful practice of grateful patients and relatives giving cakes and chocolates.

The facts are:

• The same proportion (1 in 4) of nurses are overweight as the population generally in England
• 29% of nurses in Scotland are obese
• Of the 1,905 nurses polled by the Nursing Standard:
  • 59% often go through their whole shift without being able to drink water
  • 57% report no access to healthy, nutritious food at work
  • 75% never have time for a break in their working day
  • 83% say their workplace does not offer Schwartz rounds
  • 58% say their manager is unconcerned about their wellbeing.

This is an advance notice of the launch. C3’s founder, Christine Hancock, former general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing and President of the International Council of Nurses, is available to interview. If you would like to attend the launch or prepare feature material about the film and the issues it raises, contact Ellie Hayward at Chamberlain Dunn ellie@chamberdunn.co.uk. 0208 334 4500. www.c3health.org/nursing-you   #NURSINGYOU

Learn more about C3’s NURSING YOU programme and access resources to help you implement NURSING YOU at your organisation.