Our Community

Following on from last week’s blog, in this post we will look at the remaining five pillars of wellbeing. And describe how we are evoking their essence to create a balanced, supportive environment at The Ralph.

Occupational (or workplace) wellbeing relates to all aspects of working life; from the quality and safety of the physical working environment, to how our people feel about their work, achieving a balance between work and leisure time and relationships with other members of the team.

We want to ensure that our people are happy and engaged and feel fully supported at all times. So, as well as building and designing a hospital that is perfectly suited for our patients, we have also made sure that our people are well catered for with a wellbeing room, exercise room, CPD space and healthy snacks and filtered water on tap. We nurture relationships by holding social events (not just at Christmas!) and have a number of clubs and hangouts to meet everyone’s needs. We support our people in their day-to-day roles on an emotional and physical level and everyone is empowered to have a voice. Not just empowered, but encouraged.

Our mission for The Ralph is for it to always be somewhere that our people want to be. A home from home!

Money can play a critical role in our lives, and can impact health in many ways. Financial wellbeing includes the process of learning how to successfully manage financial expenses and create financial security. It includes a feeling of being in control of finances on a day-to-day and month-by-month basis, having the capacity to absorb financial shock, being on track to meet financial goals, and being able to afford activities to enhance enjoyment of life.

The environment that we are developing and nurturing at The Ralph will ensure that our people have access to information to help support their financial wellbeing. This includes relevant signposting. Every one of our people at The Ralph will be assigned company share options and our CPD planner is not only made up of clinical talks – it also includes talks on day-to-day life support, including finances.

Spiritual wellbeing is a different experience for everyone. It recognises our search for a deeper meaning in life and our path of self-discovery to uncover things of importance to us. It enables and supports us to become more consistent with our beliefs and values.

We offer coaching and mentoring to our people to promote self-discovery and self-awareness. By doing this, we support our people on their journey to becoming familiar and comfortable with their beliefs and values. We also greatly respect the ‘passing on’ and subsequent grieving process. We take the time to acknowledge the lives of all animals and the feelings and emotions felt by everyone as a result of this passing. Our PAWS programme (more to follow!) acknowledges the life and passing of all of the animals in our care.

Having an open mind about new ideas, finding ways to expand knowledge and skills and seeking out new challenges all help to nurture intellectual wellbeing. We actively encourage a growth mindset at The Ralph and have many ways in which we support the intellectual wellbeing of our people. From think-tank committees to journal clubs to regular (and sometimes ‘alternative’) CPD events, there are lots of initiatives in the pipeline to ensure that our people are supported to expand their knowledge and both their clinical and non-clinical skills.

Environmental wellbeing involves living in harmony with the Earth by understanding the impact of our interaction with nature and our personal environment, and taking action to protect the world around us. At The Ralph, we want to inspire our people to live a lifestyle that is respectful of our surroundings and the world at large. Some of the examples of how we are adopting this at The Ralph include a full recycling scheme, and we actively encourage re-using where possible by providing all of our people with a reusable water bottle and coffee cup.

And of course, our immediate environment will also play a part. We have invested in ensuring that our hospital is as comfortable for our people, our patients and our carers as possible. And keep an eye out for future blogs on how we are incorporating compassionate practices into our everyday routines.

We believe that prioritising the wellbeing of our people is vital. We know that over time, our commitment to these eight pillars of wellbeing will develop and evolve even further. We are looking forward to keeping you updated with our developments!

See you next time and take care,

The Ralph Team