How Bank and Agency Staff Build Relationships in Women's Forensics v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring the Relationships between Patients and Bank and Agency Staff in Women’s Forensic Mental Health Wards
IRAS ID
364133
Contact name
Maria Whittaker
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Canterbury Christchurch University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 29 days
Research summary
This project is based in women’s forensic mental health hospitals which are commissioned to support patients with their mental health and to reduce the risk of violence so that they can return to the community. The project will focus on bank and agency staff who increasingly frequently cover shifts and are important to the ward’s day-to-day running but also cost the NHS a lot of money (Garratt, 2024). In this study we will ask patients and staff how they build relationships that are trusting and safe and explore what helps them to do this, and what does not help. The aim is to understand these processes better so we can create recommendations to improve care and the staff experience. This is important because research has found that the relationships between staff and patients in this setting is one of the biggest factors for patient recovery (Ratcliffe & Stenfert Kroese, 2021; Walker et al., 2017). Some research has highlighted poor staffing levels and the use of bank staff as a "main barrier" to relational security (Walker, 2017; p.664) and staff safety and wellbeing (Cooke & Bailey, 2011). However we do not know much about what the benefits can be, or what conditions are needed for the best possible outcomes.
Patients who are on a low, medium or low-medium secure women’s ward in Kent, Surrey and Sussex, or have been in the last 6 months, and bank and agency staff who work on these wards, will be invited to take part in hour-long interviews to find out their experience and perspectives. This data will be anonymised and analysed using grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006) with the aim of describing how these relationships are built and what the important factors are that support or hinder this. This study will last around two years.
REC name
West Midlands - Solihull Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
26/WM/0065
Date of REC Opinion
14 Apr 2026
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion