Posted on: 18 March 2026
Message sent on behalf of Rob Webster CBE, Chief Executive, NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board and Lead Chief Executive, West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership
Dear colleagues
Late last year I confirmed that the West Yorkshire Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub will no longer be accepting referrals and would close once people receiving support had come to the end of their support programme. All people being supported by the Hub have now come to the end of their support programme and on 31 March 2026, the West Yorkshire Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub will formally close.
Over more than five years, the Hub individual therapy service received nearly 3,000 referrals from colleagues in the NHS, local council departments, and the voluntary and community sector. Alongside therapy, the Hub has delivered a range of impactful and innovative projects and interventions aimed at changing the culture around mental health and breaking down barriers to seek help. These have included cross-organisational Schwartz rounds, a whole system approach to critical incident support (CrISSP), racial trauma training, a range of reflective spaces, and bringing to England for the first time the Avoidable Employee Harm approach.
I know that colleagues also developed and delivered workshops covering workplace stress, sleep, acceptance and commitment therapy, and compassion fatigue. Staff working in the Hub supervised and supported trainee clinical psychologists and assistant psychologists, carried out trauma-informed evaluation, an ethnic diversity audit and a LGBTQ+ audit aiming to ensure that as far as possible, the Hub services were appropriate for all.
Everyone who has worked in the Hub has played a crucial part in helping our staff cope with and recover from trauma, personal challenges and anxiety, at first during the height of the Covid pandemic, and more recently through demanding times locally and internationally. None of this would have been possible without the help, support and excellent leadership of people working in the Hub. Thanks to all of you for your work and dedication, understanding and compassion.
I am pleased many of you who previously worked in the Hub will continue to work within West Yorkshire. For those who have found alternative employment and those who will stay within West Yorkshire, we wish you all the very best for the future.
The legacy of the staff and Hub will continue. Colleagues across our health and care system will continue to receive support from their local Occupational Health and Employee Assistance Programmes.
I am pleased that a legacy report has been written and will be shared with senior system leaders to embed best practice for years to come. The Hub website has been archived, meaning that the resources Hub staff created can be retrieved in future and your work can inform future plans.
Thank you for your service to the people of West Yorkshire.
Rob