A West Sussex music festival is offering NHS, care and emergency services staff discounted tickets this November, encouraging those who spend their working lives supporting others to take time out and consider their own wellbeing.
In its debut year, Midhurst Jazz, Food & Blues Festival welcomed local care home residents and carers and offered discounted tickets to NHS staff. This year, with support from Midhurst Pharmacy & Clinic, that initiative is being widened to include care home and domiciliary care workers, nurses and support staff, police officers, firefighters and ambulance crews.
The NHS Staff Survey found that 42.4% of NHS staff had felt unwell due to work-related stress in the previous 12 months – a figure that has climbed almost every year since 2016. Ambulance staff reported the highest burnout of any occupation group, at close to 40%.
Those challenges can become particularly acute during winter, when seasonal illness and increased demand place further strain on frontline teams.
Amid these growing pressures, Midhurst Jazz, Food & Blues Festival and Midhurst Pharmacy are encouraging key workers to make time for their own wellbeing, with eligible staff and their families being offered a 10% discount on tickets to this November’s festival.
For people whose jobs can involve considerable emotional and physical pressure, Festival Director Adam Page believes having an opportunity to step away from work can make a difference.
He said: “People working in hospitals, care settings and the emergency services spend so much of their time concentrating on somebody else’s needs. That can take its toll, particularly when services are under intense pressure.
“Music can give people a very different kind of space. You can sit and listen, get absorbed in a performance, spend time with friends or family and, for a few hours, think about something completely removed from work.
“We’re not suggesting a night of live music solves the much bigger issue of burnout, but opportunities to relax, connect with other people and do something enjoyable for yourself are important. We wanted to make coming along a little more accessible for those who spend their working lives looking after others.”
While attending a music festival is no substitute for appropriate workplace support or mental health provision, research suggests that listening to and engaging with music can have a positive effect on stress.
A 2020 review involving more than 9,600 participants found that music interventions were associated with reductions in both physiological and psychological measures of stress. Other research has explored the particular effects of jazz, with studies suggesting that listening to the genre can encourage relaxation, reduce the body’s stress response and support attention.
Raj Rohilla, owner of Midhurst Pharmacy, said: “Working within healthcare means we see the pressures facing both professionals and the wider community every day.
“Wellbeing is about more than responding when somebody becomes unwell. Having time away from work, maintaining social connections and doing things you genuinely enjoy all matter too.
“This felt like a positive way of recognising frontline workers while also starting a wider conversation about the importance of looking after the wellbeing of people who spend their careers supporting others.”
The Midhurst Jazz, Food & Blues Festival takes place from Thursday 19th to Sunday 22nd November across venues in Midhurst.
This year’s programme will include British jazz musician Courtney Pine alongside Ronnie Scott’s Blues Explosion, The Cinelli Brothers, Errol Linton, the Brit Funk Association, Jim Mullen and Dave O’Higgins, as well as workshops, talks, food events and other activities.
Blue Light Card holders will receive 20% off festival tickets, just enter code BLUELIGHT at checkout (card holders must present their Blue Light cards at the door).
For further information about Midhurst Jazz, Food & Blues Festival, visit the website.
