A yoga instructor credited with tackling staff burnout in the NHS has won silver in the Volunteer of the Year Award at the national 2024 Our Health Heroes Awards, delivered by Skills for Health.

During 2023, Paul Fox voluntarily delivered stress-busting yoga classes to 376 NHS staff.

Paul, who lives in Ely,runs Yoga4Health social prescribing classes for NHS patients who need to make lifestyle changes.

He works in close partnership with St Mary’s surgery and other GP practices in the city.

On Wednesday evenings, Paul turns his living room into an online yoga studio and teaches hundreds of NHS staff from all over the UK how to use evidence-based yoga practices to manage stress, improve wellbeing, and mitigate the risks of burnout. He has now taught more than 800 staff.

The Yoga4NHS programme has been enthusiastically welcomed by NHS managers, who are grappling with high levels of sickness, absence and staff turnover in the wake of the pandemic.

The Yoga4NHS staff wellbeing programme is evidence-based and Paul and colleagues achieved accreditation from the Royal College of General Practitioners, enabling staff who complete the course to claim CPD points. Feedback has been excellent.

“Please can these sessions be prescribed and made available for all NHS staff, who regularly ignore their own needs and prioritise the needs of others,” said one NHS worker.

“Thank you for this wonderful course,” said another.

The Yoga4NHS programme was created and is delivered by the Yoga In Healthcare Alliance (YIHA) charity, of which Paul is the chief executive officer. YIHA has more than 500 yoga teachers who Paul helped to train.

Heather Mason, Founder of the Yoga In Healthcare Alliance charity, paid tribute to Paul:

"Understanding the deep pressure placed on the NHS even before Covid and certainly during and after it, and with a deep respect for the people who make up this incredible institution, Paul Fox has been offering free yoga classes to staff.

"Given that yoga reduces stress, improves mood and is beneficial for overall health, he felt this offering could significantly improve their wellbeing. His unwavering commitment to this cause continues through various channels. Based on this deeply commendable voluntary work for NHS staff, Paul is fully deserving of this award.”

As well as volunteering in the NHS, Paul volunteers to support the work of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Yoga in Society at Westminster.

This year, he helped Heather Mason (who acts as the Secretariat for the APPG) to organise sessions looking at how yoga can help tackle the mental health crisis in schools, and on the impact of yoga in prisons to promote the wellbeing of inmates and staff.