Dear Colleagues

The start of 2023 has certainly been a busy one! Increased winter virus transmission, and industrial action, is no doubt impacting on your own services and the demand for support from NHS colleagues. 

We are pleased to be continuing to work very closely with NHS England in delivering aspects of the Growing OH agenda. You will see in item 1 that the full strategy has now been launched, so please do try to get the time to read it and consider the priorities for your Service as well as flagging this up with your Board. It’s fantastic this has also been included in the 2023/24 NHS Priorities and Operational planning guidance, so now is the time for OH to seize the day! 

I would also draw your attention to item number 2 regarding membership renewal. Please be sure to complete your membership renewal form when this arrives, to ensure you maintain your membership. There are many benefits associated with the Network, so make sure you invest in the right membership category to meet your Service's needs. 

Best wishes

Hilary

Chair, NHS Health at Work Network

In this edition:

1. Growing OH: 2023-24 NHS Priorities and Operational Planning Guidance 

2. 2023/24 Network Membership Renewals: Prices Frozen for 2023/24!

3. UKAP Position Statement: HTLV-1

4. Falls From Height

5. Network Case Study: Cambridge University Hospitals, Developing an OH Brand

6. MoHaWK

7. International Recruitment – Sharing OH Guidance

8. OHWB Workforce Survey – Have Your Say

9. Menopause BSI

10. Useful Resources, Events and Research Studies

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1.    Growing OH and the 2023-24 NHS Priorities and Operational Planning Guidance

NHS Growing Occupational Health and Wellbeing (OHWB) Together is the 5-year strategy to improve the health and wellbeing services for our NHS people, to keep them safe and healthy, and empowered to pass good care onto our patients. This forms part the ambition for a proactive culture of wellbeing within the NHS People Plan and People Promise.

The strategy is now available to download from the NHS England website: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/growing-occupational-health-and-wellbeing-together-strategy/

Growing OHWB Together also forms a mandate for action for ICSs and NHS organisations as part of whole system workforce planning, having been included as part of 2023-24 NHS priorities and operational planning guidance (see p.17). This demonstrates the importance placed in looking after the health and wellbeing of all our NHS people in the workplace.

You can find out more by joining the online Growing OHWB community here, and learn more about the wider NHS people health and wellbeing agenda here.

2.    2023/24 Network Membership Renewals: Prices Frozen for 2023/24!

In the next few weeks we will be sending out the membership application and renewal forms for membership of the Network.  We are delighted to announce that the membership prices have been frozen for the coming year.  Keep an eye out for the forms landing in your inbox!  Full membership is the only way to guarantee your place at our highly acclaimed annual conference in September 2023, with guest speakers including Professor Neil Greenberg, Professor Diana Kloss MBE, Professor Ira Madan from the London Centre for Work and Health, and more to come! 

If you haven’t previously been a member, or are interested in joining the 90% of NHS occupational health teams in England who subscribed to our Network in 2022, please get in touch admin@nhshealthatwork.co.uk  

3.    UKAP Position Statement: HTLV-1

The UK Advisory Panel for Healthcare Workers Living with Bloodborne Viruses (UKAP) position statement on the risk of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) transmission from healthcare workers (HCWs) to patients during exposure-prone procedures (EPPs) provides a review of the available evidence and recommendations from the UKAP panel.

The evidence review concluded a lack of evidence. At the current time, UKAP has therefore provided the following recommendations:

• Health clearance for HTLV-1 through occupational health services for exposure-prone procedure (EPP) performing HCWs should not be introduced at this time.
• UKAP does not currently advise any restriction from EPP practice for HCWs with a known HTLV-1 infection.
• UKAP does not currently recommend routine occupational health monitoring of HCWs infected with HTLV-1.
• If occupational health or other services require support or advice regarding HTLV-1 exposures, they should seek advice from a local virologist, local health protection teams and national experts on HTLV.
• Further training of HCWs and research are recommended.

Read more here

4.    Falls From Height

Falls from height were the cause of most work-related fatalities in Britain during 2021/22.

The most recent annual figures revealed that 29 workers were killed in falls from height last year.

Make sure you take the necessary precautions and see our working at height website for guidance on how you can protect employees.

The site also has a range of useful information and sources of advice for employers. They include key messages to follow before working from height and some common work at height myths.

There are also useful resources available, including our relevant publications which are free to download.

5.    Network Case Study – Cambridge University Hospitals, Developing an OH Brand 

Network Member Cambridge University Hospital is currently developing an OHWB brand and a proactive, preventative approach. 

Occupational health services at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) are on a long-term journey to ensure services provide not just services at point of need, but also pre-empt staff needs in a proactive and preventative way. This underpins the way the whole service operates.  Read case study

6.    MoHaWK

Round 22 has opened and is available for data input. As per previous rounds we will leave this open until the commencement of the following round as this appears to have worked well for many services who are still balancing work demands  and allows greater flexibility of when you submit data.  The briefing notes for Round 22 are here. If you have any specific queries then please contact hilary.winch@nnuh.nhs.uk

7.    International Recruitment – Sharing OH Guidance

The Network is currently working with NHS Employers to enhance their International Recruitment Toolkit with some key Occupational Health information.

Please contact hilary.winch@nnuh.nhs.uk if you have any of the following to share:

• Examples of good practice with regards to International Recruitment OH clearance process that you have implemented
• Issues that you are experiencing as an OH provider when undertaking international recruitment
• Any key health trends surrounding international colleagues which may impact retention of workers

8.    OHWB Workforce Survey – Have Your Say

The London Centre for Work and Health has been commissioned by the Growing OH and Wellbeing Team (NHS England) to assess the current OHWB workforce landscape, and to scope out opportunities to grow a multidisciplinary OHWB workforce, with a particular emphasis on the role of allied health professionals and other emerging roles. We are collecting important OHWB workforce and service delivery data from all NHS OHWB services and would appreciate if you would kindly assist by completing the attached survey. Please forward this on to a suitable colleague in your department for completion if necessary. This should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete. 

Completed surveys should be emailed to Vaughan.parsons@gstt.nhs.uk  by Friday 3 February 2023 at the latest.   

Anonymised information collected will be pooled with other responses and included in a final report and may be presented publicly. Data collected will be handled in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulations and King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust data management policies. 

You will receive a £10 voucher to reimburse you for your time. This can be redeemed with a large number of retail brands. Only one voucher per NHS OH dept is available.

This is your last chance to have your say!

9.    Menstrual and Menopausal Health in the Workplace Guide.  

The British Standards Institution (BSI) are seeking feedback on their draft Menstrual and Menopausal Health in the Workplace Guide.  The closing date or comments is 14 February 2023.

Read the draft and feedback here 

10. Useful Resources

An estimated 1.8 million people were suffering from a work-related illness in Britain in 2021/22, according to the HSE.  Of these, 914,000 workers suffered stress, depression or anxiety resulting in 17 million days lost.  Read more here

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The NHS Health at Work Network brings together all OH teams providing health and wellbeing services to NHS OH staff.  It is dedicated to providing consistent, high quality health at work services to all NHS staff through collaborative working.

Members of OH teams in NHS Health at Work Network member organisations can receive the bulletin and access the restricted areas of the website as a membership benefit – if you are not sure of your login details email admin@nhshealthatwork.co.uk   

Please share this bulletin with colleagues and encourage them to register to receive it regularly.  Non-Network members can also register to receive the monthly bulletin here.

You can contact the Network through your regional representative or as shown below.  Please get in touch if you have any queries or comments, if there is anything you would like to see in future issues of the bulletin, or if you have news to share.

Hilary Winch, Chair                                                 hilary.winch@nnuh.nhs.uk

Andrew Gilbey, General Manager                       admin@nhshealthatwork.co.uk  

 Postal address: NHS Health at Work, PO Box 857, York