Welcome to our February 2024 Bulletin

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Dear Colleagues

I wonder how the start of 2024 has been for you? From a personal perspective I managed to have a few days of winter sun – which was fabulous and helped to keep me going ahead of spring and summer! From a work perspective, I am sure many of you are dealing with numerous winter virus outbreaks to protect our staff and patients in the NHS. 

Of particular note, I hope you have all had sight of the January 2024 NHSE ‘Guidance for Risk Assessment and Infection Prevention and Control Measures for Measles in Healthcare Settings’ (see item 7). There are actions for OH Services as well as changes to Personal Protective Equipment needed for caring for patients with confirmed or suspected measles. If you haven’t already, I urge you to read it and reach out to your organisation on operational plans. Many of the lessons learned from the COVID pandemic can be applied to this area of work. Once again, the importance of vaccination protection for staff and the work of occupational health teams are at the forefront.  

If you haven’t already signed up for our AGM on 30th January, there is still time. This event includes a guest speaker - Dr Vaughan Parson.  See item 9 of this bulletin for more information. 

Best wishes

Hilary Winch

Chair, NHS Health at Work Network

 

In this edition:

1. 2024/25 Network Membership Renewals Coming Soon!

2. Sharing Good Practice – Wellbeing, EPP and Case Management

3. Annual HSE Stats

4. MoHaWK

5. Dr. Shriti Pattani OBE

Advertorial: Cority

6. HSE’s Vibration Webpages

7. Measles Guidance

8. Updated UKAP Integrated Guidance

9. Network Board and AGM

10. Resources and News

1.    2024/25 Network Membership Renewals Coming Soon!

In the next few weeks we will be sending out the application and renewal forms for membership of the Network.  We are delighted to maintain a brilliant range of membership packages so that you can choose the right one for your team and organisation.  Keep an eye out for the forms landing in your inbox soon!  

Full membership is the only way to guarantee your place at our highly acclaimed annual conference on 11 and 12 September 2024, and which had a 100% satisfaction rating in 2023! 

If you haven’t previously been a member, or are interested in joining the 95% of NHS occupational health teams in England who subscribed to our Network in 2023, please get in touch admin@nhshealthatwork.co.uk  

2.    Sharing Good Practice – Wellbeing, EPP and Case Management

As part of the Network project of developing dedicated guidance for Network members, a section has been created on the website which provides informative links to aspects of practice regarding Wellbeing in the workplace Wellbeing - NHS Health at Work Network.

In light of the UKAP updated document in November 2023, the EPP good practice guide has been updated to reflect the changes in relation to reactivation of Hepatitis B and updated flowcharts. See: Exposure prone procedures - NHS Health at Work Network.

Thank you for those who have shared many aspects of practice over the last year. This month’s request is surrounding case management. Do you have examples of any of the following you would feel happy to share: 

  • Management referral forms
  • Triage protocols
  • Consultation assessment proformas
  • Consent policies
  • Template reports  

Please send these through to admin@nhshealthatwork.co.uk and we can oblige by taking off any reference to your own Trust if you prefer or we can happily leave logos on so that you can be acknowledged for your contribution.  

3.    Annual HSE Stats

Falls from height were the cause of most work-related fatalities in Britain during 2022/23. The most recent annual figures revealed that 40 workers were killed in falls from height last year. Make sure you take the necessary precautions and see the HSE 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, including key messages to follow before working from height, and some common work at height myths. There are also useful resources available, including relevant publications which are free to download.

4.    MoHaWK

We are delighted to be able to continue our association with the Faculty of Occupational Medicine in offering MoHaWK to NHS Network members at a heavily discounted rate as part of our membership packages. MoHaWK is an OH clinical audit and benchmarking tool, which supports teams in their audit programmes and provides invaluable evidence as part of any SEQOHS accreditation. 

Round 24 opened on 1st January 2024 for data input and will stay open until the commencement of the following Round as this works well for many Services and allows greater flexibility for submitting data. See the briefing notes for Round 24. If you have any specific queries, then do make contact via hilary.winch@nnuh.nhs.uk

5.    Dr Shriti Pattani OBE

Congratulations to our former Network Chair, Dr Shriti Pattani, who has been recognised in the New Year’s Honours List with an OBE. Well done Shriti – we are all very proud of you!

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6.    HSE's Vibration Webpages

The HSE vibration website has seen some of its content refreshed so you can find the information, advice and resources that you need as easily as possible. It also ensures the guidance and resources are up-to-date, user-friendly and easy to use.

Updates to the vibration pages include the following:

7.    Measles Guidance

This ‘guidance for risk assessment and infection prevention and control measures for measles in healthcare settings’ is intended to support preparedness for and management of suspected or confirmed measles cases in healthcare settings. It sets out key infection prevention and control (IPC) principles required to prevent transmission of measles in healthcare settings and provides resources to support patient screening, triage, management (appendices 1 and 2), and assessment of risk applying the hierarchy of controls (HoC) (appendix 3). 

8.    Update UKAP Integrated Guidance

UKAP have updated and published the Quick Reference Guide (QRG) to the Integrated guidance on health clearance of healthcare workers and the management of healthcare workers living with bloodborne viruses (hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV) on the UKAP webpage, found here. The update to the QRG reflects the (November 2022) hepatitis B reactivation (rHBV) updates to the guidance. They have also revised paragraph 2, page 16 of the guidance, to make clear:

  • the responsibility of the accredited specialist in occupational health to maintain accurate and contemporaneous local records relating to HCW monitoring, and communicating the outcome of the monitoring to the UKAP secretariat
  • the responsibility of the UKAP secretariat for the assurance and management of the UKAP-Occupational Health Monitoring Register (UKAP-OHR)


9.    Network Board and AGM

Your NHS Health at Work Network Board met in January. You can see the key messages from that meeting here. The Network also held its Annual General Meeting on 30 January, including a keynote presentation from Dr. Vaughan Parsons from the London Centre for Work and Health. The AGM slide deck is available here.

10. Resources and News

Margaret Greenwood MP’s debate on musculoskeletal conditions and employment is at: Musculoskeletal Conditions and Employment - Hansard - UK Parliament. Margaret also had an article published in parliament news on the issue which you can see here: Musculoskeletal health conditions have a devastating impact on individuals and bring costs to the economy; we need action from government — Parliament Politics Magazine (parliamentnews.co.uk)

UK risks being ‘burnt-out nation’ due to poor mental health.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/jan/22/mental-health-uk-burnt-out-nation

 

NHS England and The Joint DHSC DWP Work & Health Directorate invite you to shape the future of Musculoskeletal (MSK) care.

The government and NHS England are committed to improving MSK outcomes, including supporting community MSK services. Significant funding for MSK was announced in the Spring 2023 budget and MSK is a focus of the Major Conditions Strategy. We’re now ready to work with a range of partners to identify the issues, opportunities and support requirements to enhance outcomes for those with MSK conditions and tackle economic, social and physical inactivity. Emerging thinking from this engagement will influence many national policy areas including implementation of the Major Conditions Strategy, the Spring Budget 2023 deliverables, WorkWell, and NHS recovery and transformation.

What?

Our goal is to collectively shape the next two years of work. We will be running several independent full day Accelerated Design Events in February and March where we want to combine your practical experience with the evidence that exists. The intention behind using an Accelerated Design Event methodology is to allow us to condense several months of meetings into a few days, to develop a usable framework for action and make productive use of your and our time. Attendance is encouraged for those who are working out what to do locally to transform and improve services and who want build relationships with other peers, national teams and new actors in MSK. The first two days are run consecutively on the 20th and 21st February in London and will be facilitated by NHS Horizons.

When?

  • Tuesday 20th February: Innovation and Emergent Practice. Why we’re here and what we want to achieve? Where are we now? What innovation and best practice exists and what are barriers? What key choices will need to be made? What might the next steps be?
  • Wednesday 21st February: The Future of MSK Leadership. How are we going to do it? How can we support local and regional MSK leadership? 

Where?

Both days will be in central London and the location and exact times will be confirmed shortly. Please RSVP here by the 9th of February.

Who?

This event is aimed towards anyone working at a local, system or regional level with an interest in Musculoskeletal care. There are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ people, but it may include clinicians & professionals with an interest or focus on MSK; commissioners in health or local government; service providers; the physical activity sector; members of the public with an interest in MSK; local charities; provider; system and regional leads; employers; businesses and/or Academics. Please note colleagues can choose to attend either or both days.

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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

The NHS Health at Work Network does not, directly, or indirectly, endorse any product or service that is, or will, be provided by any of our Supporters. Organisations which become NHS Health at Work Network Supporters will not, in any way, state or imply that the NHS Health at Work Network endorses any such product or service that they provide. 

Postal address: NHS Health at Work, PO Box 857, York YO31 6FR