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Welcome to our July 2022 Bulletin
Dear Colleagues
I am writing this briefing having literally just come off the launch event for the ‘Growing OHWB strategy’ – it was so good to see over 330 individuals engaged in that event and the sense of anticipation and excitement within our community for this programme of work.
Congratulations to those Services who presented on their work so far – it was great to hear from you and I am sure you inspired those listening to start to think through the possibilities of future development. I was delighted to hear that NHSE&I recognise this programme of work is crucial for NHS staff, and that this is just the beginning! It was fabulous to hear some small snippets of what practical support will be available in the coming months and years. Our conference in September will naturally focus on the ‘next steps’ so if you haven’t booked your place now is the time to do so (see item 3)!
The summer time remains very busy for OH Services – autumn planning, doctors intakes, new healthcare student intakes, etc. but I do hope you all have an enjoyable summer and get some much needed R&R at some point.
Best wishes
Hilary Winch
Chair, NHS Health at Work Network
In this edition:
1. Growing OH Has Landed!
2. Development Opportunities for NHS OH&WB Professionals
3. Network Annual Conference 7 & 8 September
4. Congratulations!
5. HSE Update
Quantum Health Solutions Advertorial
6. Prevention and Management of Stress Standards
7. MoHaWK
8. Talking Heads
9. RCN & SOM Joint Conference
10. Useful Resources
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1. Growing NHS OH&WB Together Has Landed!
As part OH awareness week celebrations, NHS England launched the new national Growing OHWB Together strategy with the vision of “Improving the health and wellbeing of our NHS people by growing our Occupational Health and Wellbeing services and people to be trusted, strategic and integrated partners”.
It is underpinned by four strategic drivers including:
Growing the strategic identity of OHWB
Growing our OHWB services across systems
Growing our OHWB people, and
Growing OHWB impact and evidence-based practice
This is an important moment for us as NHS OHWB professionals, as it:
- Unites us as a multi-professional family supporting the health and wellbeing of our NHS people, to enable them to pass good care onto patients
- Sets the national direction of travel for us as a profession, co-designed with us, and putting us in the driving seat to grow our services
- Acts as a strategic lever to encourage investment and collaborative action in us as a community and the services we lead
The strategy will be available on the NHS England website shortly, and in the meantime NHS England have made available a ‘virtual goody bag’ of resources to help us all get going including:
Having united in the co-design of this strategy as an OHWB community, now is the time to leverage the power that this brings us to grow our OHWB services, people and practice together.
2. Development Opportunities for NHS OHWB Professionals
As part of the Growing OHWB programme, NHS England has already supported 115 OHWB professionals on leadership development programmes. They are now seeking our views on designing future leadership development workshops for us. With the view of growing our OH workforce, they are also seeking expressions of interest for various OH clinical/professional and managerial qualifications. If there is enough interest and NHS England is able to do so, they will seek to fund these opportunities later in the year. The attached flyer describes this in more detail. You can also directly take part in the skills audit / expressions of interest in qualifications here – please do share with people who may be interested:
- Skills needs analysis: Leadership related workshops for all NHS OHWB professionals
- Nurses: Diploma in Occupational Health Practice Expression of Interest
- Physicians: Diploma in Occupational Medicine Expression of Interest
- Managers: Certificate in Managing Occupational Health Services Expression of Interest
3. Network Annual Conference 7 & 8 September
Our Network Annual Conference will be held on Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8 September 2022 at the Woodland Grange Hotel and Conference Centre in Warwickshire. We have a great line up of speakers including Dr. Richard Heron, Professor Diana Kloss MBE, John Drew from NHS England and Improvement, the inspirational Ed Hollamby, and a range of exciting case study presentations.
We have written to all Network Members to confirm your places, so if you haven’t seen the e-mail, please contact forumconferences@btinternet.com
Whilst we have now sold out of the 24-hour delegate places, a limited number of day delegate places are still available. Contact Anna at forumconferences@btinternet.com for more information.
4. Congratulations!
The Network was delighted to hear that our former Chair, Dr Anne de Bono, recently received an OBE for services to Occupational Medicine. This is due recognition for her outstanding leadership during the pandemic.
We are also delighted to announce that another former Network Chair, Dr. Shriti Pattani, is to be the next President of the Society of Occupational Medicine.
Congratulations to you both.
5. HSE Update
HSE advice on supporting pregnant workers has changed, and employers must now carry out an individual risk assessment.
There will be little practical change as you must already consider risks to women of childbearing age in your general risk assessment. The difference is that you must also carry out an individual risk assessment that covers a worker’s specific needs when they inform you in writing that they:
- are pregnant
- have given birth in the last 6 months, or
- are breastfeeding
The HSE’s updated webpages provide advice on talking to workers, and protecting pregnant workers from common risks like working at height and lifting heavy loads. You can find guidance on rest and breastfeeding at work, as well as details of when pregnant workers and new mothers can work at night.
There is dedicated advice for workers themselves.
There is also a video with practical advice on how to keep pregnant workers and new mothers safe.
Employers must protect workers from the risks of MSDs being caused or made worse by work. MSDs include injuries and conditions that can affect the back, joints and limbs.
The HSE website has information and advice on a range of related topics including:
working safely with display screen equipment
---------------------------------------------------Advertorial---------------------------------------------
Starting to plan your annual NHS staff vaccination campaign?
It’s that time of year again when you’ll be starting to plan your annual staff vaccination campaign. As we exit the pandemic and face significant staffing pressures in the health service, vaccination is more important than ever to keep your staff and patients safe.
The indications from southern hemisphere countries are that flu is worse than ever this year with diagnosis rates higher than last year. And virologists are predicting that respiratory illnesses will be significantly worse this winter than in previous years. Given current staffing pressures within the NHS, an efficient, well delivered staff vaccination campaign is going to be essential to ensure safe healthcare services are delivered and maintained throughout winter.
For those of you who’ve experienced running staff vaccination campaigns, you’ll know that they are complex to plan and organise and take up a lot of time and resource. In fact, Trusts report the same recurring challenges every year:
- Creating and maintaining an up to date list of staff to be vaccinated
- Working out who is and isn’t frontline
- Difficulties in co-administering flu and COVID vaccination clinics
- Communicating with staff to invite and remind them to book their vaccination
- Making it quick and easy for staff to access vaccination
- Recording staff who have been vaccinated elsewhere or wish to decline and why
- Quickly identifying at risk groups not engaging with vaccination
- Paper based consent and vaccination details which can get lost and are slow to be manually recorded.
- Reporting internally, regionally and nationally especially into ImmForm and NIVS
Instead of using paper based processes alongside complicated spreadsheets, NHS organisations have found that using a seamless digital system has dramatically eased the burden of all these problems. The only available end to end solution is a cloud based system called VaccinationTrack which addresses all these challenges.
Created by healthcare workers, it has been specifically designed for NHS staff vaccination campaigns and, as a result, it’s not just another off the shelf booking or reporting system. VaccinationTrack caters for all nuances of a healthcare worker flu and COVID vaccination campaign from start to finish.
VaccinationTrack is already being used in twenty NHS organisations and all trusts that used it last year saw an increase in their uptake. They significantly reduced their admin and reporting time and they vaccinated their staff quicker. Feedback from staff is that they like having a quick and easy booking system, especially one which consistently reminds them if they forget to book. VaccinationTrack saves time, reduces costs and improves vaccination uptake.
Last year, one VaccinationTrack user said “this software has transformed the way we deliver our staff vaccination, I would not run another vaccination campaign without it’
You can find out more about VaccinationTrack and request a demo at www.qh-solutions.com
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6. NHS Employers Prevention and Management of Stress and Work
NHS Employers have recently updated their stress management guidance, which is now live.
7. MoHaWK
Round 20 will be closed on 30th. June, with Round 21 opening on 1st. July 2022 for data input. As per previous rounds we have left the round open until the commencement of the following round as this appears to have worked well for many services who are still balancing work demands associated with the pandemic and backlog.
Please find enclosed the briefing notes for Round 20 and for those of you who want to plan ahead the Round 21 briefing note.
Please note – data cannot be submitted for Round 20 after 30th June.
If you have any specific queries then contact hilary.winch@nnuh.nhs.uk .
8. Talking Heads
Check out the discussion with Dr Ali Hashtroudi and Dr Vaughan Parsons which explores the potential role of Occupational Health and accredited specialists within the Integrated Care System –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukWxjGWPpic
9. RCN & SOM Joint Conference
The RCN and SOM 5th joint Occupational Health Nursing Conference and Exhibition is taking place on 25 November 2022. Choose whether to attend online or in person at this hybrid event designed to inspire and support Occupational Health Nurses across a variety of settings to become agents of change. The programme highlights the latest developments in research, practice and policy, providing a refresh for OHN practitioners on key challenges and issues in supporting the working age population health. Find out more and register now rcn.org.uk/OH22
10. Useful Resources
This British Thoracic Society (BTS) Clinical Statement addresses occupational asthma and includes key clinical practice points.
https://thorax.bmj.com/content/77/5/433
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The GOV.UK website has a wealth of valuable resources and research reports including:
Employment Advisers Improving Access to Psychological Therapies
Sickness Absence and Health in the Workplace
Innovation Amongst Occupational Health Providers
Understanding the Provision of OH and MSK Services
International Comparisons of OH
A Study of Work and Health Transitions
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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 YO31 6FR