Dear Colleagues

Spring is on its way! I am sure like me, you are welcoming the start of the ‘lighter’ evenings – it seems so much more pleasurable to sometimes be able to leave work in the daylight and for signs of new life appearing in the garden! 

As spring commences, we start to think about the new financial year. We have had an incredible response to our Network membership renewals for 2023-24, so if you haven’t yet please do secure the funding for your Service to renew for the year ahead. We are excited about the projects we are working on, including developing our good and shared practice resources on our website which will start to come to fruition as we get further into the year. 

I am aware that several colleagues will be attending the Health and Wellbeing at Work Conference at the NEC in March. If so, it would be great to meet up so that I can hear from you about what further support you would like to the Network to provide you and your Service. 

Best wishes

Hilary

Chair, NHS Health at Work Network

In this edition:

1. 2023/24 Network Membership Renewals: Prices Frozen for 2023/24!

2. Webinar 16 March: Workplace Health & Safety Standards

3. HSE Supporting Disabled Workers

4. Meet our South West Board Rep Alison James

5. Member Case Study: East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust

6. Network Board Vacancy: London Region

7. Network Board Meeting Key Messages

8. Supporting Doctors Return to Work

9. MoHaWK

10. Courses and Resources

1.    2023/24 Network Membership Renewals: Prices Frozen for 2023/24!

Your Head of Service should have received the application renewal form for membership of the Network for 2023/24. If you haven’t seen it yet, please get in touch with admin@nhshealthatwork.co.uk   

We are delighted to announce that the membership prices have been frozen for the coming year. Full membership is the only way to guarantee your place at our highly acclaimed annual conference on 13 and 14 September 2023, with guest speakers including Professor Neil Greenberg, Professor Diana Kloss MBE, Professor Ira Madan from the London Centre for Work and Health, Dr. Ali Hashtroudi, and more to be announced! 

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 via admin@nhshealthatwork.co.uk          

2.    Webinar 16 March Workplace Health & Safety Standards 

Join NHS Employers for this free 90-minute webinar to hear the latest updates on workplace health and safety standards from the NHS Staff Council's Health, Safety and Wellbeing Group, and how these can be implemented to best support your workforce.

The standards pull together legal requirements and guidance to help NHS organisations comply with goal-setting legislation. They provide practical pointers and signposting for meeting the appropriate standards and legal duties in key areas of workplace health and safety.  

The webinar will be hosted by Jenny Michael and Kim Sunley, co-chairs of the NHS Staff Council’s Health, Safety and Wellbeing Group. Attendees will also hear from the Health and Safety Executive on key findings and recommendations from its recent inspection activity, and from the assistant director of health and safety at Liverpool University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Register your place here

3.    HSE: Supporting Disabled Workers

The HSE is conducting a research programme with employers and workers from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the human health, hospitality, agriculture and education sectors.

The HSE has developed new principles and guidance to support disabled workers and workers with long-term health conditions to remain in work. This is in support of the government’s commitment to Health is Everyone’s Business (HiEB). 

Following the launch in November 2022, HSE is now seeking feedback from SMEs to understand if the new guidance is helping to create a supportive and enabling workplace culture. In particular, the HSE want to know whether the guidance has had an immediate impact on organisations, for example:

• encouraging senior managers to reflect on their organisational culture
• enabling line managers to begin conversations with their workers about health and wellbeing
• empowering workers to consider discussing how workplace adjustments may help reduce the impact of work on their health

If you're an SME employer or worker in the human health, hospitality, agriculture or education sector and would like to help the HSE with their research, please email healthandworkresearch@hse.gov.uk. 

4.    Meet our South West Board Rep Alison James

There's lots going on in the South West region. We meet every 2 months for 90 minutes and we usually run out of time. Anything can be brought to the meetings – it’s a confidential space for us to share our experiences and to ask for help in a supportive and protective space. We all recognise that OH can be a lonely place and see our network meetings as a great opportunity to come together with like-minded professionals.

We are just in the processing of setting up a hub and spoke model to provide occupational health services for a major NHS Trust operating across the South West.  This will involve 7/8 NHS OH services scattered across the SW, all of whom are members of the Network – our first collaborative piece of work!  We are all very excited about it."

Contact Alison or any of our Board members here

5.    Member Case Study: East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust

Using the NHS Health and Wellbeing Framework to strategically develop organisational OHWB strategy and priorities at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.

East Lancashire Hospitals recognises that caring for colleagues is essential to pass that care onto their patients. They used the NHS Health and Wellbeing Framework to create a clear and holistic action plan for improvement and investment, underpinned by a needs-driven and holistic evidence base that supports their employees to feel well, happy, and healthy through high-quality OHWB support for all.

You can read more here

6.    Network Board Vacancy: London Region

Applications are invited from Network Member colleagues working in the London region, to join our Network Board. For an informal discussion and/or an application form, contact Andrew Gilbey, General Manager at admin@nhshealthatwork.co.uk and submit your application by no later than Friday 24 March. 

7.    Network Board Key Messages

Your Network Board met in January. The key messages from the meeting are available here

8.    Supporting Doctors Return to Work

We're excited to share a research study aiming to improve support for returning doctors by testing a needs assessment tool for returners, involving Birkbeck, University of London, King's College London, and South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. The tool has been developed based on previous research and lived experience and the hope is that those taking part will benefit personally.

Any doctors intending to return to clinical practice from an absence by July 2023 can take part. If you would be interested or know any colleagues/friends who may be, please use this link - https://bbk.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3WdsEn3llStedaS  - to read the participant information sheet and provide informed consent, before moving onto the survey. Participation is completely voluntary and anonymous. If you would like to discuss your participation in more detail or require support to take part please contact Chris Attoe, Cattoe01@mail.bbk.ac.uk. 

9.    MoHaWK

Round 22 is open and 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 for data submission.  The briefing notes for Round 22 are here. If you have any specific queries then please contact hilary.winch@nnuh.nhs.uk

Short Leadership Development Courses – There are still some ‘free’ spaces for NHS colleagues on the bite-sized learning courses. Check out the availability and book your place here           

Webinar: Organisational Wellbeing Interventions: Case Studies from the NHS

Join SOM for a free webinar of Thursday, March 23rd, 2023 (12 pm to 1.30pm) to hear about organisational interventions to support staff wellbeing in the healthcare sector. Book your place here

Become a SOM Mentor for Nurses and AHPs considering an OH career – 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 YO31 6FR