Dear Colleagues

The autumn chill is already here, and it won’t be long before the winter arrives, but the spring of renewed interest in Occupational Health continues with even more talk of universal coverage for businesses and a call for roll out of a national occupational health service. As a representative organisation of the NHS OH services, the Network has consistently emphasised, on all forums and in consultations in which we have participated, that NHS Occupational Health services are key to the success of any such programme. This means that, there is a strong case for investment and support for NHS OH services.

There is reason to believe that many NHS organisations have come round to recognise the value OH can add to the successful implementation of the People Plan. At the national level, we still enjoy strong support and commitment towards the Growing OH Programme, which was again visibly obvious at our annual conference this year. That is not to say there aren’t challenges. For many member organisations, staffing and other resources remain the main impediment to taking their services to the level of excellence, and frankly, sometimes, to even deliver the essential elements of good occupational healthcare. 

The Network’s clinical good practice and shared learning initiative (news item 1) may also offset some pressure on your teams as these resources are free for members to use and adapt for their needs.

I hope you’ll enjoy any breakthrough sunny days we may have in the weeks ahead!

Best wishes

Dr. Masood Aga

Joint Deputy-Chair, NHS Health at Work Network

In this edition:

1. Sharing and Learning

2. Health and Wellbeing Guardians

3. Homeworking Guidance

4. Fit Note Resources for Physios

5. The London Centre for Work and Health

Advertorial – Civica

6. Understanding Recent Trends in Ill-Health

7. OH Working Better Consultation Response

8. Network Board Key Messages

9. Movers and Shakers

10. Courses, Resources and Awards

1.    Sharing and Learning

The Network is creating a suite of clinical guidance, and shared practice resources for members, to aid good practice, both clinically and administratively. The main areas of focus have been created in response to your feedback from the regional events we held earlier this year. We had a great response to NHS services submitting examples of job descriptions, competencies, etc. - thank you!

We are now focusing on some information governance aspects in this coming month – so if you have examples of privacy statements, confidentiality policies, policies for the transfer of records, or OH records management, please send these through to admin@nhshealthatwork.co.uk. 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. Thank you in advance for any good practice you are able to share across the Network. The feedback we have received from Members is that this is hugely beneficial to us all.

2.    Health and Wellbeing Guardians

The NHS England health and wellbeing guardian webpages have been updated, and the new guidance can be found via the link below: 
NHS England » Health and wellbeing guardian guidance: guidance for implementing health and wellbeing guardians across different healthcare settings 

The guidance consists of a main central guidance document supported by five appendices providing tailored guidance to ICB, provider and primary care organisations (appendices 2,3 and 4 respectively) in addition to summary of the health and wellbeing guardian evaluation (appendix 1) and a further document (appendix 5) outlining the support available to health and wellbeing guardians and those who support them in their position. And the new updated health and wellbeing guardian NHS England webpages are here:  

NHS England » Health and wellbeing guardians 

3.    Homeworking Guidance

The NHS Staff Council’s Health, Safety & Wellbeing Group has produced guidance to support the new framework agreement for home and agile/hybrid working. Homeworking framework agreement | NHS Employers

4.    Fit Note Resources for Physios

New ‘Fit Note’ resources have been developed by the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Occupational Health and Ergonomics (ACPOHE). All resources are on the ACPOHE website here.

5.    The London Centre for Work and Health

The London Centre for Work and Health is a cross-institutional partnership involving GSTT, King’s College London, Imperial College London, University College London and Queen Mary University of London. The Centre aims to build and support research capacity in the field of work and health research across London and beyond. The centre runs ‘Lunch and Learn’ webinar sessions to showcase and promote work and health research activity.

The next session is Wednesday 8 Nov (12.30-13.10):  Dr Danielle Lamb (senior research fellow from UCL and deputy director at the LCWH) will present ‘qualitative results from the NHS Check study’. The NHS Check study is a longitudinal study exploring the psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on NHS staff performance and wellbeing, and utilisation of local and national staff support initiatives. Click here to join the meeting

There is a further session on Wednesday 13 Dec (12.30-13.00): Dr Sharon Stevelink (Reader in Occupational Epidemiology at KCL and depute director at the LCWH) will deliver a presentation title: ‘Benefit receipt among mental healthcare service users: initial results from a novel data linkage’. Click here to join the meeting

For more information contact vaughan.parsons@gstt.nhs.uk

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Civica Occupational Health (formerly OPAS) dedicated software now with even more benefits.

Civica’s occupational health software is renowned for providing a complete OH management system. It has dedicated solutions for Management Referrals, Heath Surveillance, Vaccinations, Immunisations as well as appointment self-booking and extensive Management Reporting. 

Following the occupational health integration with Civica’s Trac recruitment software, Pre-Placement processes have been streamlined by over 25% for time to hire. Through connected data, automated communications and efficient processes, the integration module improves numerous OH and HR KPI’s by: 

• Increased and instant visibility into the OH process
• Configurable online Pre-Placement questionnaires for applicants
• OH advice automatically returned to recruitment teams removing paper forms
• HR governance - Health Clearance E-form screening can be reduced to take place within 2 days of offer letters being sent
• HR performance - the overall time to complete OH checks, i.e. from offer letters being sent to the OH check outcome date can also be reduced to within 2 days

Learn more here.

This advertorial was brought to you by the team at Civica Occupational Health

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6.    Understanding Recent Trends in Ill-Health

The Society of Occupational Medicine have published their report ‘Understanding the recent trends in ill health-driven fallout from the UK job market’. The research aimed to understand what factors cause, or correlate with, an increase in ill health-driven fallout from the UK job market, while also trying to understand why did the UK see a rise in inactivity rate, compared to other OECD countries, and why is it difficult for people to return to work.  

7.    ‘OH: Working Better’ Consultation Response

Thank you to all our members who contributed their views to support our submission in response to the Government’s consultation on the “OH: Working Better” white paper. You can read our Network response here.

8.    Network Board Key Messages – September Meeting

Your Network Board met in September. Key messages from that meeting are available here for members to read.

9.    Movers and Shakers

Dr. Clare Leeds, Consultant Occupational Health Physician at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation has been appointed as the regional NHS Health at Work Network Board representative for the north-east region. Welcome Clare! 

10. Courses, Resources and Awards

A recent webinar was held on musculo-skeletal health in the workplace. The slide pack and recording are available here 

The HSE MSK inspections summary of 60 NHS Trusts may be of particular interest and is available here.

Simply Health: Health and Wellbeing at Work survey report, September 2023 is available on the CIPD website here.

The Prison Service Journal has just published a special edition on the health and wellbeing of prison staff, presenting some interesting papers on a range of issues. 

https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/publications/psj/prison-service-journal-268

Sick days at work hit the highest level for 10 years:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66883087          

The Society of Occupational Medicine Occupational Health Awards 2023. Join SOM in celebrating the superb work that OH professionals undertake every day. The Awards showcase OH and its value to organisations and the wider community.

The awards will be presented at the SOM Christmas Drinks Reception in London on the evening of Wednesday 13th December at the RCP. Categories are:

• Outstanding Occupational Health Initiative, sponsored by NEBOSH
• Outstanding Occupational Health Practitioner
• Outstanding Contribution by an Employer to Workplace Health and Wellbeing, sponsored by Greys Specialist Recruitment
• Outstanding Occupational Health Team
• Outstanding Contribution to Diversity and Inclusion
• Outstanding Contribution to the Development of OH Globally
• Outstanding Contribution to Occupational Health Research, sponsored by Cordell Health
• SOM Lifetime Achievement Award

The closing date for entries is Friday 10th November. The Awards are free to enter. Rules of entry here. Please send your award submission(s) via the online form. SOM look forward to receiving your entry. 

A second wave of Health Education England funding is now available with the aim of attracting people into Occupational Health. This is for courses on our approved course list that are being carried out or can be paid for before April 2023. The application form is now on the Health Education England website. Applicants are urged to read the instructions on the form and the website carefully

https://eastmidlandsdeanery.nhs.uk/occupational-health/nsoh-funding-opportunity

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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