Welcome to our September 2024 Bulletin

/Board Members 2022/543A8566

Dear Colleagues

September is always an exciting month for the Network. I am really looking forward to spending 24 hours with many of you at our Annual Conference. This is always a highlight of the year, and with the brilliant ‘line up’ of presenters on the programme, this will continue to be the case. We are also very excited to host our very first ‘NHS OHPRAS’ (OH PRofessionals AwardS) on the first evening. As part of the conference preparation, can I please draw your attention to item 1 in this bulletin. Whether you are coming to the conference or not please take part in ‘The Big OH Conversation’. The results of this on-line conversation and vote will be shared in the first conference presentation on Thursday 12th September. Please make sure all your colleagues take the time to make their views known by following the following the registration link to sign-up.

If you haven’t booked a place yet for the conference – make sure you get your application in by 2ndSeptember. It really will be a great investment of your time to ‘celebrate, share and be inspired’ – don’t miss it! This will be my last conference as Network Chair, and I’m delighted to announce that Dr Charles Goss, OH Consultant at University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust has just been appointed as Chair-Elect and will succeed me next Spring. A big warm welcome to Charlie!

Best wishes

Hilary Winch

Chair, NHS Health at Work Network


In this edition:

1. Take Part in The Big OH Conversation

2. Case Study: Occupational Psychology at Barnsley NHSFT

3. Last Chance to Book Your Conference Place

4. Dr Charles Goss, our New Chair Elect!

5. Shift Work Guidance

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6. NHS Pension Scheme: Ill-Health Guide for Employers

7. MoHaWK: Round 25 is Here!

8. Network Board Vacancy: Yorkshire and Humber Region

9. Health and Wellbeing Champions Update

10. Courses and Resource


1. Take Part in The Big OH Conversation

We’re delighted to let you know that you can now register to take part in The Big OH Conversation. We’re working with our partners at Clever Together to discover how OH can be even more impactful in helping staff be healthy and happy at work. Read more, sign up today using the link https://thebigohconversation.clevertogether.com/welcome and take part in the conversation.

The Conversation is open 24/7 until 5 September. It is hosted independently by our partner Clever Together, and your name will not be attached to anything you share – it’s completely anonymous – so you can be as open and honest as you like. The findings of this conversation will be presented at our Annual Conference on 12 September, and we can’t wait to hear what you have to say.

2. Case Study: Occupational Psychology at Barnsley Hospital NHSFT

Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has faced significant challenges regarding staff health and wellbeing, particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic. The pressures of the healthcare environment have led to increased mental health issues among staff, which in turn, has contributed to higher levels of sickness absence. Recognising the need for a more strategic and evidence-based approach to addressing these issues, the Trust has engaged the services of Carl Barnes, an occupational psychologist to examine and improve systems and promote psychological health and safety. This approach includes evaluating team dynamics, work processes, job design, leadership, and the overall work environment. The full case study is available here.

3. Last Chance to Book Your Conference Place

Whilst we have sold out of our 24-hour conference places, we have a handful of day-delegate places available being held on Thursday 12th September. The last date for bookings is Monday 2 September - please contact Anna, our conference organiser, for your booking form (forumconferences@btinternet.com). We have a brilliant conference programme and speaker line-up, so book your place now.

4. Dr. Charles Goss: our New Chair-Elect!

We are delighted to confirm Dr Charles Goss, an OH Consultant and the Head of Service at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust has been appointed as Chair Elect, and will succeed our current Chair Hilary Winch when her term finishes in March next year. Charlie has previously been the East Midlands region Network Board representative, and so already has good insight and understanding of the Network, and is passionate about the importance of good quality occupational health for our NHS colleagues. Welcome Charlie!

5. Shift Work Guidance

NHS Employers have published their latest guidance on the health, safety and wellbeing considerations associated with shift work in healthcare organisations, available here.

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6. NHS Pension Scheme: Ill-Health Guide for Employers

The NHS Business Services Authority have updated their ‘NHS Pension Scheme Ill-Health Guide for Employers’. Colleagues will wish to take note of the new tier included on page 9 of the guide. The full guide for members is also available here.

7. MoHaWK: Round 25 is Here!

MoHaWK Round 25 opened on 1st July for data input and will stay open until the end of the year to allow greater flexibility for when you can submit data. For those of you who have renewed your NHS Network Membership to include the MoHaWK package and need further guidance, here are the briefing notes for Round 25. If you have any specific queries, please contact hilary.winch@nnuh.nhs.uk 

8. Network Board Vacancy: Yorkshire and Humber Region

We have a vacancy on our Network Board for the regional representative for the Yorkshire and Humber region, replacing Lizzie Wood as her three-year tenure comes to an end. Thank you Lizzie for your vision, guidance and support to the Network over the last few years!

Applications to succeed Lizzie are invited from any colleague in the region employed in one of our member NHS organisations. For an informal discussion and application form please contact andrew.gilbey@nhshealthatwork.co.uk. The deadline for applications is Friday 27 September.  

9. Health and Wellbeing Champions Update

The Health and Wellbeing Champions update newsletter is available here. The newsletter has a huge amount of really useful information, including the various national health and wellbeing resources available, free webinars, and details on a new £10m Workforce Wellbeing Fund!

10. Courses and Resources

The Society of Occupational Medicine’s free summer e-magazine is available here.

NHS England has developed an excellent range of online resources to support organisations to help look after their people. Check out the following links: 

NHS England » Support available for our NHS people

NHS England » Looking after your team’s health and wellbeing guide

HSE Update: July saw the publication of the latest annual workplace fatality figures for 2023/24 as well as annual figures for mesothelioma deaths. The annual workplace fatality figures for 2023/24 show that a total of 138 workers were killed at work in Great Britain between April 2023 and March 2024. The HSE also published the annual figures for mesothelioma, a cancer caused by past exposure to asbestos. The figures show 2,257 people died from the disease in 2022. This is slightly lower than the 2,290 deaths in 2021, and substantially lower than the average of 2,529 deaths per year over the period from 2012 to 2020. Asbestos remains in millions of homes and buildings today and it can become dangerous when disturbed or damaged. The HSE is currently running 2 asbestos campaigns: 

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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                  andrew.gilbey@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