Health & Wellbeing @work conference Birmingham

I spent Tuesday at the conference, its great way of catching up with old colleagues but its hard on the feet! 

I attended a number of seminars during the day ranging from government policy initiatives to the state of mental health in the work place. 

Liz Woodeson , director of Health and Wellbeing at the DOH talked about the launch of ‘’Public Health England’’ next week which will replace the old department of public health.  ‘’PHE’’ (as it  seems we will be referring to it as ) will be part  of the DOH  and responsibility for public health  will now sit with local authorities with the creation on Health and Wellbeing Boards. We were also told to look out for the term ‘’ Responsibility Deal’’, not too sure what it is but it seems to be linked to the big society- whatever that is!!. Businesses are going to be asked to sign up to pledges in public health and of course it is all voluntary, as we were told it is a new era of collaboration not enforcement.  I will wait and see. 

Carl Dray a lawyer at Nabarro reminded us very clearly of our responsibilities as OH professionals when were gaining consent from patients/ clients (whatever your preferred term is) for health surveillance, access to medical records, and release of medical information.   Make sure you get two copies of the signed consent one for your records one for the employee.  Ensure that you are gaining informed consent and that the consent is voluntary.  There were times when you could release information without consent, for example in the case of RIDDOR and interestingly in the notification of drug addicts. However after listening to the lawyer and gaining a little insight into the way the legal mind works, I don’t think I will be informing anyone about anything without consent, legal advice and any other armour I can think of. 

Billy Watson, Chief Executive, of the Scottish Association for Mental Health reminded the audience of the extent of mental health issues in the work place. Those of us who are clinical practitioners are well aware of the problems as consultations with patients/ clients with mental health issues will form the majority of our appointments.  Depression, stress and anxiety accounts for 33% of all sickness absence and in 2009/2010 the economic and social cost of mental health was £105 billion.

On a positive note I have noted a significant increase in awareness of the problem of dealing with mental health issues for both the individual and for the employer. However there is still much to do in order to address the stigma associated with mental problems. I think OH practitioners are in an ideal position to start the process of challenging (gently of course to start with) the stigma associated with mental health issues in the workplace. 

I did not attend the conference last year and by the time I got home at 8.30pm , I remembered why, skipping a year seems the best way forward for me.

Sandra Elliott  MA, DMS, RGN, NDN, OHNC

Managing Sickness Absence

Every business should be in a position to know what cost can be attributed to sickness absence.  A reliable system should be in place for consistent recording of the reasons for sickness absence.  This will enable the business to identify target areas which need to be addressed in order to reduce levels of absence.  Common reasons for sickness absence are musculoskeletal and psychological conditions.  These conditions may occur as a direct result of work or an outside activity, in either case the consequences are the same in that the employee becomes unable to work and carry out the normal range of their duties. 

Ownership of a sickness absence policy is a good place to start the management process and this should be available for all employees to refer to as required.  The policy should be a clear statement of understanding by the business that absence from work due to ill health can affect anyone during their working lives and will be treated in a reasonable and sympathetic way.  The policy might identify time triggers that indicate when early intervention may be appropriate by the manager and possibly Occupational Health.

Awareness training for managers should facilitate good understanding so that employees with responsibilities for others are aware of the role of Occupational Health in the management of sickness absence.  In particular, the impartial advisory service offered to management and instigation of early and measured approaches to return to work plans wherever possible. 

All the current focus appears to be on the health, work and wellbeing agenda.  The aim being to prevent individuals moving to long-term sick benefits or employment and other allowances and possibly becoming long term unemployed.  Workplace health can be impacted by measures aimed at keeping employees fit and healthy.  The healthy mind and body will enable individuals to feel good about themselves and importantly good about being in employment.  There is gathering evidence that these motivational approaches are working towards preventing people becoming chronically sick and so assisting the associated issues of sickness absence and lost productivity.

Author: Carole Miller

Employee Wellbeing in SME’s

‘’Research… found considerable evidence that health and well-being programmes produced economic benefits across all sectors and all sizes of business: in other words, that good health is good business’’

Dame Carol Black, Working for a Healthier Tomorrow, 2008 

The message that looking after the wellbeing of your staff makes a difference is well established, it can:

• Improve brand perception

• Increase productivity, staff engagement and employee relations

• Promote better employee health, both physical and emotional

• Reduce exposure to risk of litigation

• Decrease staff turnover

• Lower direct and indirect cost of sickness absence 

Small and medium sized enterprises are now beginning to identify the link between employee wellbeing and productivity, highlighting the importance to them of implementing an employee wellbeing programme. 

So what can you do about this in your organisation?

Firstly it is not about providing costly benefits to employees such as private health insurance and it’s not about implementing fancy health promotion programmes. What it is about is making small focused, cost effective changes in your business and tackling the basic health and wellbeing issues within your organisation.

Firstly there is limited value in offering health screening for your staff if you do little to reduce sickness absence levels in your business. Secondly you should ensure that you have complied with all statutory and good practice health surveillance requirements. 

The most common causes of sickness absence among staff are stress, musculoskeletal problems, e.g. back pain and minor self limiting health conditions, for example colds. Over the next five issues of Newslink we will be addressing the most common health and wellbeing issues encountered by employees and employers.

• Managing sickness absence
• Stress management
• Managing back pain
• Health and your PC
• Managing your personal health

Welcome to seohc

Welcome to the seohc occupational health blog. Over the coming months we shall be posting articles and OH event information for your interest. For more information about seohc ltd. please visit our website at www.seohc.com