Health for Work Adviceline for Small Business The free Health for Work Adviceline for Small Business helps you to quickly and effectively address the issue of employee health, minimise the impact of staff illness, and provide essential support to staff with physical or mental health issues.
The telephone number of the Adviceline is 0800 077 8844. Alternatively click this link www.health4work.nhs.uk/ January 2010
Health and safety practitioners join forces to tackle workplace risks Health and safety advisers and practitioners across Scotland are to work together as part of an innovative workplace health project.
The initiative – entitled Health risks at work – do you know yours? – will offer small and medium-sized companies a package of support to improve their awareness of health risks in the workplace. Made up of a DVD and quick reference cards, the toolkit will provide simple, practical advice on how SMEs can identify and manage the risks in their own workplaces.
For the first time, a range of organisations within Scotland’s health and safety community have joined forces in order to disseminate the pack via their own networks and contacts. The unique project is a partnership between the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives, the Health and Safety Executive, the Scottish Chamber of Safety and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.
Safety professionals throughout Scotland will be asked to champion the toolkit to the employers they are in contact with, allowing the information to be cascaded down through their organisations into the hands of smaller employers.
Robert Atkinson, Occupational Health and Safety Adviser at the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives, said: “This project is unique in two ways. Firstly, it is the first time a single resource has been produced for SMEs that brings together all the necessary information on common health risks in one easy, accessible format.
“It is also the first time Scotland’s health and safety community has come together to distribute resources in this way. If each Champion in partner organisations distributes the toolkit to four employers, it will soon reach thousands of organisations across the country.
“The DVD and supporting information cover off the range of potential health risks in the workplace so there is something in there for all industries and I hope professionals will find it a useful resource to offer the companies they are in contact with.”
The toolkit aims to demystify the process of risk assessment and to help SMEs decide on the appropriate prevention and control measures to reduce work-related ill health. It will raise awareness of health issues in the workplace such as exposure to noise, chemicals and dust and will help employers identify what the problems are, how they are caused in the workplace and what can be done about it.
The Health risks at work – do you know yours? initiative is based on research which found that small companies often lack internal health and safety expertise but will listen to messages promoted by their key clients and prefer face-to-face support.
In addition to health and safety professionals, large companies will also be encouraged to use their influence by distributing it to their supply chain, encouraging their suppliers to address the issue of health and safety in the workplace. Employers can also access the toolkit and support directly from the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives.
The initiative contributes to one of the key goals in the Health and Safety Executive’s new strategy - to adapt and customise approaches to help SMEs in different sectors to comply with their health and safety obligations. If successful, there are plans to extend the model to England and Wales.
Danny Carrigan, Chair of the Partnership on Health and Safety in Scotland (PHASS), said: "Small and medium businesses should not view health and safety as a problem. Instead they should see it as a means to improving their business prospects. A healthy workforce and a safe workforce is a happy and productive workforce. There is clear evidence to demonstrate that good health and safety makes for profitable companies."
Every year, more than 100,000 people in Scotland suffer from an illness which they believe was caused or made worse by work. Workplace injuries and work-related ill health account for 3.3 million working days lost every year – a significant impact on businesses in Scotland.For free and confidential advice about risk assessments or other areas of workplace health and safety, call the Healthy Working Lives adviceline on 0800 019 2211.
Swine Flu
The NMC has issued an updated position statement on the role of registered nurses and midwives during an influenza pandemic.
There is also some advice aimed at nurses and midwives with information about how such a situation would affect their work.
Christina Butterworth has recently assessed the Presenting Magically virtual seminar. She comments "I think that presentation skills are a valuable skill for many nurses and non more so than occupational health, who spend a great deal of time presenting the business case for various services and delivering training in an effective manner, to name but a few applications. Please let the members know that there are a range of very good virtual seminars, including Performance Managing Difficult Staff and Dealing with a Difficult Boss."
Click on the link above for more information about these virtual seminars. August 2009
AOHNP (UK) were part of a stakeholder group to develop standards and a system of voluntary accreditation for occupational health services. The standards are intended to be applicable to all types and size of occupational health services including in-house and outsourced. Draft standards have now been prepared and will be published on the FOM website shortly. They can also be downloaded, together with the covering letter, on this site by following the link above. We want to offer the broadest opportunities for raising awareness and providing feedback so please respond to the drafts. It is envisaged that after consultation and pilot testing the final standards will be published towards the end of the year. June 2009
Rehabilitation Standards
Look out for the Rehabilitation Standards, which are due to be launched in later in May. http://www.rehabcouncil.org.uk/index.php The Rehabilitation Standards were commissioned by the Department of Work and Pensions and have been in development for the past six months.
The Standards illustrate the hallmarks of a good provider of rehabilitation services, and will assist potential users in making informed choices when selecting quality rehabilitation providers. The two accompanying Guides, one for purchasers and the other for consumers, provide support with making those choices.
The content and drafts have been widely consulted on to ensure that these documents are helpful and beneficial to the rehabilitation community at large. They have widespread support among relevant professional and industry bodies.
The launch reception will be an opportunity to listen to short speeches by eminent speakers, enjoy an informal gathering of the wider rehabilitation community, receive the final printed copies of the Rehabilitation Standards and accompanying Guides and learn more about the UK Rehabilitation Council and our work. May 2009
UK REHABILITATION COUNCIL Proposal for a strategic alliance of rehabilitation organisations and UK Rehabilitation Council as the lead body
The UKRC is proposing to host a meeting of rehabilitation organisations that will allow interested parties to provide input on what is needed from a lead organisation. This paper is for organisations to consider at board or senior management level and to advocate a wish to commence dialogue on the proposals by the UKRC.
Dame Carol Black seeks a united UK rehabilitation sector for the government to communicate with. She has offered to introduce an initial meeting aimed at agreeing a lead organisation for the rehabilitation sector and to speak on the government’s agenda.
The proposal is aimed at all organisations that have a direct or indirect stake in both health and vocational rehabilitation.
If anyone would like further information please contact the Association Administrator and she will forward the full proposal. May 2009
This Manual for the UK construction industry is targeted at both the construction industry employers, and occupational health service providers to construction employers. The aim of the Standards is to cover workers not only in the safety-critical and increased risk workers category, but across the board.
The Manual provides a benchmark for companies to measure themselves against to develop effective occupational health programmes.
The manual comes in a ring binder to enable it to be updated when necessary.
Michelle Aldous, chief executive of CBH, says: "The CBH Standards are key parts of the national scheme and address the need for baselines against which the industry can check, monitor and improve the health of the construction workforce. The CBH Standards are intended to empower employers with the knowledge to meet legislative and non-legislative requirements”
Price £175 from Construction Industry Publications. Updates will cost £25 each and will be supplied as and when. A subscription form will be supplied with the manual.
The Foundation of Nursing Studies Awards2008 Rewarding Excellence in Nursing and Healthcare Practice
The Foundation of Nursing Studies (FoNS) is delighted to invite applications for four awards:
Mallabar Award for Developments in Practice that Improve Patient Care Richard Tompkins Award for Nurse-Led Care Birmingham Hospital Saturday Fund Award for User Involvement in Care Elsevier Award for the Evaluation of Healthcare Practice
Overall Aims of the Awards · To reward nurses, midwives and health visitors who are able to demonstrate achievement or excellence in developing practice · To raise the profile of practice development · To share innovations in practice that improve patient/client care
The awards are open to all nurses, midwives and health visitors working in any practice setting and at any level UK-wide. Applications can be from individual nurses or nurse-led healthcare teams.
The closing date for applications is 4pm Friday 26th September 2008.
For informal inquiries and/or further information, please contact: Theresa Shaw – Chief Executive Foundation of Nursing Studies 32 Buckingham Palace Road London SW1W ORE Tel: 0207 233 5750 Email: Theresa.shaw@fons.org Website: www.fons.org/re_current.asp July 2008
Occupational Asthma Research Presentation - Quebec Occupational Health and Safety Research Institute (IRSST) IRSST have recently produced a presentation entitled Asthma in the Workplace - Information and prevention: 7 summary fact sheets.
It is important to understand the health risks associated with different training and work environments in order to adopt behavious oriented towards the prevention of occupational asthma and rhinitis. The IRSST has just published a fact sheet presenting these two respiratory diseases in a general was as well as six other fact sheets that present the risk factors more specifically, and propose means of protection adapted to six occupational environments.
This is a well known OH Institute from Canada but it must be borne in mind that UK legislation on products such as PPE etc. may be slightly different. D Romano-Woodward, Member, July 2008
Economic Value of Health at Work The University of Loughborough is running a research project looking at the Economic Value of Health and Safety at Work. We have been asked to get as many people involved as possible in the brief online survey looking to compare the views and experiences of 3 broad groups within all types of organisations:
1) Human Resource / Personnel Mangers 2) General Managers / Directors / Leaders 3) Occupational Health & Safety Professionals
We would be delighted if you could forward this e-mail to as many colleagues in the above groups as appropriate. It does not matter if you do not have Occupational Health and Safety Professionals employed in your organisation, we are very interested in all responses.
We are tremendously grateful for your input to this important research, which will be published and provide input to UK policy in this area.
To complete the survey simply click this link and follow the simple instructions on screen:
For any questions about this research please contact Paul Miller, Department of Human Sciences, University of Loughborough. E-mail: P.S.J.Miller@lboro.ac.uk July 2008
Constructing Better Health Update We have recently received an email from Wendy Stimson asking us to advise OHNs about the benefits of registering with Constructing Better Health. Constructing Better Health (CBH) is a not-for-profit professional organisation for occupational health in the construction industry; working in partnership with the occupational health community to deliver solutions for the pro-active management of construction specific work related health.CBH has published industry standards, which can be found via the following links: · http://www.constructingbetterhealth.co.uk/OHSPstandards1.pdf · www.constructingbetterhealth.co.uk/OHSPStandards2.pdf
The industry standards also address competency of OH providers working within the industry and have therefore devised a scheme whereby providers apply to become registered with CBH with a view to delivering OH to the construction industry, there are other benefits of CBH registration too, including:Gateway to the construction industry Access to professional advice and resources Access to research / reports Access to discounted training courses for CPD Access to on-line best practice & management tools Networking opportunities Access to previous health data for monitoring Access to registered independent OHA's for additional resource Use of a CBH registration mark on all company literature Input to future strategy for OH in construction Web-links / advertising products & services
I would be very grateful if you could please update your members with regard to CBH, and if any of them would like any further information to not hesitate to contact me.
Alternatively if you would like myself or Michelle Aldous to present to your group about CBH and OH in the Construction Industry, we would be happy to discuss this further.
If you have any questions in relation to the above or any other queries regarding CBH, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Developing Patient Partnerships to close We have received the following letter from Pamela Prentice and Kristin McCarthy (Joint Chief Executives) of DPP:
“It is with deep regret that we are writing to inform you that DPP will be closing this summer. Our Department of Health funding ends in April 2008 and will not be renewed and the lack of significant funds from other sources means that DPP will not be able to earn sufficient income to continue.
We have been running for over 11 years and in that time have campaigned tirelessly to keep self care and health education at the top of the agenda and in the public eye. DPPs media coverage has been extensive in both the national and local media. Our campaign resources have been widely distributed into GP surgeries, pharmacies, workplaces, schools, universities and homes throughout the UK. We believe our expertise has contributed to health education strategies for Strategic Health Authorities, Primary Care Trusts and workplaces and influence the way the NHS and others have thought about health education.
Before we draw all of this to a close we are having one last conference “Who is driving health education? Examining the vested interests that influence our health behaviour” being held on 19 June 2008 in London. This timely conference will provide a unique opportunity for participants from the NHS, workplaces and Government to consider the increasing relevance of health education and how it can influence their work and hopefully inspire those who attend to continue the legacy of the DPP.
The attendance will be by invitation. If you are interested in receiving more information about the conference please contact: dpp@bma.org.uk or telephone 0207 383 6715.
We want to thank you all for your support of the years, and hope you can attend our final conference.”
The press release sent with the letter (for immediate release, Wednesday 5 March 2008) starts:
“Health education charity DPP to shut down due to Department of Health funding refusal
“Health education charity DPP : Developing Patient Partnerships is being forced to close it’s doors depriving patients and the public of the independent unbiased health education they so desparately need. Today’s announcement (5 March 2008) comes as a direct result of the Department of Health’s refusal to provide the health education charity with funding beyond April 2008.
“DPP Chair, Dr David Wrigley says: “It is with deep regret that we have been forced to make this decision. For over a decade DPP has fought to keep health education and self care at the top of the agenda. How ironic that now, just as the Prime Minister has announced that Government will increasingly need to shift focus and resources to the prevention and early identification of health problems, DPP is forced to close. By the Prime Minister’s own admission, achieving this shift in focus means ‘There will be a stronger need for professionals and users to better collaborate, particularly on issues such as obesity, as well as to improve long term outcomes on education and other services; and people will increasingly expect to be kept well informed and involved’.
“How can it be right to force closure on the very charity that is continually delivering the information, advice and signposting to the support needed for every citizen in the country so that they can make effective use of public services, especially the NHS?”
“DPP was established in 1997 and will close on 31 August 2008. The last DPP’s event will be a conference entitled “Who is driving health education?: Examining the vested interests that are influencing our health behaviour” which will be held on 19 June 2008 in London. The conference will showcase DPPs experience of creating independent health education materials and programmes. It also aims to raise awareness of the importance of health education and expose its lack of focus and investment in the UK.” March 2008
Make your Voice Heard The Chief Nursing Officer, Christine Beasley, has invited nurses to comment on her proposals for the future of post-registration training. The consultation has just begun and responses must be made by 15 February 2008. http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Liveconsultations/DH_079911
The CNO’s proposals for the future nurse training make no mention of OH nursing. The inference is that OH nursing, as part of the wider body of community/public health nursing, will be wrapped up with nursing for families and children.
As the consultation is a web-based questionnaire there is a tremendous opportunity for OH nurses to make their voice heard. If we could, for example, get a few hundred OH nurses to respond to the consultation the impact would be immense forcing the CNO to respond. This is an ideal opportunity for a web and email campaign.
The consultation has a box for nurses to identify OH as their specialism. It takes only a few minutes to complete. It is linked from the DH website but can be accessed directly here. http://www.cdhpp1.leeds.ac.uk/questions.asp
Please could you consider passing this message to your members encouraging them to respond to the consultation and asking them to encourage their friends and colleagues to do the same.
Helen Kirk (HK Consulting and member of AOHNP (UK)) November 2007
Asthma Special Interest Group The HSE Asthma Partnership Board and HSC aim to reduce the incidence of occupational asthma by 30% (between 2001 and 2010). The aim of this notice is to assess member's interest in a possible multi-disciplinary "occupational asthma special interest group" of occupational physicians, occupational health nurse advisers and occupational hygienists.
At this stage there is no pre-set agenda, but anyone with a particular interest in work-related or occupational asthma would be welcome to join. Although the aims and objectives would be agreed by the group, broadly the purposes would be to:
o help members prevent occupational asthma and manage cases better o share practice within and between sectors for re-application of best practice o identify common issues and ways to find solutions o help guide the work of the HSE Asthma Partnership Board o help identify areas where practically focussed research is still needed to help us in our practice.
If you are interested in participating in this group then please contact Linda Riseborough, Association Administrator and she will give you the relevant contact details. November 2007
Constructing Better Health - correspondence rec'd 12 November 2007 I am writing to inform you that the Constructing Better Health Occupational Health Standards for the UK Construction Industry have now been published.
As a respondent to the draft standards, you will recall that their purpose is to provide key stakeholders with a best practice guide for work-place health and fitness for work requirements within the UK Construction Industry.
The CBH Standards are intended to empower employers with the knowledge to meet legislative and non-legislative requirements, and to provide employers both within the Construction and Occupational Health Industries with a point of reference for fitness for work standards.
Your contribution to the consultation process was highly valued and while we have not responded to the comments and suggestions made on an individual basis, all input received was carefully considered and included where it was felt to be of benefit to the intended users of the standards.
