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Hi
Absolutely, Barry re getting to the heart of what is the role of OHAs, see
OH needs clear communication, Occupational Health, March, 2010. I believe
the profession needs to spend time working on this. At this moment I feel as
though we do need to move away from part 3 of the register and be registered
as a unique and distict group. What ever we do we have to develop a strong
clear voice to describe our contribution to public health and business. Our
message needs to communicate the tangible outcomes of our work with
businesses. I also believe that we should not stand alone, but need to bring
ourselves closer to others in similar/overlapping work such as occupational
psychologists, specialists in organisational culture, human resources,
ergonomists, etc that way the proactive elements of our work maybe
recognised a bit more easily and it would be clearer about how we contribute
to public heatlh esp. when relating to the new PH strategy focus on
wellbeing, self-confidence, resilience, the impact of environments and
communities on individuals. We all know that the workplace is a community
and part of our role as OHAs is to help make that community one which
nurtures, engages, and encourages it's members/employees.
I feel that we are small group whose voice is not really heard or understood
in the current position. Join with others who are similar in having a public
health and business role to have a stronger voice.
Hope that is not too controversial
Anna Harrington Health and Wellbeing at Work Specialist
SCPHN (Occ Health)
www.harringtonenterprises.co.uk
07816212836
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wilkes, Barry" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2010 9:25 AM
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] Public Health strategy document
All
At the risk of sound 'Me Too; we also include culture on our course at
Warwick. The problem all programmes have though is 'how much should we
include?'. I think your comments Anna are really interesting as they go
to the heart of the role and future of occupational health and I am
saying this as a non-OHN (my background is H&S and we are having similar
dilemmas).
To me the biggest 'public health' inequality we face is the lack of
access to OH by the vast majority of the working population;
particularly those in smaller companies. I suppose to tackle this we
have at least three options.
1. 'Force' companies to get access to OH based on their degree of risk
rather than their size. The law is already there. This could be achieved
through a greater degree of enforcement. After all relatively few firms
complain about Reg 7 of the Management Regulations requiring H&S
assistance and this can be stretched to OH assistance (the guidance
infers this anyway). With this option though you will probably only get
minimum legal standard. Other option include levy -based provision e.g.
construction industry and by making it a requirement of public liability
insurance as it is in some Euro countries.
2. A more palatable option might be to put a greater emphasis (both in
education and practice) in raising the awareness of business and
non-specialists of the role and benefits of OH. This is both giving
OHA's the skills to influence business and providing awareness and
education of OH to non-specialists. Yes we need to be careful how we do
this but this should not stop us giving managers and employers the
skills and knowledge they need to manage their employees.
3. The biggest of all the inequalities though, to me, is the lack of
access to OH through primary care. Yes I know there are some excellent
pilot projects like the 'fit for work programmes' but to be honest these
'pilots' have been going on for at least 15 years in different forms in
places like Sheffield and Lanark to my knowledge. When are they going to
move out of pilot?
To me these point also touch on the future role of OHA's anyway. There
is such a blurring of boundaries between professions; particularly case
managers; disability advisers; H&S practitioners; Occ. Hygienists;
ergonomists among many others that the distinct role and benefits of OH
needs to be defined and communicated.
This last point then leads onto the overlap between OH and the other
'public health' disciplines covered by Part III of the register. The
review of Part III; I think should prove very interesting; not least
whether OHA's move closer to those other disciplines or further away. I
think the transfer of public health generally away from the NHS and into
the Local Authorities and closer to disciplines such as Environmental
Health again add a real opportunity for OH.
Any thoughts?
Barry
Barry Wilkes
Senior Teaching Fellow in Occupational Health and Safety
Warwick Medical School (A-026)
University of Warwick
Gibbet Hill Campus
Coventry
CV4 7AL
Tel: 02476 150457
Fax: 0276 574893
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Anna
Sent: 01 December 2010 12:40
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] Public Health strategy document
Hi
Thats great to hear, so what more can be done to make OHA involvement in
organisational culture a mainstream and accepted part of our role in the
work place?
Anna
----- Original Message -----
From: "Smolen, Mary" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2010 12:17 PM
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] Public Health strategy document
And so does LSBU!!
Mary Smolen
Staff Nurse
Occupational Health Department
Royal Bournemouth Hospital
Castle Lane East
Bournemouth
BH7 7DW
Tel: 01202 704215
Fax: 01202 704513
This message may contain information that is privileged or confidential.
It is intended for the addressee(s) only and should not be forwarded or
copied to any third party without the consent of the sender. If you
received this in error please contact the sender and destroy the
message.
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Jim Mills
Sent: 01 December 2010 10:49
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] Public Health strategy document
I can vouch for that!
Sent from my BlackBerry(r) wireless device
-----Original Message-----
From: "Rosemary Shaw (fns)" <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: [log in to unmask]
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 10:37:09
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Occupational Health mailing list
<[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] Public Health strategy document
Hi Anna,
I run the Occupational Health Practice Course at Robert Gordon
University in Aberdeen and I certainly have content in the curriculum
regarding organisational culture and the effect that can have on the
health of the workforce.
Rosemary
________________________________________
From: [log in to unmask] [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Anna [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 01 December 2010 10:22
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] Public Health strategy document
Hi
This document is very interesting and does mark a new direction for
Public
Health in this country. It has businesses and workplaces threaded
throughout
the document and in specific paragraphs. It places a commitment towards
activities that are preventative, focus on wellbeing, self-esteem,
confidence and resilience. It states that it wants to "unleash"
employers
potential as champions of public health, whilst acknowledging that it
does
need to bring real and demonstrable ROI. It states that 70% of the
burden
of long-standing ill-health is due to MSD, MH and circulation. I think
that
this document supports and directs OH professionals to work with
businesses
proactivley to create workpalce cultures that improve the health and
wellbeing, rather than just prevent and manage ill-health. I think it is
about working with employers to engage and unleash the potential in the
workforce by affecting the management behaviour. There is therfore a
need
for OH professionals to look at themselves to consider what can my role
be,
do I need more support/training/guidance to be able to have an affect?
How
many OHAs training included organisational culture and the affects it
has on
the workforce, I am assuming not many, is this something that needs to
be in
the education of future OHAs?
Anna
----- Original Message -----
From: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2010 9:13 AM
Subject: [OCC-HEALTH] Public Health strategy document
> Dear List
>
> The Government Strategy for Public Health was published yesterday.
> Workplace
> health management gets a mention, but more could have been included. I
> suspect the government don't want to be more forceful in relation to
> workplace heath management due to the financial implications on
> businesses.
>
> Suggest it is worth looking at this document and then the document I
> circulated last week from the DWP.
>
> I was at a meeting last week where our Dean highlighted the
implications
> of
> public spending cuts on our, and other, universities. It was obvious
that
> more trainee HVs would be required and therefore we needed to factor
that
> in
> to our plans. This document put that discussion into perspective as
this
> document indicates that there will be an increased requirement for
HVs.
>
> Happy reading
>
> Anne Harriss
> Course Director
> London South Bank University
>
>
>
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