I agree with Helen that this was appropriately handled by you, Mary. OH
should not be a tea and sympathy service. The lady's behaviour seems to me
to be a rather extreme reaction to a distressing situation for her.

What would have been the action had it happened at 7.00pm or at the weekend?
If the employee had fallen over and cut her knee would you have been asked
to deal with her? This was a "mental health" first aid situation.

May be worth making a case for:
Resilience training - across the board
Train key people to be "Mental-health" first aiders

Tristi Brownett may well respond - I think Tristi has been involved in
setting up mental health first aid initiatives.

Anne

Anne Harriss
Course Director
LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY


On 11/12/2013 14:20, "Helen Hannar" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> You could use the ' what do we do out of hours or OHA not available' to try to
> push for mental health awareness training for key staff such as first aiders
> and HR staff then you will not be the lone person to turn to. It sounds like
> this lady did not need specific OH intervention just some support which could
> come from other appropriately trained staff
> 
> Good luck 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On 11 Dec 2013, at 14:14, Anna <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi
>> 
>> It appears to me that you responded appropriately
>> 
>> Anna
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "purplemary" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2013 12:55 PM
>> Subject: [OCC-HEALTH] Distressed Staff
>> 
>> 
>> Hello List - your wisdom would be appreciated.  NHS Acute Trust OH. Yesterday
>> afternoon at 1530 I was due to review my last (complex) client of the day and
>> accompany her to HR at the end of our consultation (also my finish time -
>> 1600hrs).  At 1525 I was informed by my admin team that I had another client
>> to see 'because she was crying and had come to Occ Health.' I stated I did
>> not have time for this and suggested they gave her the contact details for
>> the Employee Assistance Programme and access to a phone. This client then
>> left the department.  On my return from HR I was met by a senior manager who
>> said this person must be seen - she had been found prostrate at the main
>> entrance to the hospital by him.  He also summoned an HR manager to the
>> consultation.  Consequently I was here almost two hours after my finish time
>> - luckily no children to collect or appointment to attend.  Her husband had
>> already been summoned by the lady and appeared about half way through the
>> consultation in fairly belligerent mood.  The lady is well-known to us in OH
>> and there was little I could offer her except advice to see her GP and unfit
>> for the next couple of days.
>> 
>> My point is - what is the group's opinion of the correct management of this
>> scenario when one is the only practitioner available.  It seems that the
>> Trust perception is that we are here for precisely this sort of event, no
>> matter what the situation in terms of timing.  One wonders what they would do
>> if it were after office hours.
>> 
>> This is not the first time this has happened and in these stressful
>> pre-Christmas, staff shortage, CQC, budget-cutting times, it certainly won't
>> be the last.
>> 
>> All tips would be gratefully received.
>> 
>> Mary
>> 
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