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I agree with comments as below, but its a difficult culture to change. There will be the odd occasion where it could be worthwhile where an opinion or action on a presenting health problem from a clinically trained person could make a big difference. However I think these are few and far between. In my experiences the majority of walk ins tend to be from people who want a chat or a moan, want to "update" you on the progress of their ingrowing toenail, the gym bunnies who want to have their BP checked or be one of those "frequent flyers" looking for 10 mins away from their manager or seeking some form of medical sanction for not doing what they are paid to do.  In other words, OH could be busy doing nothing, with no measurable outcome.
 
From a professional credibility perspective there are always problems when these visits result in any recommendations about work, and the first thing the manager knows about it is when they get an email from OH stating that the person should work part time, or avoid aspects of their job etc. These are the ones that should be avoided in my opinion. And you will always get misquoted about any advice you have given, however well meaning......
 
I have gone halfway, and intend to go further. If someone drops in they are asked what they need, if its an OH issue then a brief chat explaining that they should first discuss with their manager who can then generate a referral if a good compromise. If its not OH signpost to GP or similar.  I do tend to see see people who call in asking to see me if I am aware of chronic or longterm illness eg struggling to work while undergoing Tx for cancer or similar, but its not de rigeur that I will drop everything as they walk in, likely they will get a slot later in the day. Strangely these are the clients who do not demand much of our time actually - they tend to cope very well without a daily chat and only appear when things are very hard, they are considering IHR and they want a trained ear. I do this because I would do it for anyone, but if there are any recommended changes to work aptterns I still expect them to go back to the manager
 

Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 20:15:25 +0000
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] Open door policy -OH services
To: [log in to unmask]

 OH is not an "emergency service" so there should be no need for "instant reaction" to a phone call or knock on the door or email. Sometimes you have to look at what signposting is out there about where to go for what and your doctor could be a good example of how there is poor communication on the wards etc about who goes where for what.


On 21 November 2013 20:12, Carr Barnes <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hi Thelma

In organisations I have worked in (large including outsourced NHS) self-referrals/walk ins had been phased out or were in process of being phased out for the following reasons:
- they tend to cause problems with consent for report to management .. especially walk ins where the employee comes to debrief on impulse and then tells you they don't want to do anything about situation just yet. Even if appointment based self-referrals they often result in same outcome .. the employee discloses concerns about work place then declines a report or they come for general health advice instead of seeing their GP (or being pro-active and looking up online resources like NHS.uk). 
- due the number of cases without outcome i.e. report to management, they are an inefficient use of OH time/resources 
- they tend to support a culture of poor communication between employee and management line; the employee comes to OH rather than telling management about their concerns (this may be due to concerns about confidentiality etc which may need to be addressed if you want to change service access). This can often then damage the relationship between OH and management as they are seen to be impartial and a block to management action/ownership of workplace issues.

Hope this helps 

Carr


On 21 November 2013 19:56, Sue AlQadhi <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Thelma

Not in my organisation - police service.  They need a management referral.

 

regards

Sue AlQadhi

 

From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Thelma Jameson
Sent: 21 November 2013 19:22
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [OCC-HEALTH] Open door policy -OH services

 

Hi all
Can some one working as an OHA /OHN in big organisation such as NHS give feedback if they accomodate workers attending  and requesting OH service on the spot. I this distracting and increase workload.
Culture as above seems to be  my situation in my workplace.
Thanks Thelma

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