Dear Colleagues

I’m not sure how we have reached December? It has certainly been another busy year in the life of Occupational Health. At the Conference in September, I indicated that the NHS England Growing OHWB ‘Look Back, Look Forward’ report was in the pipeline. It has now been published, and the links are below, so grab a cuppa (and maybe a mince pie!) and take some time to review the journey and progress that we have all been on over the last few years. 

I suspect many of you have been involved again in seasonal vaccination and faced the challenges of vaccination fatigue amongst NHS staff. If you have managed to achieve higher levels of uptake than last year, then I am sure your peers would love to know how this has been achieved – maybe think about writing a case study for us to share. 

On behalf of the Network Board, I really do want to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and New year.  I hope you all get some precious time with those that you love. 

Best wishes

Hilary Winch

Chair, NHS Health at Work Network

In this edition:

1. ‘Look Back, Look Forward’

2. Sharing and Learning

3. Network Member Benefit – Certificate in OH Case Management

4. Complete the First OH Census

5. New OH Nursing Accreditation Scheme Launched

6. Lunch and Learn Sessions

7. Working Minds Campaign

8. MoHaWK

9. Resources: Shift Work and Bullying

10. Courses and Resources

1.    ‘Look Back, Look Forward’

The Growing OHWB Together: ‘Look back, look forward’ report has been published on the NHS England website. The report showcases the journey, investment, and progress we have made in the first year since the launch of the Growing occupational health and wellbeing together strategy. It also provides insight into where we need to continue to invest to support our healthcare system, organisational and OHWB leaders to fully realise our shared vision in their local contexts, where they are in the driving seat for local change.  

2.    Sharing and Learning

As part of the Network project of developing dedicated guidance for network members, some relevant health surveillance subjects are now being developed. The first in this series is a ‘Good Practice Guide on Audiometry’. This guide is just going through the final governance review and hopefully will be uploaded to the website in the next few weeks – check back next month for an update!

Shared practice - Is your service SEQOHS accredited? If yes – then you must have some essential Information Governance documents for your Service that you can share and feed into our suite of ‘shared practice’. We would love to receive your transfer of records process, OH records management procedures and any confidentiality and privacy statements to support this area of work. Please send these through to  admin@nhshealthatwork.co.uk We can oblige by taking off any reference to your own Trust if you prefer, or we can happily leave logos on so that you can be acknowledged for your contribution.  

3.    Network Member Benefit - Certificate in OH Case Management

The At Work Partnership are pleased to offer NHS Health at Work network members a discount of £200 + VAT for places on their virtual Certificate in OH Case Management course, 31 January to 2 February. 

This practical three-day qualification is designed to train occupational health and other professionals in the theory and practice of case management skills – in order to improve absence management, job retention and return-to-work outcomes.

The course is delivered by an expert lecturing team with outstanding subject knowledge and includes course director, Dr Nerys Willliams, and Professor Kim Burton (one of the founders of the biopsychosocial and flags approach). Taught with a combination of lectures and group work, delegates will leave the course with a detailed knowledge and understanding of the case management skills that OH professionals need in practice. 

Book and pay by 13 December 2023 to qualify for the early bird rates! To book or for more information visit: https://bit.ly/CaseMgt24

4.   Complete the First OH Census

You are invited to participate in a new OH census conducted by the Society of Occupational Medicine (SOM) and the National School of Occupational Health. The Census will contribute to occupational health in terms of understanding staffing and activity and play a vital role in advancing collective knowledge for us all. Completing the Census will take approximately 15 minutes (if you are an independent practitioner) and up to 30 minutes (for an organisation). In appreciation of your time, SOM will:

• Share with you aggregate, anonymous results 
• Offer five lucky draw prizes (An Art and Occupation book worth £45, if completed by 10th December)

Complete the survey here by the end of 2023. Contact Nick Llewellin, SOM Membership and Operations Manager if you have any queries.

5.    New OH Nursing Accreditation Scheme Launched

The Faculty of Occupational Health Nursing (FOHN) accreditation scheme is live and ready for applications. Experienced nurses working in occupational health can now apply for accreditation by the Faculty of Occupational Health Nursing CIC. 

The FOHN Accreditation scheme is a voluntary scheme that will enable occupational health nurses to join FOHN as professional members and be placed onto a Directory of FOHN Accredited Specialists in the UK.  The scheme has been developed to recognise occupational health nurses’ progression throughout their occupational health career.  

Accreditation complements revalidation using the competencies, developed as part of this scheme, to reflect on present practice and future professional development. As with revalidation, re-accreditation is required every three years and provides visibility of progression in the speciality. The aim is to identify good practice, endorse exceptional practice, and create a development route for those nurses aspiring to work at an advanced level.

To ensure an efficient and robust application process we will be accepting applications via 6 weekly cohorts. The sooner you apply, the sooner you can get recognised.

6.    Lunch and Learn Sessions

The London Centre for Work and Health (www.lcwh.org) is a cross-institutional partnership involving clinical and academic researchers from Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Imperial College London, King’s College London and University College London, Queen Mary (University of London) and other external partners. The centre runs regular Lunch and Learn webinar sessions which are open to all. Details for the upcoming sessions:

Date: Tuesday 16 January 2024 (12.30-13.10)

Topic: findings from a literature review of Long Covid among healthcare workers

Presenter: Dr Brendan Dempsey

Research fellow, University College London

Join on your computer, mobile app, or room device. 

Click here to join the meeting

Date: 6 February 2024 (12.30-13.15)

Topic: Overview of the firefighters and respiratory health study.

Presenter: Dr Jo Feary

Academic consultant in occupational lung diseases from Imperial College London and senior clinical research fellow at the National Heart and Lung Institute.

Join on your computer, mobile app, or room device. 

Click here to join the meeting

Date: 5 March 2024 (12.30-13.15)

Topic: Models of delivering health and wellbeing services (HWS) to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK: Results from a scoping review

Presenter: Dr Georgia Ntani 

Senior research fellow / medical statistician at MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton

Join on your computer, mobile app, or room device. 

Click here to join the meeting

7.    Working Minds Campaign

The Health and Safety Executive’s Working Minds campaign has launched free online learning for employers. The key to preventing stress at work and supporting good mental health is making it part of routine working life and culture.

HSE's Working Minds campaign promotes the principles of risk assessment, with a focus on 5 steps: reach out, recognise, respond, reflect, make it routine.   

The new bitesize online learning is made up of 6 short modules that guide you step by step, with helpful tools and practical resources.

You’ll come away with an understanding of what the law requires of employers and what you need to do to be compliant. Learn something new, refresh your existing knowledge or share with others to spread the word and help drive change. Register and get started today

8.    MoHaWK

It’s good to see that so many of the NHS Network member organisations have signed up to MoHaWK in their annual subscription to help and support your quality improvement journey. Round 23 opened on 1st July 2023 for data input but will close on 31^st December ahead of Round 24 opening. Please find the briefing notes for Round 23. If you have any specific queries then do make contact via hilary.winch@nnuh.nhs.uk The briefing note for Round 24 will be circulated next month and via the MoHaWK portal to registered users. 

9.    Resources: Shift Work and Bullying

NHS Employers have updated their resources and infographics for bullying and shift work, and guidance on promoting health, wellbeing and attendance at work. Check out the links below: 

Bullying - https://www.nhsemployers.org/articles/tackling-bullying-nhs-infographic

Shift work - https://www.nhsemployers.org/articles/shift-work-healthcare-infographic

Attendance at work - https://www.nhsemployers.org/publications/promoting-health-and-wellbeing-and-attendance-work      

10. Courses and Resources

Icy Conditions and Winter Weather: At this time of year surfaces can be perilous – there are plenty of seasonal factors to consider when avoiding these sorts of accidents. Poor lighting, excess water from rain and even wet and decaying leaves can all cause slip and trip accidents to increase significantly. Slips and trips cause over a third of all major injuries and can also lead to other types of accidents, such as falls from height or into machinery. The HSE website guidance on slips and trips provides plenty of information and resources on how to avoid these accidents in and around the workplace.

The latest newsletter from the National School of OH is available here

ACPOHE Webinar: Neurodiversity in the Workplace

Registration is now open for the fourth ACPOHE/DisAbility webinars which will be about Neurodivergence in the workplace. The webinar will cover what neurodivergence is, lived experience examples, problems and barriers encountered in the workplace, and solutions. This will include how the OH experience can be made more accessible for a Neurodivergent service user.

Neurodiversity in the Workplace

Date: Wednesday 13th December 2023

Time: 13:00 - 14:00

Theme: Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

Location: Teams webinar

Speakers: Greet Janssens, Angela Webster, Steph Phillips. Everyone is welcome! Link for more info and registration: https://acpohe.csp.org.uk/news-events/events/events-listing/acpohe-webinar-neurodiversity-workplace-131223

WHEC: Assessment of evidence of welding fume as carcinogenic to humans

The Workplace Health Expert Committee will be presenting their findings on the strength of the evidence on the carcinogenicity of welding fume at a seminar from 13:00 -14:00 on the 7th of December entitled: Assessment of the strength of evidence underpinning the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reclassification of welding fume as carcinogenic to humans. Register here: https://forms.office.com/e/5HrDx9L40C

Systems Go! Cross-sector partnering for change in health and care is a free three-week course. You’ll discover how to address the most serious challenges facing the health and care sector through effective and collaborative partnerships.

Systems go! | The King's Fund (kingsfund.org.uk)

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The NHS Health at Work Network brings together all OH teams providing health and wellbeing services to NHS OH staff.  It is dedicated to providing consistent, high-quality health at work services to all NHS staff through collaborative working.

Members of OH teams in NHS Health at Work Network member organisations can receive the bulletin and access the restricted areas of the website as a membership benefit – if you are not sure of your login details email admin@nhshealthatwork.co.uk  

Please share this bulletin with colleagues and encourage them to register to receive it regularly.  Non-Network members can also register to receive the monthly bulletin here.

You can contact the Network through your regional representative or as shown below.  Please get in touch if you have any queries or comments, if there is anything you would like to see in future issues of the bulletin, or if you have news to share.

Hilary Winch, Chair                                                  hilary.winch@nnuh.nhs.uk

Andrew Gilbey, General Manager                       admin@nhshealthatwork.co.uk  

Postal address: NHS Health at Work, PO Box 857, York YO31 6FR