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Tackling economic inactivity due to long-term sickness is a top priority for the government.

The Chancellor announced £2 billion at the Spring Budget 2023 to support disabled people and people with health conditions to work, which included a package of two consultations, Tax Incentives for Occupational Health and Occupational Health: Working Better. The UK Government’s chief concern is that according to its statistics, 1 in 13 working age people, excluding students, is not in work due to long term sickness.

Therefore,the latter consultation is seeking views on proposals aimed at increasing employer use of Occupational Health (OH) Services specifically exploring:

– the introduction of a national ‘health at work’ standard to help provide a baseline for quality OH provision including guidance, the option of pursuing accreditation and additional Government-funded support services as well as employer best practice sharing;

-best practice from other countries and other UK-based employer models that enable employers to provide support for their employees; and

-how we develop and support a multidisciplinary workforce in work and health, including expert OH workforce.

This is intended to build on HSE’s existing work with the OH sector and explore the opportunities this can offer businesses and providers.

The consultation is aimed at employers, OH professionals, OH service providers and service users. Both consultations will together inform potential policy options to enable and encourage employers and OH provision to support individuals to remain and thrive in work.

The consultation is due to close on 12 October 2023.

For more see:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/occupational-health-working-better

The government has made temporary changes to absence certification rules so here is a brief guide on how:

From 10th December 2021, employees only need to contact a GP surgery for a MED3 / Fit note / Sick note after 28 days of being away from work due to illness.

They do not need to provide their employer with proof of illness unless they have been unwell for more than 28 days.

At Day 29 employees must provide their employer with a note from their GP, this is called a ‘Fit note’ or MED3. To obtain one, they must contact their GP at day 29 for a clinical assessment.

For the first 28 days of illness, employees can self-certificate. 

OH has a big part to play here to help assuage employers’ worst fears that this may be open to abuse or that employees may not be getting the support they need when unwell.  We can assist by arranging an absence consultation with your employee prior to the 28 days. This gives you insight into the absence, a report on its causes and reminds on your dashboard we have added the option “Sickness Absence Advice Referral” under Management Referral. 

Government guidance and information can be found here:

Taking sick leave – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Quickest of words on the remarkable speed with which the two years since OccHealth Direct’s launch have sped. It was the early part of 2019 when a former colleague asked me when I planned to open my own OH provider. Initially I found the suggestion amusing yet couldn’t then quite rid myself of the notion. After all, in my time I have seen OH from both sides of the fence, purchaser and provider and seen good and not so good examples of OH-at-work. So I started to consider and research the idea and took many soundings. I developed a vision of a provider that was clear and crisp in its offering, responsive, fast and didn’t take advantage on price. Could it be done? Dare I try?

Two years on and here we are steadily growing our client base, our roster of clinicians and services we offer. So many learnings along the way, not least on my initial take of a provider which had a “This is our service offering. Period”, something that VERY QUICKLY matured into “How can we expand our service to meet the changing and varying needs of our customers?”; and that’s what we’ve done and will continue to do. Can’t wait to see what the next two years bring!

28 September 2020 – 4 October 2020 is the British Nutrition Foundation’s ‘Healthy Eating Week’. 

The timing couldn’t be better as summer gives way to the glidepath to Christmas and all that means for our waistlines! Combine that with changing weather and reduced opportunies for outdoor exercise and thinking about eating healthily suddenly seems the obvious thing to do.  So what does BNF suggest? 

Well firstly, it’s not just about food. Its about making tolerable changes to improve our general quality of life giving us ideas around taking a little exercise and thoughtfully calibrated to age groups, as again this isn’t just about the middle-aged, overweight or sedentary amongst us. Part of its aim is to instil good habits in the little ones and encourage the parents among us to encourage them. But where food is centre stage, try wholegrains such as brown rice, pasta and bread and avoid the processed stuff that packs in the carbs but fails in terms of essential vitamins and minerals. Don’t forget fruit and veg of course and the much and rightfully publicised five-a-day. 

While occupational health services such as our own at OccHealth Direct are there to support organisations and their colleagues with absence management and health screening etc, so much is about the subtler benefits of promoting the choices and habits that can help prevent some forms of ill health in the first place. Let’s also not forget about the general sense of well-being that can flow from healthier choices, and its dividends to our mental health.  

The seven steps are neatly self-explanatory on first look, but well worth a click on each heading to access BNF’s well-presented information and tips to help us reflect on and changehow we treat our bodies, and our minds by natural extension. There’s something for each day in our week so please read on below and take a few minutes to click on BNF’s link at the bottom. 

• Eat more wholegrains (Monday); 

• Vary your veg (Tuesday); 

• Drink plenty (Wednesday); 

• Move more (Thursday); 

• Be mind kind (Friday); 

• Get active together (Saturday); 

• Eat together (Sunday).

Hard to disagree with anything really! Click and read: https://www.nutrition.org.uk/healthyliving/hew.html

The week aims to develop a greater understanding of stress and offer individuals and organisations access to proven coping strategies and sources of help. 

Let’s start with the NHS as an example. Stress is believed to account for over 30% of sickness absence in the NHS, costing the service and therefore we as taxpayers a whopping £300-400 million per year. The latest NHS annual survey found that over 38% (36% per cent in 2016) of NHS staff reported that they had suffered from work-related stress. Not good!

The Health and Safety Executive (hse.gov.uk) defines stress as an adverse reaction that people have to excessive pressures or other types of demands placed on them. Stress affects people in different ways but there are common factors that can lead to stress and poor health. They report that in the period 2018/19, 602,000 workers went absent with stress and related conditions, notching up a staggering 12.8 million days off. 

Returning to the NHS, we can all appreciate the types of stressors our hard-put doctors, nurses and others work with including rising workloads, unpredictable patients, unrelenting shift patterns, long hours and occupational trauma their work entails. We all expect a little stress in our work from time to time, but also all have different tolerances to it and ways of coping or maybe not coping well at all!

It’s not trite to say that the key to combatting stress, other than having stress-free jobs/lives (hardly likely!), is feeling supported and being able to discuss these stress factors without judgement before they assume crisis-proportions. Its proven that being able to do that helps workers to manage those feelings and so drives down the risk of impairment and sickness, with its own collateral impact on their mental wellbeing. 

There are lots of good ways to help prevent stress or at least help make it more manageable for your colleagues, including:

1. As an employer, demonstrate you’re awareness and acceptance of workplace stress by de-stigmatising through communicating about it whenever you can – mention it on email footers, posters, the canteen, staff meetings etc.  

2. Train your managers (charities such as MIND offer great courses on your premises) to recognise its signs/support staff. Managers should allow staff to discuss stressors in regular staff 1-1s (if you don’t hold these, then start!). Develop and agree simple and deliverable action plans when issues are raised and don’t try to have all the answers – its ok to take advice.

3. Praise and reward managers for the support they give but be sure to watch them for signs too, being a manager doesn’t make them more immune to stress, it makes them more susceptible!

4. Get a good Employee Assistance Programme in place. There are some great schemes out there.

5. Occupational Health – a vital part of prevention and key to support and recovery, acting as a support to the employee but also the manager and HR. You could consider referring or allowing self-referral. 

And yes of course it all costs a bit of money and effort, what doesn’t!? However, that investment pales compared to the cost of staff turnover, poor productivity, damaged morale and sickness absence.   

For more on International Stress Awareness Week…check out: https://isma.org.uk/national-stress-awareness-week 

It may be cold outside, but winter needn’t be the unhealthiest time of year for you and your family. Here are five ways to make sure that, even when your body is telling you to hibernate, you can keep healthy and fit, no matter what the weather’s like.

1. Banish winter tiredness

Many people feel tired and sluggish during winter. This is due to the lack of sunlight, which disrupts our sleep and waking cycles. Try these tips:

•  get outdoors in natural daylight as much as possible
•  get a good night’s sleep – go to bed and wake up at the same time every day
•  destress with exercise or meditation – stress has been shown to make you feel tired

2. Eat more fruit and veg

When it’s cold and dark outside, it can be tempting to fill up on unhealthy comfort food. However, it’s important to ensure you still have a healthy diet and include five portions of fruit and veg a day.

If you find yourself craving a sugary treat, try a juicy clementine or satsuma instead.

Winter vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, swede and turnips can be roasted, mashed or made into soup for a comforting winter meal for the whole family. Explore varieties of fruit and veg that you may not normally eat.3. Drink more milk

You are more likely to get a cold in winter, so make sure your immune system is in tip-top condition.Milk and dairy products such as cheese, yoghurt and fromage frais are grea t sources of:

•  protein
•  vitamins A and B12
•  calcium, which helps keep our bones strong

Choose semi-skimmed, 1% or skimmed milk – rather than full-fat – and low-fat plain yoghurts.4. Try new activities for the whole family

Don’t use the cold winter months as an excuse to stay in and lounge around. Instead, get out with the whole family to try out a new activity – maybe ice skating, or taking a bracing winter walk on the beach (the dog will love it especially!) or through the park.

Regular exercise helps control your weight, boost your immune system, and is a good way to break the tension that can build if the family is constantly cooped up inside the house.5. Have a hearty breakfast

Winter is the perfect season for porridge. Eating a warm bowlful on a cold morning isn’t just a delicious way to start your day, it also helps boost your intake of starchy foods and fibre.

These foods give you energy and help you feel fuller for longer, stopping the temptation to snack mid-morning. Oats also contain lots of vital vitamins and minerals.

Make your porridge with semi-skimmed, 1% or skimmed milk, or water, and don’t add sugar or salt. Add a sliced banana, berries or other fruit for extra flavour and to help you hit your five-per-day target.

So…there it is: no fad recipes, no ergonomic anti-SAD lamps, nothing tricky at all actually. Just some sound advice to keep you and yours active, the bugs at bay and the school and work-place happy. 

I am delighted to announce the launch of OccHealth Direct this month!

This has been the product of huge preparation and planning and a clear vision. The aim of the game isn’t to “compete” or “disrupt” or do any of those other business buzzwords we hear so much of these days; but actually to address a gap in OH service provision in the UK. 

What am I talking about? I’m referring to the few very large players who deliver fantastic services and outcomes and yet whose focus is in the larger contractual customers so risking leaving the many thousands of SMEs, who may not want the full panoply of a service contract, without much needed support. I am also talking about the small, local OH providers who fulfill a vital role in their locality most often on a face to face basis, but can’t overcome the immediacy of their location to serve SME’s who may have multiple locations. 

So…it dawned on me that there was a gap in provision in the UK’s OH market. Direct, telephone-based services backed up with an online interface,  to whoever wanted them, whether as a contractual partner or a company looking for a one off. Now you can’t conduct a medical or a drug and alcohol test by telephone or video of course, so its just as well we at OccHealth aren’t trying to! 

Our focus is on supporting you wherever you are in the British Isles or even ROI in getting your staff back to work as quickly, safely and inexpensively as possible. Telephone/video allows us to be nimble and address your problems fast, saving those days and weeks that can be lost to the industry’s current reliance on face to face. Talk to any occupational health professional and they’ll tell you so much of what they do can be done by telephone or even video. Have your doubts? Consider the counselling industry or EAP or even NHS 111. All depend on telephone services and generally operate with great success.

So we are here not to “compete” or “disrupt”, but to complete the market; to deliver ease and responsiveness where it is sorely needed, and to say we are excited by our calling would be something of an understatement. We cannot wait to make the difference to you and your employees and become the go-to to the many, many organisations out there, who for too long, have fallen into the cracks in the UK’s occupational health market. 

Scott Hegley

Director

OccHealth Direct Ltd