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Chief Executive Blog, December 2016

Posted by matthew | Tue, 13/12/2016 - 10:31

We’ve seen a step up in SOM’s national influence and advocacy recently, demonstrated by an event hosted recently by the SOM’s patron, Lord Blunkett, at the House of Lords. The event was attended by representatives from key stakeholders such as the CBI, CIPD, Public Health England, Disability Groups, and Occupational health providers and health professionals. The main focus of attention was the DWP/DH unit explaining about the new Green Paper on work, disability and employment. We emphasised that Occupational health issues need to be centre stage in this Green Paper. To view the paper, please click here.

Key questions that we will be feeding back as part of the Green Paper consultation on are:

  • How occupational health and related provision be organised so that it is accessible and tailored for all
  • Examples of how occupational health is best delivered
  • Our  experiences of the Fit for Work service
  • How we can create a system where everyone who is eligible for occupational health assessment and advice is referred as matter of course
  • Who is best placed to provide work and health information, make a judgment on fitness for work and provide sickness certification

SOM also works globally, where occupational health is of increasing relevance. We were pleased to host a webinar for our international members recently and have a variety of events planned - including a Royal Society of Medicine / SOM event on global occupational health on 10th May in London and a meeting of international members at the SOM/FOM conference in June 2017 in Leeds and at ICOH conference in Dublin the following year. There is no doubt the knowledge of experience gained in the UK is one that can be of value globally and we are pleased to be leading a new global collaborative of occupational medicine societies (IOSMC) with our partners around the world.

Finally, knowledge and research is a cornerstone of our objects. SOM with Oxford University Press offer the Occupational Medicine journal as part of membership and there is a new academic platform featuring improved ways to obtain CPD, a “recommended for you” library and an easy to search “most read” function. Visit https://academic.oup.com/occmed to view in full.

Nick Pahl

CEO