From Professor Neil Greenberg, SOM President, on behalf of the SOM Trustee Board
Over the years, SOM has enjoyed working in partnership with the Faculty of Occupational Medicine (FOM), including joint activity on advocacy, medical appraisals, promoting the occupational health brand, and organising a joint annual conference. We consider that this relationship has been useful for members of both organisations, noting of course that many doctors are members of SOM and FOM. SOM would like that valuable relationship to continue.
The SOM board was surprised to hear FOM’s announcement of the College of Work and Health in September 2025 given the stated aims of the College and the potential for overlap of those aims with established SOM activity. None of the current SOM board, nor the SOM staff team, were consulted or informed about plans for the College prior to FOM’s public announcement. Information available on gov.uk, Companies House, shows that the College was incorporated as a company on 20th June 2025, three months before the public announcement, from which it seems appropriate to conclude that conceptualisation and planning occurred in the first half of 2025.
Whilst clearly the FOM is free to conduct whatever activities it wishes to; the SOM board is rather perplexed about what problem the establishment of the College of Work and Health is trying to resolve. For instance, SOM is fully supportive of the establishment of the DipOHPrac but is confused as to why a new College is needed for the delivery of that qualification when it could continue to be delivered by FOM. We also note that one of the stated aims of the College is to assure the competence and standards of the wider OH workforce, especially non-medical and unregulated roles.
Whilst this is a laudable aim, we had been in discussion with FOM, and other bodies, about this topic for some time; indeed, these discussions had led to a proposal which was jointly presented to the Chief Medical Officer before the public announcement of the College last year. It thus seems unfortunate for FOM to have independently established a new body to carry out important activities which it had previously been working on jointly with SOM and other OH focused organisations.
The SOM board also note that there are already a substantial number of organisations which operate in the field of health and wellbeing at work[1]. It is conceivable that setting up another work and health focused body may lead to unnecessary duplication and confusion amongst key stakeholders. This is unlikely to further the aims of either organisation or improve the understanding of what occupational health professionals do.
As SOM President, I have been in discussion with Dr Robin Cordell, FOM President, about our concerns. I shall continue to advocate for your interests as SOM members and will be continuing the dialogue with FOM which I hope will be fruitful. My aspiration is that FOM and SOM will be able to continue to coordinate our efforts for the benefits of our members, and for occupational health practice more generally, through working in a complementary rather than competing way. SOM remains committed to its central role in advancing occupational health practice and supporting the multidisciplinary workforce.
[1] Such as SOM, FOM, the Council for Work and Health (which has the same abbreviation as the College for Work and Health) and the National School of Occupational Health, as well as other bodies which have an interest in occupational health such as MIND’s Mental Health at Work Leadership Council.