Guest blog for Occupational Health Awareness Week 2023 - by Janet O'Neill, NSOH
Awareness weeks bring attention to important subjects; a fresh day approach, creating a platform to educate and inform. Occupational health (OH) is a subject of rising importance with awareness needed. But what are we trying to achieve and how? OH is still fairly unknown as a profession and health specialty despite government focus over the last 15 years. We were centre stage in the Black Report, the recent open consultation Occupational Health: Working Better, and numerous publications in between. It seems strange that the value of OH is understood by the country’s administration but not yet within the health community. Perhaps the fault lies with excluding OH from NHS services. Whatever the case, OH is not included in standard undergraduate health education and many health professionals remain unaware of the field. Most OH professionals will have an amusing anecdote on how they stumbled into OH.
The number of OH practitioners has reduced significantly in recent times and yet the need is rising exponentially. OH is worth fighting for, said Mandy Murphy, previous NSOH Deputy Head. This rings true now more than ever. The COVID era demonstrated the value of OH to people and organisations, above any other time. OH adds worth and is an essential ingredient in the health of the workforce, businesses, communities and the wider economy. Times like these have led to a call for universal access. OH professionals are in high demand and will continue to be so in the coming years. We seek parity between administrative and clinical awareness.
The National School of Occupational Health (NSOH) are using their strategic role to the advantage of the profession. We are advancing not only awareness but growth of a quality OH multidisciplinary workforce. As part of NHS England Workforce Training and Education and the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, we support all OH, regardless of the model of delivery. For OH to make a difference in times like these, quality education, training and career development are essential.
This is not the place for me to provide a checklist of achievements since the advent of the school back in 2014, but to raise awareness of the efforts that are being made now to move OH from sunrise into daylight. All elements, large and small, are supporting that transition. To make this happen we work closely with a number of stakeholders, all of whom are as passionate as we are: SOM, COHPA, FOHN, The Council for Work and Health, Growing OH&WB, NHS Health at Work network, iOH and many more, but specifically with the Joint Work and Health Directorate.
The government are firmly committed to the growth of the profession and therefore a perfect ally. The NSOH and JWHD task and finish (T&F) project has had backing and advice from all OH organisations. From this, it was clear there would not be a midday in OH without marketing and increasing exposure to OH as a career pathway for the multidisciplinary workforce. A starting point was to raise awareness of practice placements within OH for undergraduate student nurses and Allied Health Professionals, and shadow days for medics. Placements allow students to experience OH but also share with fellow students. There have been great successes so far: Newcastle NHS Trust and Phoenix Occupational Health.
The sun is rising with project success such as the T&F NSOH recent proof-of-concept education funding program. What an achievement so far! 289 applications were made over a four-week period and 122 have been successful.
The latest applications for OH medic training posts have a seven to one demand. To this end we are working to increase the number of training posts, encouraging hybrid posts between the NHS and the private sector. Overhauling the curriculum for training has helped to ease the way for those moving into OH. For non-medics, providers are now developing and delivering their own in-house foundation training. The school is looking forward to collaborating with COHPA on a related project.
Building awareness of the multidisciplinary team within OH, to increase clinical resources and maximise skills, is fundamental. The school is supporting the Growing OH&WB research project, led by Dr Vaughan Parsons of the London Centre of Work and Health, with plans to map skills and competencies once published.
The SOM NSOH mentoring scheme and website for those new or considering the profession will encourage transition. FOHN NSOH are creating consistent titles for OH practitioners, bringing clarity to the profession. The NHS and RCN career pages are being updated. A wealth of information on what an OH career is like from lived experience has been added to the NSOH website, with steps on where to get more information and training.
At times like these, raising awareness and bringing in that new day is core to the NSOH.
Janet O'Neill is an Occupational Health Nurse Advisor and Deputy Head of the National School of Occupational Health.