I’ve just spoken with Magali Barraja, campaign co-ordinator for the Business Action on Health programme from Business in the Community (BITC) about their latest offering to employers called Workwell Peer Learning Programme. It costs £2,500 for non-BITC members and £1,500 for members. Have a look at their website to see what you get. Here are my thoughts: (more…)
Preventing ill health
This section is devoted to the tools and methodologies available to prevent ill health within your organisation.
I think it is fair to say that this is probably the most contentious and difficult to assess part of any health and wellbeing strategy for the following reasons:
- The sheer volume of initiatives, products and services that claim to improve productivity or reduce costs
- The lack of empirical evidence to support such claims
- No real benchmarking of what works and why- having to rely on providers marketing and snippets of information published in a wide range of media
- Very few live case studies to help employers make informed decisions
- Making decisions based on value judgements only
- The needs of employers vary greatly depending on their industry sector and culture
- Difficulty in understanding where to strike the balance between employer and employee responsibility for health and wellbeing
- The longer lead times needed before results become clear
I could go on but I think I have made my point.
Managing ill health is much more straightforward, but where does the bigger prize really lie?
GPs’ Growing Level of Influence
Jul 30, 2010GPs have always had a high but maybe underestimated level of influence on the successful workings of an employer’s health and wellbeing strategy. With the implementation of the fit note and the Government’s proposals for GPs to take over the commissioning of NHS services, their influence is going to get even stronger and here’s why: (more…)
The Impact of NHS Reform Proposals
Jul 15, 2010The new Health Secretary has this week, laid out a radical new vision for the health service which affects all areas of the NHS and healthcare. Out of all the many proposals, I’ve picked out two that I think will have the biggest impact on employers – that’s assuming NHS waiting times don’t increase again which unfortunately I think is a strong possibility. The first is the removal of the private patient revenue cap ( under 2% of revenue) currently enforced on NHS hospitals. The second is the new outline strategy on Public Health. (more…)
Healthy Work: Evidence into Action
Jul 06, 2010In the last week, this report has been published by Bupa in conjunction with The Work Foundation, Rand Europe and C3 Collaborating for Health. Its purpose is to identify how employers, government and providers of workplace health interventions can respond to the challenge working age ill health poses to UK productivity and public health. It’s a straight forward summary of many of the current issues and makes some recommendations that resonate with me and what I’ve been saying for a while now. (more…)
The YOU Company
Jul 02, 2010I met The YOU Company at a healthcare event yesterday and found their proposition very interesting. It is an online wellness management system that gives users approved biometric devices so that they can assess and measure key health metrics without having to see a clinician. You can use the biometric kit anytime, anywhere, which for me is one of the main benefits. Here’s what you get: (more…)
Sensible Purchase Perhaps- But Not a Strategy
Apr 30, 2010A large employer in the transportation sector has recently gone to print promoting the fact that they have just arranged an employer paid healthcare cash plan for their 4,800 employees. To quote their spokesperson, ‘We felt that the time was right to introduce a wellbeing strategy to provide our staff with the help and benefits they will really use to help them manage their everyday healthcare bills’.
To be fair, I don’t know whether this purchase is part of a wider wellbeing strategy but to take the spokesperson’s words at face value, I get the impression that they believe this is their strategy. What are they doing to prevent their employees from having to claim in the first place and then having to pay for it? (more…)
British Heart Foundation
Apr 19, 2010I’ve just been approached by someone working on behalf of the British Heart Foundation, asking if I can make reference on the Shandwell website to their Health at Work programme which promotes health and wellbeing in the workplace. As part of the programme, members get free information, resources and practical tips on how to encourage their colleagues on getting fit and active and eating well whilst at work. There’s also information on wellbeing at work to help colleagues enjoy work more and improve their working relationship with other colleagues. See their website www.bhf.org.uk/healthatwork
I’m happy to do it – so job done.
New Regulations announced for CT Scans
Apr 10, 2010CT (Computerised Tomography) scans are going to be subject to tougher regulation to ensure the benefit of their use is greater than the risk of being exposed to radiation - each scan can be up to 400 times more powerful than a traditional chest x-ray. If you are an employer offering these types of MOT scans to your employees, even on a voluntary basis and getting them to pay, you might want to think again. (more…)
Tesco staff get link to free NHS online health checks
Mar 24, 2010Tesco has just announced that it is to add a link on its benefits website to the free NHS MidLife health check,aimed at getting their middle aged staff to think about their health and how to improve it; it is being supported by a promotional programme over the next three months. Having had a look at it, it’s quite similar to a number of low- tech commercial online health check services who must be disappointed that such a big potential client has decided to promote something from the NHS. The question is, what will Tesco, their employees and the NHS all get out of it? (more…)
Investors in People Launch new Health and Wellbeing Award
Mar 12, 2010Hats off to Investors in People for adding a Health and Wellbeing award to their offering. Investing in health and wellbeing does not mean having to buy or pay for something but it certainly does mean investing in people. The two go hand in hand. If you get a chance, register to use their self check tool. It asks some great questions that many organisations have avoided or been unable to answer in the positive. Questions such as: (more…)
