1. Making the Case for Health and Work Champions
Using Health and Work Champions to ask about Work
13th June Genevieve Smyth
@RCOT_Gen

2. Topics covered in today’s session:
What are Health and Work Champions?
What is the evidence for their impact?
How can you develop Health and Work Champions locally?

3. Health and Work Champions
Partnership with Public Health England.
Lost opportunities to talk about the health benefits of good work
Aims to create culture change in the NHS so it is routine practice for all clinicians to raise work issues
In the past 18 months we have recruited and trained 60 occupational therapists across NHS Trusts in England to act as Health and Work Champions
Policy drivers to embed work as a health outcome. Health and Work Champions is in both recent policy papers:
Work, Health and Disability Green paper: Improving Lives (2016)
Improving Lives. The Future of Work, Health and Disability (2017) Command paper
the-future-of-work-health-and-disability
Evidence shows that being in the right work is good for health and that being out of work can have a detrimental effect on health
We also know that the longer a person is out of work the more their health and well-being can start to deteriorate.
Empowering health and care professionals to have an informed and supportive conversation with their patients about starting and maintaining meaningful work, as a key part of staying and keeping well. Making best use of Health and Work Champions to support this.
Increasing use of the Allied Health Professionals Advisory Fitness for Work Report to relieve pressure on GPs signing Fit Notes, particularly for MSK and mental health.
We want the health and welfare systems to work better together to improve the chances of those with disability or health conditions to be able to work, improving the population’s health overall.

4. What are the Health and Work Champions doing?
Deliver a package of training about health and work to colleagues which aims to help staff:
Understand the relationship between health and work
Recognise the clinical potential of asking about work status
Think about ways to discuss work in clinical settings
Know how to refer and signpost patients for further support

5. Why employment?
Employment is one of the most important determinants of physical and mental health
Children growing up in workless households are almost twice as likely to fail at all stages of education compared with children growing up in working families
PHE (2017) Health Profile for England

6. Why employment? Most people are in work
The UK employment rate is at the highest it has been since records began. Nearly 75% of the working age population are in employment.
32% of disabled people with a mental health condition are in employment
46% of disabled people with musculoskeletal conditions are in employment

7. Asking, supporting, signposting: The five R’s
Raise work issues with people early in the intervention pathway in a sensitive and
acceptable manner
Recognise the risk factors of being out of work
Respond effectively to the straightforward work problems that people identify
Refer people who have more complex difficulties to the appropriate specialist service
Revisit work issues at intervals during the intervention

8. Key considerations
What are some of the key considerations for remaining in or returning to work when people are…
In work but their health is effecting their work?
In work but on sick leave?
Out of work?

9. Is it working? Project evaluation
First phase by University of Salford: Use of pre and post training questionnaires to gauge change in knowledge, attitude and behaviour
Between January and June NHS staff trained ; 40% AHPs; 25% doctors; 15% nurses
Statistically significant improvements in attendees’ knowledge and confidence
High positive impact on the Champions’ personal and professional development

10. Project evaluation
Salford also found Health and Work Champions were doing a large amount of other promotional activities in addition to delivering the training.
Barriers to the training resulting in changes in the organisations were: Trusts prioritising other tasks, time restraints, staff shortages, lack of management support
If you would like copies of the Executive Summary – we have copies here and you can contact us for the full report. It is also on the RCOT website.

11. Project evaluation
Second phase by ICF: Use of post training questionnaires to gauge change in knowledge, attitude and behaviour
Site visits to Trusts to interview wide range of stakeholders about impact of project

12. In a three month period

13. Evaluation of the Health and Work Champions Programme, 2017/18
Healthcare professionals were overwhelmingly positive about the training they received from Champions, with over 80% of those responding to a post-training survey strongly agreeing or agreeing that the training was relevant to their role.
Over 90% of respondents to the post-training survey felt they had come away with a stronger understanding of ‘health enhancing work’, the relationship between work and health and they felt more confident about engaging in conversations about work.
Time is still a barrier.

14. How you can develop this locally?
Project now moving to a regionally based “train the trainer” model.
Will your manager support you in this new way of working?
What back up and support have you got for this?
What commitment could you make in terms of training others?
Where would you host your training?
Interested? by Friday 29th June.
This will allow local networks to be strengthened, more responsive to local need and will make the obvious next stage for local leadership of the project.

15. Summary What the Health and Work Champions project is
What the successful impact of the project has been
How you might consider developing the project locally