Colleague Health and Wellbeing Service
Our Colleague Health and Wellbeing Service aims to promote and maintain the health and wellbeing of all employees. We endeavour to find out what impact work has on staff health and make sure that staff are fit to undertake the role they are employed to do, both physically and emotionally.
We provide a range of services aimed at keeping staff well and at work but also to support staff when they are ill – typically advising staff and their managers on what adjustments can be made to enable staff return to work, undertake their role safely and effectively and wherever possible, focus on adapting the work to suit the health needs of the staff member. Our services include:
- Pre-work health screening
- Work related immunisation programmes
- Assessment and advice about health problems caused by or affecting ability to work
- Health surveillance
- Workplace assessment
The Colleague Health and Wellbeing Service is a team of specialist occupational health trained nurses and doctors led by the senior OH team comprising of an Occupational Health Manager with an Occupational Health Physician as the Clinical Lead; a Clinical Psychologist and the operational lead for the Wellbeing and Counselling team
For the full range of services we provide and supporting documents, please visit our intranet page (only accessible via Trust devices).
Further links
We refer to NHS Employers for information and guidance on employment and healthy workplaces in the NHS – for more information click here.
We liaise with the Health & Safety Executive on occupational health and safety issues – for more information click here.
We liaise with the Health Protection Agency on infection, chemical and radiation risks – for more information click here.
We use NHS Choices to access general health information – for more information click here
Personal resilience course
This short psychological skills based course has been used in healthcare, teaching, government and business settings to help people build their psychological wellbeing, resilience and manage general life stress. It is evidence based and uses mindfulness and values-based living skills to:
- Reduce the impact difficult thoughts and feelings have on us
- Build present moment mindfulness skills (instead of living in the past or the future)
- Clarify personal values and what’s important to us
- Build commitment and action based skills based on our values
Commonly reported benefits of this kind of course include:
- An improved sense of wellbeing and resilience
- Being more able to untangle from worry and rumination
- Feeling more able to work towards a life that feels meaningful and focused on things that are of personal value
The group size is fairly small to allow for a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. More information coming soon.
Long Covid
If you are recovering from Covid-19 you may still be coming to terms with the impact of the virus on both your body and mind. While this should get better over time, some things may take longer and there are things you can do to help. The Your Covid Recovery website provides lots of useful information and advice on what to expect and how to help. It includes a section for family, friends and carers of someone who may be struggling with the after effects of Covid-19. Long Covid Support is a peer support and advocacy group for people living with Long Covid and has lots of useful resources and help available.
Wellbeing conversations
Alongside specialist occupational health services we want all colleagues to be having regular wellbeing conversations and to be aware of the range of support and resources available to them. More guidance will be in place soon. In the meantime, wellbeing information is available in this section of the website and advice for managers on having regular wellbeing conversations with your staff is available here.
Mental Health Champions
Mental Health Champions are volunteer colleagues who are passionate about better mental health. Their role is to promote positive mental health, raise awareness of mental health issues, challenge stigma and make it easier to have everyday conversations about mental health in a safe and non-judgemental environment.
They have had training to recognise the different signs and symptoms of mental distress and to be able to have supportive conversations and signpost colleagues to additional support where appropriate. They are not mental health professionals, therapists or counsellors, but can offer the best of peer support in moments of difficulty.
The Mental Health Champion role is open to members of staff with the enthusiasm and commitment to take part. You don’t need to have lived experience of mental health problems although this can be helpful, and training, support and on-going information is provided. If you think you might be interested in this important role, more information is available on the intranet here.