RCP reveals first national organisational audit of NICE guidance for health and work

9 August 2010

The Royal College of Physicians is to conduct the first national organisational audit of NICE health and work guidance within the NHS, as recommended by the Boorman Review.

Carried out over the summer and autumn by the Health and Work Development Unit (HWDU), the audit will involve all NHS trusts in England with an overall aim of improving health and wellbeing of all staff working for the health services.

The review, carried out by Dr Steve Boorman last year, called for staff health and wellbeing to be embedded in the core business of NHS organisations. Many trusts have pockets of activity relating to staff health and wellbeing, but there is no overall picture of the situation across the board.

Find out more and register to take part: email hwdu@rcplondon.ac.uk or call 020 3075 1583 to speak to Sarah Jones, audit project coordinator.

Using an organisational audit methodology, trusts will be able to measure the extent, and quality, of their implementation of six pieces of NICE public health guidance relevant to the workplace. These are:

• Managing long-term sickness absence and incapacity for work (PH19)
• Promoting physical activity in the workplace (PH13)
• Promoting mental wellbeing through productive and healthy working conditions (PH22)
• Workplace interventions to promote smoking cessation (PH5)
• Obesity: guidance on the prevention, identification, assessment and management of overweight and obesity in adults and children (CG43)
• Promoting and creating built or natural environments that encourage and support physical activity (PH8)

All participating organisations will receive a comprehensive confidential report in March 2011 providing them with a cross-organisational view, mapped against the evidence base and the national benchmark data. This will enable trusts to identify gaps and spot opportunities to develop their staff health and wellbeing strategies.

The HWDU will be liaising directly with board members responsible for staff health and wellbeing. The audit has been funded by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and the Faculty of Occupational Medicine as a quality improvement initiative for NHS staff health and wellbeing.

Director of the Health and Work Development Unit, Dr Siân Williams, commented:

‘Working for the NHS is about to get tougher and staff deserve the best management practices and services to maintain their health. In addition, the evidence shows that healthy staff deliver better care to patients.  The audit will help trusts improve their internal practices for keeping staff healthy and happy and also share best practice with others.'

To find out more about the audit or to register to take part please contact hwdu@rcplondon.ac.uk or call 020 3075 1583 to speak to Sarah Jones, audit project coordinator.