NHS Employers has supplied a guide to support NHS commissioning teams in procuring occupational health services for staff.
Occupational health (OH) is a specialist clinical service that provides clear benefits to staff and patients and contributes to the productivity of an organisation. NHS organisations need to ensure that they have OH services in place to support the health and wellbeing of their staff so that they can deliver better performance, better productivity, and better patient outcomes.
Where NHS organisations prioritise staff health and wellbeing, performance is enhanced, patient care improves, staff retention is higher and sickness absence is lower. There is also good evidence that access to good OH support improves staff engagement and can contribute to cultural change.
Date: 20 March