Local businesses across five UK counties will benefit from better quality occupational health services, thanks to a new NHS funding scheme.
Health minister Rosie Winterton has allocated £10m of capital funding to new demonstration projects located in Yorkshire, Cambridgeshire, Buckinghamshire, London and Hampshire, to improve the physical, mental and social wellbeing of staff in businesses in the area.
The schemes will pave the way for other trusts to develop their own occupational health services to be more effective for the benefit of the wider business community.
Winterton said: “The funding of these schemes highlights the importance of occupational health services and their important role in supporting health, safety and wellbeing in both the workforce and the community.”
York Hospitals NHS Trust will benefit from a new business park premises to deliver a greater range of complementary occupational health services to more businesses in the area.
Winterton added: “The chosen sites are excellent examples of the good work going on throughout the NHS to reduce ill health and accidents, and improve employee morale and performance in the NHS.”
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Typical occupational health work includes the management of sickness absence, rehabilitation, and providing advice on a range of workplace issues.
Mary Boughton, chair of Federation of Small Businesses’ Health and Safety Committee said: “A new capital fund to help develop centres of occupational health excellence directed at serving smaller businesses is a positive development.”
