More than one million employees now have access to OH services delivered by providers accredited through the Safe Effective Quality Occupational Health Service (SEQOHS) system.
SEQOHS is managed by the Royal College of Physicians on behalf of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, and was originally launched as a series of standards in January 2010.
This led to a voluntary accreditation process that began the following December, with the first providers coming through the process in June 2011.
As of December 2012, 58 organisations had achieved SEQOHS accreditation – between them serving more than one million employees in total.
These include staff working for some of the country’s largest employers, such as Atos Health-care, Stockport NHS Foundation Trust and the consumer goods giant Unilever.
Olivia Carlton, president of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, said: “It is very encouraging that SEQOHS has become so widely recognised as the standard to meet for OH services in both public and private sectors.
“This is part of our ongoing drive to improve the quality of practice in OH, and we are proud of the progress made by SEQOHS in its first two years of operation.”
Donald Menzies, head of occupational health services at Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, agreed: “Receiving an accreditation from the Royal College of Physicians is a strong assurance of good quality, and we are pleased to have our services affirmed in this way.”
Dr Mike O’Donnell, chief medical officer for Atos Healthcare, added: “We are delighted to offer our customers across both the public and private sector an OH service that meets high-quality standards.
“We recognise the importance of looking after workplace health for the benefit of both the individual and the wider business. We work hard to provide a service that meets the needs of our clients and their employees.”
