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The East District of the Institution's Midlands Branch ran a seminar in June that focused on the management of OH services in the workplace. Held at Coton House, near Rugby, the event aimed to provide an understanding of exactly what an OH service is.
The programme was designed to promote the awareness that an OH service is like any other part of a business and, therefore, needs to have targets, structure and quality as part of its function. A host of authoritative speakers had been assembled to get this message across.
Following the welcome address from Barbara Port, the chairman of the East District, Denis Cutter - regional claims director with Marsh UK Ltd - looked at different methods of handling disease and illness claims. Cutter explained pre-action protocol, litigation, investigation and how insurers deal with incidents. He was followed by Roger Calvert, OH physician with Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service, who discussed the role of OH, both in the present and the future.
Gail Cotton, immediate past-president of the Association of OH Nurse Practitioners, gave a presentation entitled Quality pathway for OH. She recommended discussing any OH project with management and identifying internal and external standards that relate to the activity.
Other speakers on the day included Stella Robinson, regional OH manager with BUPA, who gave a positive case for OH; Liz Baird, HM inspector of OH with HSE, whose presentation Revitalising OH described ways in which HSE inspectors address OH issues; Elaine Higson, director of Healthscope (UK) Ltd, who subtitled her talk on sickness absence "actively managed or politely ignored!"; and Nigel Heaton, director at Human Applications, who examined all aspects of back care management.
