2nd AOHNP Workshop onWorking for a Healthier Tomorrow - What it means to the Occupational Health Nurse Partial sponsorship - Warwick IC Systems The 2nd workshop to consider Dame Carol Black's review of workplace health will be held on Friday, 26 June 2009 at the Manchester Conference Centre, Sackville Street, Manchester between 10am and 2.30pm approx. Members can attend this event free of charge - non members will be charged £20. If you would like to register please contact Linda Riseborough by Friday, 12 June 2009. Spaces are limited so early bookings are essential. AOHNP (UK) Workshops - What does the "Black" future hold? The Government response on Dame Carol Black’s review of workplace health is due out shortly. This is probably the most important report of its kind and gives occupational health nurses a key opportunity to be part of a new era in the delivery of workplace care. Whatever our thoughts are about the proposed changes….one thing is clear…if we don’t grasp the nettle now, stand up and be counted, others will. Naturally if the report is issued whilst the workshops are running, then we will update our information and let those who have already attended know the changes.
Early intervention The central tenet of Black’s report is the need for early intervention with the use of multi-disciplinary teams, guided by competent case managers. Such an approach has been successful in other parts of Europe and a modern day intervention along these lines could work here. The Fit for Work services (as they are to be called) are likely to be piloted across the UK before being delivered into mainstream practice. Whether we are to be directly affected by these pilots or not, we need to consider our position as Occupational health nurses both now in every day practice and as part of the wider plan for shaping the future of workforce care.
Ideal Vehicle The AOHNP is an ideal vehicle for helping us put forward ideas and concerns about what the future might hold. We are therefore proposing to run a series of regional workshops between January and April 2009 which will cover the main themes of the Black Report and what the proposed changes could mean to occupational health nurses.
Mary McFadzean, from MMC Absence and Health Management Ltd, is a new member of the AOHNP and has offered to run the workshops for us. Mary is experienced in developing case management models for companies and has spoken many times at conference on the subject. She plans to make the workshops as interactive as possible covering the following areas:
Opportunities and barriers to collaborating with GP’s on sickness absence cases; The use of multi-disciplinary services and rehabilitation programmes in current practice; Interim/Fit for Work services in practice, who will use them, when, how and why; Fit for Work Services collaboration with existing OH services, or fragmented/stand-alone?
Collective views from the workshops will be published for all to share.
Workshop Venues It is proposed that the workshops will be run in the following regional areas, depending on up-take for the event:
North West, North East, Yorkshire, Midlands, London, South
Our first workshop was held on Friday, 3 April in London.
We hope that as many of you as possible join us to debate this important topic. If you would like details of other dates please contact admin@aohnp.co.uk
General The Association holds an annual Ruth Alston Memorial Lecture and sometimes its own conference in the early part of the year. The Annual General Meeting and Good Practice Forum/Occupational Health Update are generally held in October each year.
The AOHNP conference aims to provide good value, central location, many networking opportunities, interesting content and learning outcomes.
Ruth Alston was a passionate advocate of occupational health nursing. She frequently demonstrated this during her varied career that included working in industrial and commercial settings and teaching occupational health nursing students.
To many she is probably best known for her part in the development of the Hanasaari Model for occupational health nursing. This was one of the earliest examples of occupational health nursing in the UK mirroring the developments and moves towards an increased academic approach seen in nursing generally.
No model can ever capture the essence and humanity of Ruth. She was firm yet kind, assertive yet tolerant, warm yet business like and knowledgeable yet a life long learner.
Her tragic early death made us all poorer but richer in that we have the opportunity to remember her during the annual Ruth Alston Memorial Lecture.
One of Ruth’s last kind acts for her AOHNP(UK) colleagues was to agree that this annual lecture be held in her name. She requested only that there should somehow be a link between occupational health nursing and the business world. This has given opportunity for a wide brief and diverse topics for past speakers.
2009 AGM / Good Practice Forum The 2008 Annual General Meeting will be held at The Union Jack Club, London on Thursday, 12 November. Further details will be available shortly.
