Chairman’s Report August 2010

Dear Colleagues,

Hopefully, by now you will have had a summer holiday or a break from work and you feel energised to meet the challenges of work with renewed vitality!

The committee are busy arranging the Autumn study day to be held on the Tuesday, 5^th October at Oake Manor Golf Club, Taunton. The title of the day is ‘Occupational Health- time for a change.’ Dame Carol Black continues to work at delivering the initiatives and gaining evidence of progress. I look forward to hearing the latest developments from Dame Carol when she speaks at Plymouth University on the 13^th August at the ‘Work and Well being Conference. Look out for dates when Dame Carol is speaking in your area.

The challenge for workplace health remains difficult for many small and medium sized businesses and the public services we are warned will have a very difficult time ahead. There are still many who do not have OH input but at a local level I can see some evidence of government funding for health initiatives but it is knowing where to find it. Ask your local health promotion lead for advice.

We, as a profession must not loose sight of the abundance of skills and knowledge that we have to offer as a profession. We need to be at the forefront of this change towards health and well being at work, to guide HR and Safety advisers. I have noticed in the past year companies are now listening and are ready to make some changes or to give a health promotion initiative ago.

The study day will be looking at what we can do as a profession. The first speaker will be Anne Byrne, a specialist OT, who will talk about functional capability assessment for those employees returning to work. We should be able to gain some helpful tips from Anne to use in our own practice.

Katie Oakley’s session will be on publishing your research. In the South West there are many nurses who have carried out research but never published. We hope Katie will show us the way, as clearly, without researched based evidence it is difficult to justify if what we are doing is making a positive impact.

There will be a session to look at the introduction of the ‘fit chit’ and how this is progressing from Dr Harry Yoxall (Secretary for Local Medical Committee Somerset). Dr Yoxall will also talk about how GP’s make decisions on fitness and how OHA’s can make their requests for reports more informative re: work capacity and how we can all work together in the patient’s best interest.

We are hoping for an HR point of view on the Med 3 too to join in the discussions (TBC). There will be a session about Professional Associations and how they can help your practice. We are hoping for representatives from the AOHNP and the RCN. These have yet to be confirmed.

Finally to wind up the day, following on from October 2009 study day, we will have an open debate from the floor to discuss OH and the DWP/DOH strategy for health at work and how we can influence, make changes and find out how the region’s OHA’s are working with the agenda.

To book your place on our study day please contact the membership secretary:

 Sian Edwards ; or go to the website for booking forms www.rcn-oh-southwest.co.uk

We look forward to seeing you on the Tuesday 5^th Oct at Taunton.

Kind regards

Jane Hannaford (Chair) and the Committee.

Chairman’s Report – April 2010

2009-2010 has been another successful year for the RCN Occupational Health Nurses Group - SW. The group continues with a healthy but albeit smaller membership, organising study days that cover a broad spectrum of OH work. Today’s event is at the courtesy of South West Water. This event includes a site tour and promises to be an excellent day of study, friendship and networking. We thank Nicky Pauncefort, our treasurer, for single-handedly organising the day with SWW and the Buckerell Lodge Hotel.

The membership of the group covers a huge geographical area from Cornwall to Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and across to Dorset. We have noticed that the attendance at our study events this year have decreased in parallel with the economic down turn and restrictions on releasing staff for training. We very much hope that OH nurses will select our study days over others where companies are restricting monies for training. Our aim is to give value for money and a great day’s learning with like-minded people.

We are always open to suggestions for the content and venues for our study days and for other ways of networking. The Group may wish to consider local evening meetings in the future with such a huge region. However, to do this it would need someone to have the energy and time to coordinate if members requested this within their county.

The committee has met throughout the year to organise the study events and Bettina Critchley (past Chair) continues to produce the biennial newsletter and up date the website. We thank Bettina for her continued efforts. We aim to organise study days that provide an excellent educational experience to up date your skills and knowledge with quality speakers. This, along with the biannual newsletter assists in providing the latest information on Occupational Health issues.

My thanks go to Sian Edwards, membership secretary, for all her hard work inputting of member’s data and sending out emails for job adverts, adverts for company’s, and latest DWP and DOH initiatives to the group. Sian has also set up a database of those OH Nurses wishing to have some clinical support/exchange of knowledge and skills. If you wish to join in, please email Sian.

The Group’s treasury remains in good health, mostly thanks to sponsorship from exhibitors and a reduction in committee expenses. We have reduced the amount of meetings and used email over the past year to organise study days. Our thanks to Nicky Pauncefort for her fiscal administration!

I would also like to thank Sue Matthews, our regional RCN Adviser who works tirelessly for our region’s nurses and who is always there to support our group in anyway she can by providing advice, speakers, admin support and IT skills.

The present committee has the vacancy of Vice Chair; the remaining ladies have one more year of office. In preparation for next year’s committee I would encourage any interested member to contact the committee today. If every member of our group joined the committee for a 2-year period it would not be such an onerous task for anyone. It really is a great opportunity for networking and friendship.

Following on from our thought provoking study day last October on the future of OH nursing. We look forward to our Autumn 5^th October 2010 study event at Oake Manor Golf Club, Taunton, where we will be discussing and looking at professional issues speakers include Katie Oakley. Please put this date and event in your diary.

The Spring Study 5^th May 2011 day will also take place at Oake Manor Golf Club, Taunton. We are hoping for an excellent attendance when Martin Davies will speak on ‘Emotional Intelligence.’ As many of you will know, Martin’s presentations are not only extremely helpful with practical tips for use with our clients work but importantly for our own well-being. A day not to be missed!

And finally, please let the committee know your thoughts and views for the future stability of the group and study events. My thanks go to all the committee for their support during the past year.

Jane Hannaford

Chair

Committee letter February 2010

Dear Colleague,

First of all we wish you a happy and healthy 2010. We are now into a new membership year which brings a few changes. There is a new option for members to be included in a networking directory which will be compiled from all willing members. The directory will include names, county and contact number/email for all participating members for the purpose of networking amongst fellow professionals.

Following on from the Network Directory, the Committee are keen to encourage clinical supervision amongst members. Many of us work in isolation from other health professionals and some struggle to get professional clinical supervision to ensure good standards of practice. It is hoped that the Network Directory will facilitate opportunity for clinical supervision (those interested in providing supervision for colleagues will be highlighted in the directory). Furthermore, if individuals require financial assistance, for example travel costs, to attend clinical supervision please do not hesitate to apply to the committee. (In the first instance an email to our chair, Jane Hannaford, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

Plans for the Autumn Study day are well under way. The title of the day is ‘Time for a change’ and speakers already include Katie Oakley (who wrote the book on Occupational Health Nursing) and Anne Byrne (OT and specialist in functional capacity assessments). There will also be a facilitated debate on the future of OH Nursing in the South West. So put 5^th October in your diaries ready.

Finally, please consider joining the committee. The current terms of office for the executive end in April 2011 and it would be ideal to have committee members of some experience who are able to stand for election in 2011. If you are interested in finding out more please contact one of the committee.

Your committee,

Jane Hannaford, Nicky Pauncefort, Cath Wood, Fran Chappell, Anne Mealing, Siân Edwards, Heather Baynham, Bettina Critchley, Jenny Rafferty, Sue Matthews, Jackie Chapman