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Following 1st ever virtual assessment

Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands across spirits and beer – a business built on the principles and foundations laid by the giants of the industry. Our Performance Ambition is to be one of the best performing, most trusted and respected consumer products companies in the world. In line with this, as an Occupational Health team, we set out on a journey to attain recognition in Safe, Effective, Quality Occupational Health Services (SEQOHS).

As everyone is aware, there has been much uncertainty in the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but for our team, the year has ended on a high, being the first virtual assessment carried out, as SEQOHS looks to technology to enable the continuum of excellence in Occupational Health.  

One of Diageo’s key values is proud of what we do and the Diageo Occupational Health team are hugely proud as we achieved an impressive five congratulations with no recommendations for improvement by SEQOHS and as such our work is being championed as an exemplary service on first assessment.

Reflecting on our journey, I can see how far we have come.  Its refreshing to know we have a service that is underpinned and embedded in the SEQOHS standards.   For anyone thinking about undertaking this assessment, what will it bring to my service, I would urge every service, small or large to take this journey.  

The SEQOHS team are supportive through the process from the quality of training delivered, and the timely response from their head office to some of our many questions, the team do so much to improve the standard and quality of Occupational Health.

Our own journey started 2 years ago, with us completing and submitting our first self-assessment in December 2019 and our final on site assessment day set for April 2020.

During March, when all assessment activity was suspended due to COVID, we were disappointed, as we were only a few weeks away from completing what had been a huge investment from our team and business in supporting our journey to be the best, most trusted and respected Occupational Health team in Diageo. However like many other teams our focus had also switched to supporting our business during the pandemic.

We were absolutely delighted when we were contacted in October to set a date for a virtual assessment, which took place on 5th November, Zoom which we are accustomed to using and do so on daily basis.  Being familiar with virtual meetings gave us the confidence to proceed, and I would encourage others to not let this hold anyone back, be comfortable and embrace the technology as this did not stop us doing anything we would have done in a face to face environment. 

As part of the assessment, we conducted a virtual tour of our department and some key areas the assessors wished to view, we could share documents, and overall felt more inclusive as we were able to have our SEQOHS project group join in the discussion. We were also able to have designated break out groups for the individual standards which allowed more focus and in depth analysis. 

The assessors were very organised, all pre-work was completed and as a team we were very organised on the day. A top tip would be to plan, have all your key documents at hand, if there is a team, ensure everyone has a role to play, this helped on the day and allowed the assessment to be very well organized and go to time.

Attached is the virtual photo of our team during the assessment.  

I would like to thank Wendy Ladd and the whole SEQOHS team for allowing us to be the first Occupational Health Function to achieve our accreditation through virtual technology.  

Kind Regards,

Aileen Love

Occupational Health Operations Manager UK and Ireland

12th November 2019

SEQOHS are excited to announce that we will be exhibiting at the 2019 Central England Occupational Health Group (CEOHG) annual conference.

The event will take place on Tuesday 12th November at The Abbey Hotel Golf and Country Club in Redditch, and features a range of high profile speakers covering topics such as  an update on the Equality Act, psychological safety and occupational health, occupational health update, applying the biopsychosocial approach in practice, working age dementia and common mental health problems.

For further information and to book your place, please visit the www.ceohg.org.uk. Early bird places booked before 30th September cost £65 (£80 thereafter).

We look forward to welcoming you to the SEQOHS stand! 

Spring 2019

A Message from Wendy Ladd

Further to my words in the last newsletter, I am writing this time with two ‘hats’ on. I have continued my role as Assessment and Quality Lead, and in January the FOM appointed me to an additional role as Interim Clinical Lead for SEQOHS. Dr Rob Hardman has now taken up his role with FOM as Director of Quality Improvement and Accreditation. In this role he will continue to support and direct the work of the SEQOHS scheme. We both, of course, also continue with our clinical OH roles.

The last few months have seen continued development of the scheme and more opportunities to engage with the wider OH community. It has been lovely meeting some of you at conferences and other networking events.

Recent Publications

I believe this to be exciting times generally for Occupational Health, with the recent publication of ‘Talking Work - A guide for Doctors discussing work and work modifications with patients’ developed by Dr Devdeep Ahuja, PhD and the Council for Work and Health on behalf of the Work and Health Unit.

We have also just seen the launch of the 2019 ‘Healthcare Professionals' Consensus Statement for Action Statement for Health and Work’ formulated through an alliance between the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the Royal College of Nursing and the Allied Health Professionals Federation. In which all healthcare professionals are encouraged to advance the concept of, ‘good work as a health outcome’ across the health and care sector.

For this to be achieved, OH needs to play a vital role, and in my opinion, being able to demonstrate the delivery of a safe, effective and quality OH service is vital; as you know SEQOHS accreditation is the formal recognition that an occupational health service provider has demonstrated that it has the competence to deliver against the measures in the SEQOHS standards.

Knowledge Management System (KMS)

I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of the various guidance documents now available on the knowledge management system (KMS). I have now completed the guidance for each standard, and also created some templates to assist with demonstrating compliance under domains C and D. The templates now available include a staff matrix, which incorporates registration renewal dates, indemnity renewal dates, as well as dates for training, audits and appraisal. Additionally there is an equipment log template and a basic document management log. The intention is that OH services can use and adapt these if they wish, but of course they are not mandatory.

Training Days

SEQOHS will be holding 'SEQOHS accreditation training days' for services throughout the year. These 1-day events are specifically designed to assist services in preparing their teams for the submission of evidence ahead of their SEQOHS assessment. During the training day, a team of SEQOHS lead assessors will discuss the key areas that units find challenging and explain how they can overcome these issues. Click here for more information on our training days.

We have continued to receive very positive feedback following our training events; stage A which aims to help services prepare their documentation, ensuring they are working in line with the standards, with a view to making the assessment stage easier as they will have things already in place to meet the standards. Whereas stage B training, is aimed at what evidence you will need to provide demonstrating you are compliant with the standards in order to be awarded accreditation. It also goes into more detail about the assessment process, timelines and a webtool demonstration.

Both of these training events are eligible for CPD points, so stage A particularly can be helpful as a refresher or for new members of the OH team.

Wendy Ladd RGN SCPHN (OH)

Assessment and Quality Lead / Interim Clinical Lead for SEQOHS

Joint communication from FOM and RCP:

SEQOHS relocates to Greenwich 

Since the launch of the SEQOHS Accreditation Scheme in 2010, the RCP has successfully delivered and developed the Scheme on behalf of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, with both organisations working in partnership to raise standards. The FOM is a faculty of the RCP, so a close relationship continues between both organisations. However, from 1^stJuly 2019 the running of SEQOHS will no longer be outsourced to the RCP but will be brought in-house to the FOM’s new premises in Greenwich which also provides on-site training facilities.

The relocation is being carefully managed by both the RCP and the FOM, so there will be business continuity and you should not experience disruption to services. 

Following the relocation, the FOM will work with key stakeholders to review governance arrangements, to ensure that SEQOHS remains highly beneficial and relevant, and to develop SEQOHS for the future.

Thank you for recognising the value that SEQOHS brings. We shall be contacting you later in the year to seek your views about future developments. 

Assessors

Lovely to see you all at the ARD’s; it was great to see so much information sharing. I find it so interesting that we continue to see evidence of unsafe practice, but equally reassured how these services remain engaged and show absolute determination to continue the quality improvement journey to SEQOHS accreditation.

Sometimes I do hear people wondering ‘why SEQOHS’, and I am pleased to be able to share my views; the positivity felt through whole OH teams when accreditation is awarded, the appreciation of services throughout the assessment process including the knowledge our assessors can share, the realisation that the journey, albeit sometimes arduous, has been worthwhile. Then through to those who have initially not been able to meet the standards, and where we have had to raise some safety concerns, but again their positivity and further engagement to rectify those matters is so encouraging.

I would like to remind you of the various guidance documents now available on the KMS; I have now completed the guidance for each standard, and also created some templates to assist with demonstrating compliance under domains C and D. The templates now available include a staff matrix, which incorporates registration renewal dates, indemnity renewal dates, as well as dates for training, audits and appraisal. Additionally there is an equipment log template and a basic document management log. The intention is that OH services can use and adapt these if they wish, but of course they are not mandatory, so please do point services towards them if you feel they need some further guidance with a particular standard.

The office move into FOM is fast approaching and we are working hard for it to be a seamless process. You should by now have received your new contracts, which you will see, the terms will be transferred to FOM by means of innovation. Any questions please do not hesitate to ask. Meanwhile we will ensure other practical measures are in place.