Month: February 2020

Occupational health are registered (NMC – nurses or GMC – Doctors) health professionals such as nurses and doctors with specialist qualifications in workplace health and wellbeing. In addition, physiotherapists, psychologists and occupational therapists also work in the field of occupational health.

The need to refer an employee to occupational health arises in circumstances such as:

• Long-term sickness absence > 4 weeks
• Short-term frequent sickness absence
• Performance or behavioural changes that are an issue
• The employee is stating that work is affecting health
• The employer has concerns that ill health, treatments or medications may impinge on safety or performance
• For a fitness to work assessment
• Return to work advice
• Explore the likelihood of the employee being disabled under the Equality Act.
• Assess fitness to attend formal meetings such as disciplinaries.

The advice received informs decision-making processes; such as those relating to sickness absence and performance, work content, working hours and patterns, location of work and capability.

Occupational health advice can assist you to be legislative compliant, protect you from litigation, fulfil your employer duty of care responsibilities and demonstrate being a fair employer.

An occupational health report will give you insights into the health issue, how it can give rise to work related difficulties, estimate the length of time the issue will occur, give advice to the employee and employer on how to improve the situation.

The occupational health assessment can explore with the employee about adjustments for the business to consider. The adjustments intend to ease the workplace issues arising from ill health. A business is not obliged to implement adjustments, unless they are judged to be reasonable under the Equality Act.

Occupational health professionals use their clinical knowledge to ask relevant and explorative questions. The purpose is to consider how the individual’s ill health is affecting work ability, effectiveness of treatments, the probability of improvements and to scope improvements to work performance and attendance.

The occupational health assessment is an opportunity for the employee to have a confidential discussion with a specialist health professional about their health, treatments, lifestyle and work. GP and non-occupational health professionals’ role is to diagnose and treat the ill health. The time allocated in GP and associated clinics centers on diagnosing and establishing an optimum treatment regimen. The occupational health assessment tends to be between 30-60 minutes and concentrates on refining work abilities.

To start the occupational health process or for more info, give Zoe, Duncan or myself a call. We will discuss your concerns and give you opinions on the value of occupational health for that circumstance.

Anna Harrington

Occupational Health Advisor

Wellbeing & Health in Business

Think of the last time you were asked to do something that sent your body and mind into a state of panic. It could be when you were asked to do a presentation or meet a potential client. Maybe you were competing in THE sporting event of your calendar. Or perhaps it was as simple as walking into a room full of people.

Did you acknowledge the feeling? Did you share your nerves with others? Or did you hide behind your mask of competence? I am working with more and more people experiencing anxiety, whether that stems from a fear of not being good enough and living up to others’ expectations, also known as Imposter Syndrome, generalised anxiety or worry brought on by specific events.

What’s Normal?

Feeling anxious is a normal, short-lived emotion that we all experience at times. But our response to these feelings is critical in terms of our future experience. What we do in that moment of self-doubt or panic can entirely shape our capacity to cope and manage the challenge next time.

How Are We Anxious?

Anxiety has its roots in fear. When the fight, flight or freeze symptoms associated with feeling nervous persist, we can feel an ongoing nagging sense of anxiety, irritability, anger, loss of confidence, concentration problems, trouble sleeping and eating, headaches and other physical symptoms. Reflect on how this can impact on our ability to function day-to-day and the fact that anxiety, along with depression, is the most prevalent mental health disorder experienced. We need to acknowledge its presence among our friends, family and colleagues and start taking it seriously.

Anxiety is characterised by increased vigilance and sensitivity to perceived threat. Negative thoughts such as ‘something bad will happen’ or ‘I won’t be able to cope’ feed feelings of fear such as racing heart and butterflies, and these trigger unhelpful behaviours such as avoidance, disruption and escape. This cycle becomes self-perpetuating, the unconstructive behaviours feeding the anxiety and reinforcing its existence. Add to that ‘safety’ behaviours such as eating, drinking, smoking, medication and the impact soon adds up.

Some people are more prone to worry or anxiety than others. Trait anxiety is associated with high sensitivity to or production of fear hormones (adrenalin, cortisol), low sensitivity to or production of pleasure hormones (endorphins, serotonin) and possible family history of anxiety. Others of us experience anxiety related to specific events, places or conditions, for example, illness, disability, family problems, work worries and social issues.

Regardless of why, we know that when anxiety becomes excessive and causes significant distress, resulting in fear or apprehension that is out of proportion to a situation or developmental stage, and it impairs the ability to function, it can feel debilitating.

Strategies

Whether anxiety is low level/ sporadic or having a more significant impact on your life, the strategies outlined below will help.

When If you experience or notice signs of anxiety in others, here are some strategies that can help. Remember that everyone is different and so it’s about trying different approaches to find which works best.

• Check for underlying reasons that can be addressed. Have the conversation! Normalise talking about feelings and supporting each other.
• Look for and celebrate positives and strengths that the individual shows, particularly where they have been confident/ successful in other similar situations.
• Ensure your environment/ leadership is likely to minimise anxiety while enabling individuals to experience challenge and ‘adversity’ safely and successfully.
• Explore the worst-case scenario.
• Practice simple relaxation techniques, such as 7/11 breathing (breathe out for longer than you breath in), visualisation of calm/ confidence/ success, and mindfulness.
• Distraction e.g. mental games (count backwards), environmental focus (read notices)
• Identity and challenge negative thinking. What’s the evidence? What are alternative perspectives? Model positive thinking. Reminders that worrying is normal.
• Describe what is happening, not what might happen.
• Be assertive! Say “STOP!” when you notice feeling tense. This is strengthened when you give the anxiety an identity.
• Plan ‘worry time’ when you give yourself permission to sit with the anxious feelings and give them attention. Outside of that, park them.
• Name/ see/ size the sensation of anxiety. Where is it in the body? Shift it. Acknowledge ‘I am not my anxiety – it is separate,’ as it helps individuals take control
• Be assertive! Say “STOP!” when you notice feeling tense. This is strengthened when you give the anxiety an identity.
• Measure the anxiety on a dial and turn it down. Or, put the worry thoughts in the basket of a hot air balloon and watch it get smaller as it glides away. Or undo a zip in your tummy and let the butterflies escape. Or imagine breathing out bubbles that contain negative thoughts and pop them with your finger. The list is endless!

And finally, remember to be A.W.A.R.E…

A – accept the anxiety – don’t fight it. Say “Hello!”

W – watch the anxiety. Be detached. Rate it from 1-10. You are not your anxiety!

A – act normally. Continue to do what you intended. 7/11 breathing

R – repeat the steps until it reduces to a comfortable level

E – expect the best. What you focus on is what you get

As with everything mental health, talk, be open and honest. Notice changes in others’ behaviour. Tune into what is going on inside your body and mind. And take positive action.

For more information, get in touch!

Lisa LLoyd; Its Time For Change