Trust Gets 'Thumbs Up' for Staying Healthy at Work

Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has become the first workplace in the East of England to achieve a Staying Healthy at Work accreditation known as ‘aSHAWd’.

The aSHAWd stamp of approval is part of an NHS East of England programme to improve the physical, mental and social wellbeing of employees in both the public and private sectors.  The programme team works closely with Investors in People and Business in the Community to engage employers and ensure best standards, development opportunity and business reach.

According to the CBI, the cost of ill health in the workplace is roughly £495 per employee per year.  There is growing evidence that businesses can save this money by promoting healthy workplaces and at the same time increase productivity, attract and retain talent, improve employee engagement and boost customer satisfaction. 

Tom Cahill, Chief Executive of Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) said: “The health and wellbeing of our staff is important to us at the Trust and we are delighted to have our work in this arena acknowledged and accredited.  We are very pleased to be the first organisation to achieve ‘aSHAWd’ in the East of England.”

Stephen Welfare, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Workforce for NHS Midlands & East, who has championed NHS workplace health and wellbeing across East of England, commented: “This is a significant achievement for the Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. Research shows that a structured workplace health and wellbeing programme can reduce sickness absence by an average of 30-40 per cent.  This is hugely significant in terms of cost and productivity for any business or organisation. In the East of England, NHS Trusts are taking this seriously since we know that staff health and wellbeing also has an impact on patient outcomes like quality, safety and patients’ experience of care.”

Jinjer Kandola, Director of Workforce and Organisational Development at HPFT, explained how the Trust achieved accreditation:  “We demonstrated how we have put in place strong foundations for health and wellbeing for staff.  The assessors were impressed by the level of integration and the range of initiatives the Trust has introduced during 2011.  These include a quarterly health and wellbeing employee magazine called ‘Working Together as One’ and a series of ‘Big Listen’ events to enable staff to discuss with the executive team what it is like to work for the Trust and to enable them to directly access health and wellbeing activities and workshops.  A variety of initiatives, networks and staff and manager information guides completed the picture.”

For more information on the aSHAWd framework, visit: www.stayinghealthyatwork.co.uk