NHS Health Scotland
 
Outcome Indicators

2.10 Develop strong strategic leadership (evidence)

2.10 Develop understanding of customers, and develop relevant competencies of service provider staff.(evidence)

 

Developing strong strategic leadership within and across health, employability and other relevant service providers will contribute to the delivery of health services necessary to help people remain in or return to work.

Rationale

Policy Note

Sources

Rationale

Developing strong strategic leadership in service provider and partner organisations will improve knowledge and understanding of their own and others’ contributions to supporting health and work issues. This will contribute to increased commitment and motivation to support people to return to and/or remain in work and well, ensure strategic commitment to lead staff in this area and motivate them to provide support.

Limited highly processed evidence is currently available to support this rationale.

There is evidence that commitment and coordinated action from all the players is crucial for successful vocational rehabilitation: especially important is communication between healthcare professionals, employers and workers, which should be initiated at an early stage of absence.[1]

Although set within the context of organisational structures within the NHS in England, the Boorman review made a series of evidence-informed recommendations that highlighted the importance of strategic organisational leadership within the NHS for health, work and wellbeing agenda to support its own staff.[2]

Informed by reviews of effectiveness evidence, NICE public health guidance 19 Managing long-term sickness absence and incapacity for work sets out a set of generic principles and recommended actions to guide primary care services and employers.[3] This includes a recommendation that organisations commissioning services for individuals who are unemployed and claiming incapacity benefit or employment and support allowance should commission integrated programmes to help claimants enter or return to work (paid or unpaid).

Scottish policy note:

The Scottish Government outlines a commitment to developing strategic leadership for health, work and wellbeing in Health Works. The Scottish Government, COSLA and NHSScotland are working to develop a public sector mandate for Health Works for endorsement by Ministers and COSLA leaders. Territorial NHS Boards in Scotland are to work with local community planning partners to establish a clear agenda with assigned roles and leadership for health and work.

Sources:

  1. Waddell G, Burton AK, Kendall N (2008). Vocational Rehabilitation: What works, for whom, and when? A report for the Vocational Rehabilitation Task Group. The Stationary Office: London.

  2. Boorman S (2009). NHS Health and Well-being. Final Report. London: Department of Health.

  3. NICE (2009). NICE public health guidance 19 Managing long-term sickness absence and incapacity for work. NICE: London.

 

2.10 Develop understanding of customer, and develop tailored engagement strategies.

Activities to develop the relevant competencies (to be defined by, for instance, local need, national and professional guidelines) should include different service provider staff in contact with individuals with work-related health issues and be delivered on an ongoing basis, and will contribute to the intended outcomes by enabling them to provide appropriate, timely advice, guidance and referral where necessary.

Rationale

Sources

Rationale

Ongoing development (e.g. with training, continued professional development and induction processes, or by making this a part of routine assessments) of the relevant competencies of service provider staff will contribute to improved knowledge and understanding of their own and others’ contribution to supporting health and work issues, and increased numbers of service provider staff that are skilled and motivated to support people to return to and/or remain in work and well. It must also be recognised that this activity is dependent on local decisions around use of resources and priorities for training based on local need, and upon the capacity of services and staff to deliver in this field (e.g. staffing levels and workforce planning, allocation of workloads).

NICE public health guidance 06 Behaviour change at population, community an individual levels sets out generic principles and recommended actions to guide the planning, development and delivery of public health activities to change health related behaviour.1 This includes the provision of training and support for those involved in changing people’s health-related behaviour so that they can develop the full range of competencies required. NHS Health Scotland Commentary supported these recommendations with the following qualification.2 The target audience referred to covers a wide range of professions with differing levels of engagement with initiatives to change behaviour, and accordingly necessary levels of competencies are likely to vary amongst the target groups.

Sources

 

  1. NICE (2007). NICE public health guidance 06 Behaviour change at population, community and individual levels. NICE: London.

  2. NHS Health Scotland (2007). Health Scotland Commentary on NICE Public Health Guidance: Behaviour change at population, community and individual levels. NHS Health Scotland: Edinburgh.

  3. NHS Education for Scotland (2008). Getting Vocational Rehabilitation Working for Scotland: Education Needs of Staff Supporting Vocational Rehabilitation. A Discussion Document. NHS Education for Scotland: Edinburgh.

  4. Frain MP, Ferrin JM, Rosenthal DA, Wampold BE. (2006). A Meta-Analysis of rehabilitation outcomes based on education level of the counsellor. Journal of Rehabilitation, 72(1): 10–18.

  5. Hassan E, Austin C, Celia C et al (2009). Health and Wellbeing at Work in the United Kingdom. Report prepared by the Work Foundation for the Department of Health.

  6. Boorman S (2009). NHS Health and Well-being. Final Report. Department of Health: London. 

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