March 2007 - Glasgow

Meeting Summary

We were delighted to bring the Network meeting to Glasgow once again to focus on innovation in Scotland and its contribution to the National Work and Wellbeing Strategy.

The day started off, as usual, with the Steering Group meeting, which is open to all, to discuss and agree some of the content for forthcoming Network meetings (full minutes available here). This was informed by the excellent response we had to our online Impact Assessment as well as up and coming priority areas.

Dr Andrew Cubie, Chair of the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives gave the Network members a very warm welcome, setting the context in Scotland particularly the importance being given to health and health improvement. Steve Bell, Strategic Director at the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives, outlined the role of the centre and gave a presentation on the new Healthy Working Lives Award Programme which will be in place from 1st April. This clearly sets the workplace as one of the key places for health promotion and provides an improvement framework for employers as they work through the bronze, silver and gold stages of the awards structure.

The final plenary speaker was Dr Elspeth Atkinson, Director of the Macmillan Cancer Support for Scotland and Northern Ireland, who launched their resource for employers 'Cancer in the Workplace' through a preview of one of the drama scenes 'breaking the news' from the accompanying DVD. This provided a very powerful example of the issues surrounding cancer in the workplace and the importance of providing tools and support to employers.

As always, there were a wealth of interesting workshops, both in the morning and afternoon, highlighting examples of innovation and good practice across Scotland. We were very fortunate to have the first presentation on the evaluation of the Scottish Mental Health First Aid programme as well as early findings from the evaluation of the Fife Job Retention pilot. Full details on all the workshops and presentations are available below.

After lunch, we were delighted to welcome Dr Kenneth Mitchell, Vice-President, Health & Productivity Development at UNUM Provident in the United States. Dr Mitchell gave a lively and thought-provoking presentation on the challenges and opportunities coming forward from the ageing workforce.

The final plenary session was led by Dr Bob Grove and gave people the opportunity to hear an update on the Vocational Rehabilitation Framework and to put forward ideas for topics for the next 4 Network meetings. These included Employee Assistance Programmes and their role as workplace interventions, diversity and equality impact assessments, young people in the workplace, an update on health promotion from SMEs, and to continue the focus on the ageing workforce.

If you have any suggestions for future meetings or would like to be added to the online Network group; please contact Jenni Bacon on 020 7827 8302 or email Jenni at jenni.bacon@centreformentalhealth.org.uk.

Meeting Presentations and Notes

You can download the meeting programme and resources you missed below.

Download 14 March Meeting Programme (Word, 184 KB)

Download Pathways to Work: Making Work Part of the Health Agenda (Presentation, 143 KB)

Download Well-being at Work: Employer Motivation and Outcomes (Presentation, 29 KB)

Download The Fife Job Retention Pilot Study (Presentation, 610 KB)

Download OHSXstra - early intervention in sickness absence (Presentation, 431 KB)

Download Health and Productivity in the Aging Workforce (Presentation, 1,154 KB)

Well-being at Work: Employer Motivation and Outcomes workshop - there is also a report from the study that Professor Phil Beaumont presented in the workshop. You can download 'Healthy Working: A Prescription - Learning From Good Practice Cases' below.

Download Healthy Working: A Prescription report (Word, 240 KB)

Scotland's Mental Health First Aid (SMHFA) is the Scottish Executive's National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Well-being, which aims to raise awareness about the need for good mental health and well-being among the general public and help improve the quality of life and social inclusion of people who experience mental health problems.

Scotland's Mental Health First Aid is based on work pioneered in Australia. After an encouraging Scottish pilot some changes were made to the course and it is now being rolled out across Scotland. The course is for everyone in Scotland, whoever they are and wherever they live and work. More details can be found at http://www.healthscotland.org.uk/smhfa.