RCP: FOM: First UK standards for occupational health services launched

Tuesday, 12 January 2010 12:00 AM

For the first time in the UK, there are now standards of performance for occupational health services.

These standards, which have been developed by the Faculty of Occupational Medicine in partnership with a multidisciplinary, multi-agency stakeholder group, and are being launched by Dame Carol Black, National Director for Health and Work, on 13th January 2010.

The Faculty will then, in conjunction with the stakeholder partners, be encouraging all occupational health services - in both the NHS and the private sector - to familiarise themselves with the standards, and to work towards complying with them during 2010.

Over the next twelve months, the Faculty will be developing an accreditation system to underpin the standards. The plan is for accreditation to be piloted later in 2010 and operational in early 2011.

'This is an important development for occupational health,' said Faculty President, Professor David Coggon. 'We have worked hard to make sure the standards are practical and proportionate and we believe that they have the potential to improve occupational health services significantly in the UK.'

The purpose of the project is to define the standards and minimum requirements that will apply to occupational health services that participate in the UK voluntary accreditation scheme and to provide occupational health services with a framework for quality assurance. They are organised in six categories: Business probity; Information governance; People; Facilities and equipment; Relationships with purchasers; and Relationships with workers.

Rationale and background:

Assessment of performance against rigorous standards provides the basis for accreditation and helps to drive continuous improvement in the quality of services. The report, Standards for Better Health (2006) requires a rigorous approach to assessment and accreditation of providers of National Health Service (NHS) services. Lord Darzi's High Quality Care for All: NHS Next Stage Review (2008) confirms Government support for provider accreditation schemes in the NHS.

Standards are expected for services that provide for the healthcare of people of working age, many of which operate outside of the NHS. Dame Carol Black's review Working for a Healthier Tomorrow (2008) advocates clear standards of practice and formal accreditation of all providers who support people of working age. The lack of standards and accreditation was highlighted consistently in responses to her call for evidence from the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, the Society of Occupational Medicine and other organisations.

In August 2008 the Faculty of Occupational Medicine invited stakeholders to join a working group to develop standards and a system of voluntary accreditation for occupational health services in the UK. Stakeholders included representatives from occupational medical and nursing professional bodies, commercial occupational health providers, employer and worker representative bodies and government departments and regulators*.

Draft standards were published on the Faculty's website on 24th June 2009 for formal consultation, inviting comments by 31st August 2009. 28 people responded to that formal consultation*. The standards were pilot tested with 17 different providers of occupational health services from different sectors and of different sizes in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales*.

The draft standards were modified in light of feedback and the pilot tests. The standards will be modified further with time as a commitment to continual improvement and to accommodate changes in professional guidance and best practice.

The standards are being introduced one year ahead of the launch of the accreditation scheme. This will permit occupational health services to acquaint themselves with the standards and start to put systems in place to collect the evidence required for the accreditation process.

The standards and system of voluntary accreditation for occupational health services aim to:

(i) enable services to identify the standards of practice to which they should aspire;

(ii) credit good work being done by high quality occupational health services, providing independent validation that they satisfy standards of quality;

(iii) raise standards where they need to be raised; and

(iv) help purchasers differentiate occupational health services that attain the desired standards from those that do not.

These measures should help to raise the overall standard of care provided by occupational health services in the United Kingdom, thus helping to make a meaningful difference to the health of people of working age.

The project has received financial support from the Department of Health.

Notes to editors

The standards are available at: http://www.facoccmed.ac.uk/library/docs/standardsjan2010.pdf
For further information or an interview please contact Dr Paul Nicholson, who is leading the project, on: 07879 430565.
For further information about the Faculty of Occupational Medicine please contact: Nicky Coates, CEO: nicky.coates@facoccmed.ac.uk; 020 7317 5896.

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