Search

The article explores the challenge of recruiting tech talent to local government, highlighting the complexity of delivering diverse services on a limited budget. Topics discussed include digital transformation hurdles, workforce culture shift, and adapting to emerging technologies like AI and hybrid working while addressing cybersecurity risks.

The article explores how technology can assist vulnerable communities, emphasizing the importance of understanding residents' needs and enhancing operational efficiency. Topics discussed include the significance of benchmarking, the role of digital in service delivery, and the potential of apps as a stepping stone to greater digital transformation, as highlighted by panelists from various councils and organizations.

The article discusses the uneven digital progress in local government, with some councils innovating tremendously while others lag behind due to fiscal constraints. Topics discussed include the varying levels of digital advancement, challenges like technical debt and collaboration, and the importance of cybersecurity and digital literacy.

The article discusses the funding to decarbonize housing. Topic discussed includes nettle, the govenm1ent has outlined plans for gas and oil-fired boilers to be banned from all new-build homes from 2025. This transition will be a challenge for many, but especially for local authorities that own or manage social or private housing portfolios.

By Nic Paton Many people who develop work-related asthma are not being correctly diagnosed by their GP, with almost two-thirds never making a full recovery because of delays in being [...]

By Nic Paton Employers have reported a rise in the average age of their employees and four out of 10 expect age-related health issues to be more of a problem [...]

By Nic Paton The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched its new cost recovery scheme, Fee for Intervention, last month. The move means that, under the new Health and Safety [...]

By Nic Paton Despite the tough economic environment, employers remain committed to investment in occupational and workplace health, with nearly one-fifth having increased their wellbeing spend in the past year, [...]

By Nic Paton Disability and poor health are preventing nearly half a million people who are close to retirement from working, a figure that will only increase as the state [...]

By Nic Paton Hundreds of thousands of businesses are to be exempt from what the Government terms 'burdensome' health and safety inspections. But trade unions and others have warned that [...]

By Nic Paton Nearly three-quarters of staff who are absent from work require adjustments to their workplace to return to employment successfully, an analysis of government statistics has concluded. Insurer [...]

By Nic Paton Occupational health practitioners are being urged to get involved in a major consultation on proposed new Regulations to protect healthcare workers from sharps injuries. The consultation, which [...]

By Nic Paton The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued its first briefing for local government on workplace health. The briefing, published in July, was one [...]

By Nic Paton Some of the progress made in recent years in reducing workplace absence stalled last year, with absence from work largely unchanged on 2010, latest research from Occupational [...]

By Nic Paton The NHS's new web-based occupational health clinical governance system is to be offered free to all OH teams, whether inside or outside the NHS. The Management of [...]

As the profession changes to accommodate legislation and industry requirements, the relevant training options must change too. Nic Paton reports. box 1: What the tutors say 'One of the attractions [...]

How the body clock works remains a mystery, but the effects of shift patterns on it and overall wellbeing are becoming subject to more serious research, says Nic Paton. It [...]

By Nic Paton Around six out of 10 British fathers are out of shape and putting themselves at risk of heart disease, according to a poll by the Benenden Healthcare [...]

By Nic Paton The care that occupational health professionals offer to NHS staff suffering from back problems has improved since 2008, but gaps still remain around the advice and information [...]

By Nic Paton There has been a steep increase in the past two years in the number of staff turning to employee assistance programmes (EAPs) for help with mental health [...]

A recent survey has revealed the impact of government changes on provision of OH services. Nic Paton reports. If you want evidence of the two-track Britain that exists when it [...]

By Nic Paton The stresses of the economic downturn and job and pay insecurity are creating a growing climate of 'desk rage', according to health insurer PruHealth and wellness programme [...]

By Nic Paton The commitment to health and safety and occupational health made by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) when constructing the Olympic Park and Olympic Village has highlighted the [...]

By Nic Paton If employers want the fit note to work they need to be taking more initiative when it comes to making contact with GPs about the work that [...]

By Nic Paton A total of 131 million days were lost because of sickness absence in the UK during 2011, down more than a quarter from the 178 million days [...]

By Nic Paton New Year health and fitness resolutions are responsible for a huge spike in the number of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and sickness absences, according to research. A study [...]

By Nic Paton A significant change to the rules on reporting workplace injuries in the UK came into force last month. From 6 April, employers were no longer required to [...]

By Nic Paton A Cornish occupational health firm has been fined and severely criticised after a court ruled that it allowed staff without proper qualifications to screen workers for hand-arm [...]

By Nic Paton The Fit for Work Service is unlikely to be rolled out nationally in the current economic climate, the author of the Government's interim assessment of the pilot [...]

By Nic Paton More than 260,000 people are claiming sickness benefits because of mental and behavioural disorders, a new analysis has argued. The crunching of statistics from the Department for [...]

By Nic Paton Take-up of the Government's Fit for Work service pilots has proved disappointingly low so far, according to an evaluation by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). [...]

By Nic Paton A review of the Government's planned 'bonfire' of health and safety regulations has been launched by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). The two-year review, [...]

NHS Plus has developed a web-based system designed to provide OH teams with an efficient way of maintaining and improving the quality of their services. Nic Paton reports. Mohawk native [...]

OH News, February, Public Health, 18/01/12 Lead By Nic Paton Workers in a typical week spend on average five hours and 41 minutes a day sitting at their desks compared [...]

By Nic Paton In a typical week, workers spend on average five hours and 41 minutes a day sitting at their desks and seven hours sleeping at night, according to [...]

By Nic Paton The Government launched a major initiative in January to tackle what it termed the UK's 'compensation culture' and to free small and medium-sized enterprises 'from the stranglehold [...]

By Nic Paton The Government has launched a new 'Health for Work' sickness absence advice line that, it is hoped, will encourage smaller employers better to support workers on sick [...]

By Nic Paton The majority of employers would like to see tax breaks introduced in order to encourage firms to invest in private medical insurance, research has argued. More than [...]

By Nic Paton The Government is undertaking a consultation to gauge views around relaxing the restrictions placed on the work that can be undertaken by HIV-positive healthcare workers. The move [...]

How much impact can employee health have on productivity levels? A recent seminar attempted to find out. Nic Paton reports. Asking most occupational health practitioners to make a link between [...]

The recent independent review of workplace health suggests a key role for occupational health in addressing the UK's sickness absence problem. Nic Paton reports. industry viewS James Freeston, sales and [...]

Platt highlights the example of capital markets as being structurally problematic when it comes to levelling out the firm's gender disparities. "The company's EDI objectives were previously at manager level only, but now we are saying everyone has accountability, from an administrator through to an equity partner, which is great", Platt says. [Extracted from the article]

By Nic Paton More than one-third of British adults believe that a person's healthcare treatment should be affected by whether their lifestyle is healthy or unhealthy, according to latest research. [...]

By Nic Paton Occupational health professionals have warned construction sector employers that they must do more to ensure Britain's 2.4 million construction workers cover up and put on sun protection [...]

By Nic Paton All NHS occupational health services will need to have achieved, or be ready to achieve, Safe Effective Quality Occupational Health Service (SEQOHS) Faculty of Occupational Medicine accreditation [...]

By Nic Paton Barely four workers out of 10 have access to occupational health services, concludes a major government-backed snapshot of workplace health provision in Britain. Three research reports from [...]

By Nic Paton GPs remain sceptical about the effectiveness of the fit note, a major poll of family doctors by insurer Legal & General has concluded. More than a year [...]

By Nic Paton In July, the first NHS occupational health providers were accredited under the Safe Effective Quality Occupational Health Service (SEQOHS) standards. The teams at Guy's and St Thomas' [...]

By Nic Paton The number of workers killed in Britain last year has increased, according to the latest statistics released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Provisional data for [...]

By Nic Paton Just 15% of NHS trusts have a policy or plan to help combat staff obesity, research by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and the Faculty of [...]