Making Life Better for All

Mary Black CBEAssistant Director of Health & Social Well-

Being Improvement, PHA

NIPEC Annual ConferenceFit for Living, Fit for Practice

Overview

• Strategic Context • 2-way relationship between health and work • Workplace Health Model• Workplace Health Action• Personal Action

Determinants of Health

General Socio-Economic

Cultural and Environmental Conditions

Advertising

Taxation

EnvironmentLiving and Working Conditions

Workenvironment

Education

Unemployment/Employment

Water andsanitation

AgricultureAnd food

productionHealth care

services

Social and Community Networks

Crime andjustice

I ndividual Lifestyle

Factors

Smoking StressAge, Sex &

Hereditary

f actors

Housing

I nclusion/Exclusion

Source: Dahlgren & Whitehead 1991

WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health

Improve daily living conditions

Tackle the inequitabledistribution of power, money and resources

Measure and understand the problem and assess the impact of action

Life Expectancy Differentials in Northern Ireland

Males

Females

Public Health Framework

VisionAll people are enabledand supported inachieving their full healthand wellbeing potential

Making Life Better Themes

1. Give Every Child the Best Start

2. Equipped Throughout Life

3. Empowering Healthy Living

4. Creating the conditions

5. Empowering Communities

6. Developing Collaboration

Making Life Better

Theme 5: Empowering Communities – Outcome 16:Effective workplace health programmes can make areal difference to the health and wellbeing of employees, businesses and the communities in whichpeople live and work. Support systems to encourageand maximise the commitment of employers to healthand wellbeing and share effective practice will need tobe in place.

2-Way Relationship between Health & Work

Overview of Health Behaviours & Risk Factors in NI

Sources: 2011/12 Health Survey, Quality and Outcomes Framework 2013, Adult Drinking patterns survey 2011, CMO physical activity guidelines.

Smoking prevalence in Northern Ireland 2005/06-2013/14.

Strategy launch

Proportion of adults (18+) who consume alcohol above weekly sensible drinking limits for women and men.

Source: NISRA: Continuous Household Survey for 1986 – 2008/09

Mental Health in NI

• Nearly one in five adults in NI with a potential psychiatric disorder (2010/11).

• More than 1 in 10 on medication from their GP for mood or anxiety disorders (2008). In North or West Belfast this rises to nearly one in seven.(NIHIMS)

• N.I. has 25% higher rate mental health problems than in England

2 Way Relationship

“The relationship between employee health and employee commitment and engagement is multi faceted. Indeed, there is research evidence that suggests a two way, possibly self reinforcing relationship: healthy employees are more committed and committed employees are more healthy” Steven Bevan 2010

Wellbeing associated with;

• Improved learning and academic achievement • Reduced absence from work due to sickness• Reductions in risk-taking behaviours like

smoking • Improved physical health• Reduced mortality• Increased community involvement

Business cost of poor mental health

Sickness absence due to mental ill health in UK costs around £8 billion per year (70 million working days missed each year, or an average of 2.8 days per year per UK employee). Lost productivity (including presenteeism, where mental health issues lessen work performance) costs £15 billion, and replacing staff who leave their posts because of mental illness costs employers £2 billion.

Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health. 2007

Sources of Stress at Work

• Demands• Control • Support • Relationships • Role • Change

Effects of stress to business

• 1 in 5 people take a day off work due to stress • 1 in 10 people have resigned a job due to stress, 1 in 4 have

thought about it. • 19% of staff feel they can’t speak to managers about stress at

work. • 25% of people we surveyed considered resigning due to

stress. • 56% of employers said they would like to do more to improve

staff wellbeing but don't feel they have the right training or guidance

Resilience

Resilience is the ability to cope with life’s challenges and to adapt to adversity. Levels of resilience can change over the course of our lives.

Mind &Mental Health Foundation 2013

What is ‘Take 5

Five Ways to Wellbeing to support individuals to take action to improve their own wellbeing.

• Connect

• Be active

• Take notice

• Keep learning

• Give

Workplace Health Benefits

• reduction in illness-related absenteeism and presenteeism

• increased motivation among staff and improved • working atmosphere

• prestige factor which improves the public image of the organisation

• measurable increase in the quality of products and services

Promoting mental wellbeing at work NICE public health guidance 22 (2009)

Recommendation 1:

strategic and coordinated approach to promoting employees' mental wellbeing

Recommendation 2:

assessing opportunities for promoting

employees' mental wellbeing and managing risks

Recommendation 3:

flexible working

Recommendation 4:

the role of line managers

Recommendation 5: supporting micro, small and medium sized businesses

Quality of Care

• Quality of care depends on the skills, commitment and compassion of staff

• Unprecedented financial and services pressures

• Positive Enrolment – valuing people• Culture and Leadership

‘It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change’.

Charles Darwin

Health and wellbeing at work: a resource guide

www.publichealth.hscni.net/publications

Good Line Management • Effective and supportive line management

• HSE’s stress management competency indicator tool

• Training for managers in social and interpersonal skills

- sensitive to indications of mental distress,

- discuss and resolve issues early

- referral for help and support

• Managers should have good emotional intelligence

• Visible senior leadership and accountable managers

• Systems of monitoring that embed continuous improvement

Personal Action

• Think about this issue of health and wellbeing• Support others• Get involved – form a group• Form an action plan• Question and challenge each other• Measure the impact• Take it seriously

“Getting started, keeping going, getting started again – in art and in life, it seems to me this is the essential rhythm not only of achievement but of survival…the guarantee of credibility in your lives, credibility to yourselves as well as to others.”

‘Getting Started’ by Seamus Heaney.

PHA Workplace Newsletter

Taking out without putting back leaves one empty

“If you don’t like something, change it, If you can’t change it, change your attitude”.

Maya Angelou