Decision details

Decision details

Locality Workplace Health and Wellbeing

Decision status: Recommendations Approved

Is Key decision?: No

Is subject to call in?: No

Decisions:

The Board received a report from the Director of Workforce and Organisation

Development, MHCC and the Director of Population, Health and Wellbeing. The report provided and overview of progress in the delivery of a locality based approach to improving workplace health and wellbeing systems and outcomes for the combined health and social care workforce within the city.

 

The Director of Population, Health and Wellbeing introduced the report.

The Director of Workforce and Organisation Development, MHCC also addressed the board on the work that has taken place since the presentation of the first report in July 2017. Reference was made to the report appendix which provided progress and next steps on the 2017 Baseline Assessment report recommendations.

 

The Work and Skills Lead officer (MCC) reported that an assessment tool had been developed for use by employers and was ideal for integrated health and social care working. This approach had been agreed and supported by a wide number of individual organisations.

 

The Chair invited questions from the Board

 

A board member commented that the wellbeing of GP’s should also be considered and asked if there had been an outreach to independent organisations in view of the shortage of GP’s and the strain on the current service.

 

It was reported that GP’s could refer themselves or be referred to the Manchester Fit for Work service and the Working Well Early Help Service, as employees to support and enable them to stay in work and avoid long term illness. It was reported that extending the Employer Assistance Programme would be considered, as a possible option, across MHCC and the City Council.

 

Councillor Craig referred to issue of mental health and mental wellbeing across all employment sectors within the city and sought assurance that information learned from this area is helping to inform the mental health commissioning strategy. Officers were asked if recommendation 5 of the report could be reconsidered and looked at in a broader context than just employee assistance programmes to provide a wider and more generalised access to mental health services and enhancement of services

already commissioned.

 

It was reported that programmes currently exist across Manchester in conjunction with other GM Colleagues, this will include the commissioning of a specialist employment service in partnership with the GMCA and the GM Health and Care Partnership. Also, tools put in place by employers were helping with collective learning to help and support employees with mental health conditions and develop support to help unemployed residents.

 

A member referred to the health issues of staff and the initiatives that already exist that provide social value.

It was reported that the organisations are already taking part and offer activities to employees to help support employee health and the recruitment.

 

Further information would be included in the next update report to the Board.

 

The Chair stated that the work referred to in the report is important and indicates that there is an ambition to expand the work to both the population and the workforce and currently the organisations involved include over 30000 people. The Health and Wellbeing Board has looked at the relationship between work and health with the view that being in work is good for health as opposed to being out of work. The report looks at work and health differently and enforces the link that work provides positives for employees, their organisations and the people who receive their services.

 

Reference was also made to the Independent Prosperity Review and the

research on the review that underpins the Manchester Local Industrial Strategy which will be launched shortly. Research taken from the strategy suggested that a reason for low productivity in the GM area is ill health and the promoting of good health of employees will benefit the productivity of organisations. The Chair also referred to the Good Employment Charter which currently has twenty employers involved with the organisations now working towards the agreement on a set of standards that will be rolled out later in the year to promote better engagement with local employers. The Chair stated that the organisations that work to engage their employees find that the employees were more likely to be retained than those not

engaged.

 

Decisions

 

1. To note the findings of the report and the comments received.

 

2. To request officers to reconsider Recommendation 5 in view of the

comments made.

 

3. To note that a further progress report will be submitted to the Health and

Wellbeing Board in 2020.

Publication date: 10/07/2019

Date of decision: 05/06/2019

Decided at meeting: 05/06/2019 - Health and Wellbeing Board

Accompanying Documents: