Employee health screenings offered to Shropshire firms
A new preventative health scheme is being offered to businesses across Shropshire to tackle rising concerns over the health of the population.
The workplace employee health screening has been set up by Shropshire Council's Preventive Health service amid statistics that worry Dr Kevin Lewis from the service.
He said 15 million people in England live with at least one long term condition.
"Much of this is preventable, that’s astonishing,” he said.
Diabetes is one of those conditions, with a tenth of the NHS budget spent on addressing it while heart conditions, strokes, vascular dementia are others.
The service says all could be prevented by life style changes.
Dr Lewis said the service had already been trialled with a number of employees including Shropshire Council, West Mercia Police, STAR Housing and Arriva. The checks had raised a number of health issues but encouragingly repeat checks on those individuals had seen health improvements and they began to set in place measures to change their lifestyles.
Impact
"We are helping employers to look after their employees," he said.
"People are being asked to worker later into life making and so many more could be working with long term health conditions in the future."
Arriva, the public transport provider, which helped test the service fully supports its introduction.
“The positivity and general buzz generated by the Preventive Health team’s work has been infectious," Jamie Crowsley from Arriva said.
“The impact has been very real. A member of our team found out that they were type 2 diabetic. Without the Preventive Health check this employee would not be receiving the assistance required to manage and improve her wellbeing”
The service, for any company with 10 or more employees will cost the business £50 per individual as it has to be self financing. All health checks will remain confidential.
Shropshire Council’s Director of Public Health Rachel Robinson said: “One of our key priorities is to improve the health and wellbeing of people living and working in Shropshire. We spend a large proportion of our time in work, so our jobs and our workplaces can have a big impact on our health and wellbeing. We all have a responsibility to invest in staff health and wellbeing and Shropshire’s new Preventive Health Service will help businesses achieve better outcomes from a workforce, and for people and communities.”
To find further information about Preventive Health workplace health Checks, visitwww.preventivehealth.org.uk
