Other Work
The Sheffield Health and Work Strategy Group
The Sheffield Health and Work Strategy Group is made up of representatives from:
- Voluntary Sector
- NHS
- Local Authority
- Service Users
The group was formed to continue the partnership work that was developed during the Department and Work and Pensions Job Retention and Rehabilitation WorkCare branded pilot that was completed in March 2005. While the WorkCare pilot was interested in helping people who were at risk of losing their job through illness, the groups interest has broadened to include supporting people’s aspirations to engage/re-engage in the world of work.
There are two key challenges which underpin this work:
- Reducing health inequalities in the city – many of the people who are at risk of losing their jobs or want to get back into work live in the most deprived areas of the city.
- Delivering quality partnership based services – one of the aims of the group is to integrate existing services to provide an integrated pathway for people who need the most help.
The groups objective is:
To develop local networks, using an holistic approach to service delivery which will involve NHS, Local Authority, Voluntary sector, employers, service users and other key agencies for:
- People who are in work and at risk of losing their job or off sick from their job
- People who are out of work and have aspirations to get back into work.
Recent work of group
We have produced a discussion document called the “Sheffield Health , Work and Well-being Framework” The framework defines values, standards, service levels and the system of provision for health and work services in Sheffield.
Workplace Health Information Project
This project which is funded by the Department of Health Section 64 has enabled us to produce a series of information leaflets that can be used in the workplace. During the last year the focus has been on producing a series of information leaflets on pregnancy at work which has been carried out for us by Pam Walton.
New publications for patients
- Cold work
Mothers at Work Series
- Maternity leave and pay
- Return to work – the right to ask for flexible working
- Hazards which may effect the health and safety of new or expectant mothers
- Risk Assessment Checklist
- Health and Safety at work for pregnant women and new mothers – information for employers
- Health and Safety at work for pregnant women and new mothers – a guide for health professionals
The aim is to produce another 6 leaflets over the next 12 months and to update all the existing information leaflets that have been produced over the past 2 years.
Work and Well Being project
The Work and Wellbeing Project is a partnership between the Sheffield City Council Employment Unit, Deploy and ourselves that is funded by Jobcentreplus. The project is aimed at helping people within the S3,S4 and S5 areas of Sheffield who have health problems and are on incapacity benefit to become ready for work.
Our role in the project is provide an assessment on the type of work people may be able to carry out how once they have received the appropriate help to manage their health. We are responsible for signposting people to a condition management programme, which is being provided by organisations who can provide physiotherapy and psychological help to people to prepare them to enter the job market . People are also given support by the Employment Unit and Deploy to be able to apply for jobs.
The project started in January 2006 and so far the number of people who have been recruited into the project is quite low, this is to be expected as this type of work has not been tried before in Sheffield. This project is important in testing out ways of how people on can be returned to the job market, which is a critical part of the government strategy to getting 1,000,000 off incapacity benefit and into work.