Health Business

The vision for Londoners is that every Londoner can have access healthcare that is genuinely world class. Only through world class people will world class healthcare be achieved.
    
In keeping with the thinking and financial pay backs of developing a proactive and positive wellness strategy developing a proactive and positive wellness strategy (highlighted by Dame Carol Black and now more specifically in the Boorman Review) London SHA, as an employer, has been developing a bold, innovative and integrated internal wellness strategy for all its employees.
    
The development of this strategy has been influenced by international best practice in organisations also striving/achieving world class service; productivity and safety. The diagram below outlines the London SHA’s strategic approach based on integrating the three disciplines of health, business and people management.
    
Positive approach
The positive, proactive, self-enabling approach to developing personal wellness management capabilities is based on:
1) Competencies: recognising that personal wellness management is a core capability/competence (there is a new national vocational qualification available)
2) A London SHA Online Wellness Zone (branded as Powering Up) which provides each person the opportunity to open a Personal Wellness Account The Wellness Zone, as the Boorman Review recommends, levers all the existing Public Health Resources such as Change 4 Life; Go London and NHS Plus (24/7 access to wellness advice by phone and online free) and other wellness investments (which many NHS Trusts etc also have).
3) A Personal Wellness Profile – an opportunity to compare oneself against many different wellness aspects in a holistic way (work and non work habits); develop therefore a clear understanding of current strengths (positive emphasis) and development areas; highly personalised advice (over 500,000 combinations) of Wellness Development Activities to improve wellness and performance.
4) Wellness Workshops: Engagement Sessions, “Maximising the Value of Your Personal Wellness Profile” workshops and other employee led wellness services/activities.

Measuring progress
Leaders and HR professionals are being developed to understand and manage the inter-relations of the three disciplines (health; people and business management) – with the opportunity to acquire a national vocational leadership qualification which is action learning focussed.
    
To balance employer and employee responsibilities there is a whole integrated set of management information generated from the Personal Wellness Profile. The great advantages of this approach are (1) the information being generated from a developmental process, not yet another survey, and (2) can be produced almost immediately anytime individuals, teams, organisational units want to re-profile and measure progress.
    
The management information provides a deep understanding of current wellness levels; the impact on productivity; attendance; scale of change; risks to health (Type 2 diabetes; RSI; coronary related risks and mental health); the impact of people and business management practices on the wellness levels and, if required, the generation of HSE Stress Standard type reports (with improved insights due to the methodology of analysis). All of this management information can be built into a Balanced Score Card like Organisational Dashboard which the London SHA is developing for different parts of the health service. So leaders, once developed in this three disciplined approach, will have access to multifunctional information to understand and improve all aspects of performance.
    
As an organisation leading strategically on healthcare in London, with a vision to be world class and also facing significant demands /changes in the future, the  London SHA wants to be able to understand and improve the number and ratio of Brand Ambassadors in its workforce. Therefore as part of the development of its wellness strategy it commissioned a Brand Ambassador Index. This Index is illustrated below using hypothetical numbers as illustration.
    
Return on investment
The projected pay–offs of this investment in Wellness are substantial in terms of employment £’s; service and productivity; reduction in risk/claims; capacity to manage change; and increased brand value through increasing the number and ratio of Brand Ambassadors.
    
Then of course the win – win benefits from the employees’ points of view – their own improved personal wellness management capabilities which will enable them to not only sustain higher performance at work, but also in life in general, as well as enjoy a greater quality of life possibly for more years.

For more information
Pauline Lucas, Interim Head of HR, London Strategic Health Authority
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Tel: 020 79329075 or Anthony Phillips, MD, WellKom
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Tel: 01442 876748. Alternatively, please visit www.wellkom.co.uk