Thames Valley: Oxford Academic Health Science Network roadshows announced

The Oxford Academic Health Science Network, established by NHS England to improve health and generate economic growth through innovation, is bringing together major employers including BMW, Johnson & Johnson, Unipart and Vodafone UK, to host a series of 'Workplace Wellbeing' events, focused on employee wellbeing, which will take place in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire in November this year. 

Vodafone UK is hosting one of these on November 8 at its HQ campus in Newbury, Berkshire.  Through practical sessions and table discussions, attendees will explore and share experiences, issues and best practice, with input from industry and the NHS to discover where health and wellbeing initiatives are delivering new ways of working and proven benefits both for staff and employers.  Business leaders and senior managers can register their interest in attending this event by clicking here  - or by contacting Amy Shearman on 01865-784944.

Richard Aspinall, regional director for the south east at Vodafone UK, said: “Putting employees’ physical and mental wellbeing at the forefront of workplace management practices is proven to improve employee satisfaction and performance.  At Vodafone UK, this approach has helped us to create great places to work, both at our Newbury HQ and elsewhere across the country, which encourage more effective collaboration as well as better customer service and service delivery. By supporting the Wellbeing Roadshows, we look forward to sharing the learnings from our own initiatives, learn from other workplace innovators, and help business leaders discover new and effective ways to transform their own environments.”

The other events take place in High Wycombe (hosted by Johnson & Johnson) on November 3 and Oxford (hosted by BMW/Unipart) on November 10. The events are part of the Get Physical campaign, which aims to advance the take-up of physical activity among NHS staff and patients and the wider workforce in order to improve staff health and wellbeing.  

Dr William Bird MBE, a GP and Get Physical partner, is speaking at all three events. He said: “Physical activity reaches the very foundations of illness and helps prevent 23 diseases including depression, diabetes and dementia. An active workforce results in 27% fewer days lost to sickness with productivity increasing by up to 15%. It is therefore essential that we get our workforce more active and learn how to do it well.”

According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), workplace health is a significant public health issue. A 2015 report by the Health and Safety Executive found that each year more than a million working people in the UK experience a work-related illness. This leads to around 27 million lost working days costing the economy an estimated £14.3 billion.

Coordination of this imperative work is led by the Oxford AHSN, Public Health England and the County Sports Partnerships. The focus has now spread to include all employers in the region, large and small, along with their counterparts in the public sector.