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Keeping Staff Happy with Occupational Health Nursing

Keeping Staff Happy with Occupational Health Nursing

Occupational Health problems can have a range of causes

The Glasgow Herald

June 09, 2009

By Mark Williamson

A raft of survey data last week provided ammo for the optimists who believe that the economy will start growing again this year, although these have been treated with derision in some quarters.

News from The Halifax that house prices increased by 2.6 per cent month on month in May, combined with the first positive reading since last March on a composite of the closely watched ouput indices produced for the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, should cheer small and medium-sized firms serving both the consumer and corporate markets.

To cap it all the Confederation of British Industry said credit conditions were easing. However, this week an expert in health matters says that the most helpful thing that people could do for SMEs would still be to pay their invoices on time.

Name: Kate Sweeney

Age: 45

What is your business called? Occupational Health Works Ltd.

Where is it based?

The hub is in Glasgow city centre and my staff travel all over Scotland, from The Highlands and Islands to the Borders.

What does it produce, what services does it offer?

We are specialist doctors and nurses providing occupational health services in the workplace. The definition of occupational health is the interaction between health and work, and work and health. Our services include first aid at work training, sickness absence/ fit for work assessments, health surveillance in order that companies, large or small, can be helped to comply with Health & Safety legislation – for example hearing tests – and drug and alcohol testing.

To whom does it sell?

Anyone who works, ranging from heavy to light engineering and the construction industry to universities and insurance companies.

What is its turnover?

Around £500k, and continuing the growth which has seen us double our staff numbers in the last 12-month period.

How many employees? Eighteen

When was it formed? December 2000.

Why did you take the plunge?

Even while training as a nurse I was always aware of the cost and efficiency levels in hospitals I worked in and found myself mentally assessing how cost effective a particular nursing service was.

It was round about this time that I thought of how I would arrange things if I were in a position to run my own company.

I had very particular ideas about how I would run a nursing operation and finally realized that I would simply have to start my own company to implement them.

Eventually, I saw a gap in the market for small and medium enterprises addressing the lack of provision for Occupational Health. It was very scary, but also very exciting.

I had worked for large OH providers in Glasgow and knew intimately the areas that I felt they were not addressing properly.

What were you doing when you took the plunge?

I completed a self-funded degree in occupational health nursing at Caledonian University in 1998. It nearly killed me. I was interested in occupational health simply because it is an area of nursing provision that everyone who has ever been an employee of a firm will need from time to time. I was astonished at how millions of working days are lost.

When I trained at the Western and Gartnavel as a registered general nurse back in 1981 it was 90per cent hands-on, that was real nursing. There were nursing sisters then whom I regarded as real horrors, yet I’ve found myself trying to emulate them throughout my career.

I left St Gerard’s Secondary in Govan with the bare minimum of qualifications, so it was never going to be an academic career for me.

How did you raise the start-up funding?

Quite simply? I didn’t. It was always there. I grafted hard and saved.

What was your biggest break?

When we won the contract for Occupational Health provision to Interlink M74 JV in August, it confirmed that my company was finally heading in the right direction and that we definitely had a future.

What was your worst moment? An employee was referred to Occupational Health Works for a sickness absence assessment. After a long and tearful consultation it emerged that months of bullying and harassment appeared to be at the root of the problem. This person, who was previously a confident worker with a robust personality, now sat before me with severe mental health problems.

An immediate plan of action kicked in including same-day referral to GP and counselling, and a report expedited to the employer.

Nevertheless, I was informed the employee was in hospital after a suicide attempt two weeks later.

What do you most enjoy about running the business?

Where do I start? There’s no “most”. I love the fact that I am where I am today. I love the fact that I wouldn’t be where I am today without my family and my staff who I think are simply a fantastic team. Each day is different and challenging and I love that too.

What do you least enjoy?

Being bullied by my office manager, Susan Hawthorne, to get the paperwork done.

What are your ambitions for the firm?

I want OHW to become the leading Scottish-based occupational health provider in the country. I want to double our turnover in the next two years and employ at least another ten people.

What are your top priorities?

I want to win more work on major construction and engineering contracts. Our company has demonstrated that this is something we are good at and we have the quality of staff to deal with these.

In 2009 we will be developing the public affairs side of the business to ensure that we will always be quoted when these contracts are being put out to tender.

What single thing would most help?

If everyone paid invoices as promptly as I pay mine, our lives would be far less stressful.

What could the Westminster or Scottish governments do that would most help?

I know many directors of small businesses who would love to see just a little more help from our elected bodies in terms of better business tax rates. This would help more would-be entrepreneurs take the plunge and stimulate growth in the existing ones.

And I would love to see city councils creating a special business hub atmosphere where high city centre rates would be relaxed and help could be offered for office maintenance costs.

They are not looking for special favours, but they are trying, in the teeth of the recession, to employ as many people as possible.

That is good for the country and these businesses are where the economic recovery, when it happens, will begin.

What was the most valuable lesson that you learned?

That I’m only as good as the staff who work for me. That and “keeping it real”. When I first started the company there was only me. I am a nurse first and foremost, it’s who I am and what I do.

I didn’t know what business acumen was. Looking back, those skills were always there, they simply required a chance to shine and then be honed.

Govan and I embrace the Latin motto, nihil sine labore – which means nothing without work.

How do you relax?

Flyfishing. I’m totally hooked, but that’s about the only thing that is, as I rarely catch a sprat. My casting is knit one, purl one.

I love the peace and quiet, standing in one spot for a wee while and no mobile phones, faxes and emails. That and a load of Eddie Izzard. You really need to keep that sense of humour!

Originally published by Newsquest Media Group.

© 2009 Herald, The; Glasgow (UK). Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.

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