Optima Health provide Occupational Health Services to all trust employees including pre-employment health checks, immunisations, fast track physiotherapy services and advice and guidance for all health issues that impact staff in the workplace. 

You may be referred to occupational health for advice and guidance for a range of scenarios including: 

• if you need support with a new health condition 
• if you are currently absent from work due to your health 
• if an existing health conditions develops or changes 

 If you need to be referred to occupational health, your manager will discuss the reason for the referral with you. Once the referral is made you will be contacted by Optima Health with appointment details. Once you have attended an appointment a report will be provided to you and your manager detailing the advice and support discussed. You will receive text message and email reminders directly from Optima Health to make sure you don’t miss your appointment. 

TASC have commissioned access to a range of computerised wellbeing courses on a variety of mental and physical health topics, including depression, stress, menopause, gambling, quitting smoking etc, for ambulance workforce personnel.  TASC (rightsteps.co.uk)

It’s instant access, no waiting time, no cost and doesn’t require a referral. Staff do have to register with an email address but the usual confidentiality terms apply and no identifying data gets shared with employers.

For some of our staff their normal work environment may be one that is indoors such as within our call centres. Some people may therefore benefit from taking a Vitamin D supplement. 

Some people may not make enough Vitamin D from sunlight which is a good source, because they have very little exposure to sunlight. If you have dark skin for example you have an African, African Caribbean or South Asia background you may not make enough vitamin D from sunlight. 

Vitamin D helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body. These nutrients are needed to keep bones, teeth and muscles healthy. A lack of vitamin D can lead to bone deformities such as rickets in children, and bone pain caused by a condition called osteomalacia in adults. 

See the Healthy Start website for more information. 

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-d/