Here for Health 2015/16: What Oxford University Hospitals will do to improve the health of the population we serve Oxford University Hospitals is committed not just to treating disease, but to improving people’s health across Oxfordshire. Every year, we have a million ‘patient contacts’ with people across the county – that’s a million chances to help people change their lifestyle in ways that could reduce their chances of becoming ill. Plus, every time we talk to our patients, we can get the message out to their families, friends and carers as well. It isn’t only our patients’ health that’s important to us. We have 11,500 staff members who we would like to keep healthy as well – and we know that looking after our staff, physically and mentally, helps them to look after our patients even better. Of course, we can’t do this alone, which is why Oxford University Hospitals is working with Oxfordshire County Council, and other local groups and organisations that share our goal of promoting health to our patients, visitors and staff. Here, we set out what we plan to do during 2015/16 to achieve this goal. 1. We will promote healthy lifestyles to our patients, visitors and staff During 2014/15, we launched an exciting new drop‐in centre providing health improvement advice for patients, staff and visitors at the John Radcliffe Hospital. We also trained staff across our hospitals in how to give brief health improvement advice to their patients and colleagues. During 2015/16, we will: Increase access to the health improvement advice centre, including by: o ‘pop‐up’ centres at our other hospital sites; o going out into the community in partnership with other organisations; o securing on‐going funding to continue to provide the service, and if possible expand it. Train more of our staff in health promotion and giving brief advice by: o inclusion in induction and training courses and group meetings for some key staff groups; o offering the opportunity for all staff who want to be trained to become ‘health champions’; o becoming accredited to deliver externally developed and recognised training in this area. Help our patients, visitors and staff to access specialist support for alcohol and drug misuse, smoking cessation, maintaining a healthy weight, and mental wellbeing. 2. We will create a hospital environment that promotes health During 2014/15, our staff told us they wanted to be able to buy healthier food and drink options at our hospitals, and we started work with our food providers to achieve this. We also looked at our hospital sites to find ways that we could increase opportunities for people to be more physically active. During 2015/16, we will: Make changes to our hospital sites to make healthier choices the easier choices, including by: o developing and agreeing a food and drink strategy, in line with national recommendations; o increasing access to healthier food and drink options at all of our sites, 24 hours a day; o promoting and increasing opportunities for active travel and other physical activity. Promote and support mental wellbeing and emotional resilience in our staff. Eliminate exposure of patients, staff and visitors to second‐hand smoke on hospital sites. 3. We will embed our approaches to improving the health of the population across our organisation During 2014/15, we set up a Public Health Steering Committee to guide and oversee our work in this area, including representatives from across our staff groups and divisions, and from other important organisations. In addition, each of our clinical divisions identified and committed to their own public health objectives. During 2015/16, we will: Develop a substantive public health function within the Trust, with a defined set of responsibilities around improving the health of the population we serve, and clear leadership. Make sure the health of the population becomes part of our core business, by including our priorities in the organisation’s business plan. Develop ways to ensure that the impact of our policies on the population’s health is considered. Our guiding principles Three guiding principles will apply across all of the work proposed here: ‐ Equity – will be considered in all public health policies and interventions, and all will aim to reduce inequities in disease burden, disease risk factors, and access to services. ‐ Sustainability of resources – Including environmental resources, will be considered in all public health policies and interventions. ‐ Community development – we will look for opportunities to develop better links to benefit the wider community, and we will make sure that all public health policies and interventions are consistent with, and linked to, other initiatives across the county. We will keep listening to feedback and checking regularly to see if what we’re doing is making a difference, and to find out what more we can do to support our patients, visitors and staff in making healthier choices. We would like to hear your views Do you agree with what we are trying to do? Do you disagree with anything we are planning? What more would you like to see us do over the longer term? Please let us know what you think by 14 January 2015 – you can either: Answer these questions online https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HereForHealth Email us public.health@ouh.nhs.uk Write to us Public Health Executive Corridor, Level 3 John Radcliffe Hospital Headley Way, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU For more information Please visit our website: www.ouh.nhs.uk/HereforHealth For our employees to find out more about staff health and wellbeing: ‐ Visit the staff intranet: ouh.oxnet.nhs.uk/HealthandWellbeing ‐ Email: staff.wellbeing@ouh.nhs.uk