Assistant Editor

October 17, 2019

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Health at Work

Wales Health at Work Partnership launched

Mental health & wellbeing and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are two of the biggest health issues for Wales’ work culture. They were the main topics explored at the Wales Health at Work Summit, held in Llandudno on 10 October 2019.

workplace wellbeingThe newly-formed Wales Health at Work Partnership (WHWP), which includes the Welsh Government, Public Health Wales and its ‘Healthy Working Wales’ programme, the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA), the HSE and social partners, co-hosted the Summit.

WHWP told the conference that it recognised the importance of healthy and safe workplaces for good public health and believes its role will be pivotal in delivering lasting beneficial change for Welsh businesses and their employees.

The WHWP set itself several objectives to support Welsh businesses, especially small medium enterprises (SMEs) and ‘micros’ by:

  • Promoting new and existing initiatives in Wales to improve health at work and mental wellbeing;
  • Sharing approaches, tools, and workplace experience for managing the risk, and reducing the incidence, of the major causes of occupational ill health in Wales;
  • Gathering and acting on information regarding additional health support needed by Wales’ working population;
  • Developing a co-ordinated and sustainable approach to underpin the work of the Partnership.

Public Health Wales’, Jyoti Atri said: “[The] event marks an important landmark. It brings together practitioners from across the public health and workplace health boundary. Working together we will bring improved outcomes for health and wellbeing through work.”

Deputy Director of the Health and Work Programme for HSE, Peter Brown said: “Health is a complex area and, as we all know, health improvements are not delivered in one day. That’s as true for HSE’s own role, preventing work-related ill health, as for any other, and makes partnership working more important. HSE is therefore delighted to be a part of today’s launch.”

WLGA Spokesperson for Regulatory Services and Councillor, Dafydd Meurig (Gwynedd) added: “This summit is an important step forward, but it’s the beginning of a process, not the end. Ill health in Welsh workplaces continues to take a heavy toll. Our end goal must be to see lasting improvements, so we urge all those with a shared interest to join us in this mission”.

Attendees were asked to capitalise on today’s summit and bring WHWP members together with the wider health and work community to explore all possibilities for future collaboration.


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