My Experience As An Occupational Health Advisor

How did I get into Occupational Health?

First, I had worked as a community nurse looking after housebound patients and then I became a practice nurse. Although I liked the variety in the role, it did not feel it was right for me. I therefore looked around to see what else I would like to do, then I saw an opportunity to become an OH Practice Nurse with a private provider in 2017 which looked promising. I did not have any prior experience, just a willingness to learn and to use my transferable skills from previous jobs. I wanted to have the opportunity to gain knowledge and skills in helping people stay healthy at work and to understand the role of OH has in promoting the health and wellbeing of employees. I wanted a career that would allow me to develop as a nurse and there were lots of opportunities to gain experience in new skills such as health surveillance. I moved to work for the NHS, and I completed a degree in Occupational Health with Robert Gordon University in 2020. Since then, I have worked as a Band 6 Occupational Health Advisor in my current job role within a healthcare setting.

What do I like about Occupational Health?

I would say I find that Occupational Health to be extremely rewarding and exciting as, it offers you the opportunity to gain experience each day with a variety of cases that can be routine but also unexpected. It keeps you intrigued and presents itself as an opportunity to gain experience in new ways. I thoroughly enjoy my job, and I look forward to work each day, I have gained confidence as I have developed in my role and gained experience. There are lots of tasks and activities to do that keeps me busy in the clinics such as immunisations, pre-employment screening, health surveillance and the management advice line. I especially like doing management referral consultations that involves sickness absence management of employees, and I feel so happy when they return to work thriving in their roles as well as being able to provide specialist advice to managers. I have a leadership role in my job as well as collaborating with a multidisciplinary team of Health and Safety, Infection Control Practitioners, Psychologists, and OH Physicians. As an OH Practitioner, I can see what a positive impact my role has in the NHS as well as in public health in maintaining a healthy workforce.

Why choose to work in Occupational Health?

I want to encourage anyone who is considering a career in Occupational Health to do so as it is a fantastic job to do. I enjoy the role each day and always constantly learning new things all the time. There are lots of opportunities to gain experience in this career as well as doing courses to develop new skills and enhance knowledge such as in mental health or health promotion. There are variety of settings to work in such as with the NHS, private sectors and industries which can be with transport, energy, and manufacturing companies. There are trainee development programmes that can help become an Occupational Health Advisor and to apply to do University courses to help professional development. The role can develop skills as an autonomous practitioner in which involves clinical decision making and managing complex cases which is good in building self-confidence and developing level of competence. There is an opportunity to make a positive impact in people’s lives in the workplace. The research has found evidence that emphasised that promoting good health and wellbeing of employees has a positive effect on work productivity for employers therefore it is beneficial for public health and wellbeing.

What opportunities are there in Occupational Health?

The field of Occupational Health is rapidly growing within public health, this allows for the opportunity to enhance into specialist roles such as in health and safety, health promotion, psychology, and infection control. There are roles such as an Occupational Health Practice Nurse in which involves running immunisation clinics, health surveillance, and health promotion. OH Advisors have a specialised role such as in sickness absence management, health assessments, case management, and workplace risk assessments. Within OH, there are management and leadership roles as well as training opportunities to develop skills which include understanding employment law. OH also allows for networking among other practitioners for case discussion, advice, and support. There are also opportunities to become a trainer or lecturer as well as the field of research and development to promote evidence based practice in the role.