RSPH Health & Wellbeing Awards - showcasing good practice.

Abstract

October 2015 saw the presentation of the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) Health & Wellbeing Awards. The winners were 26 truly inspirational organisations who are facilitating health improvement by enabling and empowering their staffand/or the communities and individuals they serve. Regardless of their size or sector, their commitment to leadership is of the highest level, with innovative strategies which address the wider social determinates of health.The RSPH Awards are not a competitive scheme; instead, they provide organisations with the opportunity to reflect on their work against set criteria1 and to win an award based on their own merit. It has three categories, each indicating a level of good practice and innovation as well as benchmarks to support the continuous development of organisations.The first category is the One Year Award, given to organisations that demonstrate a planned approach to developing their health improvement capability and practice. The winners this year are as follows:* Cancer Focus Northern Ireland for their Well Aware programme - an innovative public health intervention which empowers older people to take control of their health. It achieves this by helping participants feel more confident about seeking advice and accessing existing services. During 2015, the organisation delivered 21 Well Aware sessions and carried out more than 250 health checks.* Charlton House for their Passport to Health programme which improves the health and wellbeing of employees at Gatwick airport by encouraging healthy eating. This involves an employee nutritional education programme alongside the enhancement of the nutritional profile of the food that is available to staff.* Do Something Different for their Health and Wellbeing programmes - a digitally delivered 'nudge' service that encourages people in Hertfordshire to take steps to improve their emotional wellbeing, mental health, lifestyle and obtain a healthy weight, all delivered via text and email. Over a thousand residents of Hertfordshire have already signed up and are using this service effectively.* GE Money Home Lending for their HealthAhead programme. This programme is designed to improve the health of GE's employees and their families. It has been built into the organisation's goals and objectives and constantly shaped by the team on site; 87% of GE's stafffeel that the company is committed to promote health at work.* Health for All Leeds for their Health Trainers programme - an effective behaviour change intervention designed to help the most deprived and vulnerable groups in Leeds make changes to their lifestyles and achieve better health. Last year, their team of health trainers helped over 160 families and over 5,000 adults and children to adopt healthier lifestyles.* Network Rail for their CardiffArea, Signalling Renewals project which aims to ensure that the entire workforce returns home fit and without injury. The project has an innovative and creative approach to integrating health and wellbeing into a health and safety context. All their activities are highly accessible and designed to meet the needs of their workforce, which is predominantly male. Last year at one of their awareness events, they had 200 staffin attendance, where over 50% received a health check.* Sefton Council for their Partnership for Health programme which involves all health-promoting organisations from across statutory, voluntary, community and private sectors in Sefton. As well as joining forces to deliver projects, they also work together to achieve better health and wellbeing for their own staff. Their efforts managed a 29% reduction in sickness absence levels across all the organisations involved.* Sirona Care and Health for their Taking It Personally programme which provides information, advice and support to enable disadvantaged people, improving access to training, education and work opportunities. …