Workshop 1: February 2010

C3 Collaborating for Health held the first of two workshops, Diabetes as a model for chronic disease prevention and management in the UK workplace,* at the Institute of Physics, London, on 17 February 2010. The workshop was commissioned by Dame Carol Black, National Director of Health and Work (see photo).

The aim of the event was to raise the issues of both the prevention and management of diabetes within the context of workplaces, and to use this as a possible model for other chronic diseases among working-age people. It brought together over 30 representatives of businesses, the public sector and voluntary organisations. A short document on the importance of diabetes and workplace health can be found here >>

Footage of the presentations, and video interviews with the keynote speakers are available on the 3FOUR50 website here >>

The 3FOUR50 video news (19 February) covered the event here >>

We hope that the 3FOUR50 website will soon host a discussion forum on diabetes and its impact on employees and employers, and what solutions can be found.

The workshop was introduced and chaired by Christine Hancock of C3, and opened with a short presentation from Dame Carol Black (click here >>for a pdf). This was followed by a description by Sir George Alberti, Chairman of Diabetes UK, of the extent of the diabetes epidemic in the UK and beyond (click here >> for a pdf) and Dr Rowan Hillson, the National Clinical Director for Diabetes, spoke on the toll of diabetes, including the specific difficulties that individuals can face in the workplace, such as stigmatisation, embarrassment and fear of losing their job (click  here >> for a pdf).

The keynote speakers presented case studies from two US companies, Pitney Bowes and Caterpillar:

• Michael Critelli, former Executive Chairman at Pitney Bowes, focused particularly on the tools that he sees as essential in driving a successful workplace health programme, including nudging employees towards healthy choices by making the healthy option more easy to choose (for example, changing the layout of the cafeteria), conspicuous labelling of options, and identifying financial incentives and other recognition of healthy choices. Video footage of his presentation is available here >>, and you can see a pdf of his slides here >>
• Dr Michael Taylor, Medical Director for Health Promotion at Caterpillar, spoke on the efforts the company has made that has led it to save $1.7 billion in healthcare costs since 2002. Tobacco cessation efforts have seen a 35% quit rate continued even after six years, and differential pricing of healthy foods has been introduced in the canteen. Screening for diabetes has found that the diabetes rate is about 14% in the company, and that for every person with diabetes there are three more people at high risk of the disease. Health coaches have been used to help individuals work through what they can do to tackle their particular risk factors. Video footage of his presentation is available here >>, and you can see a pdf of his slides here >>

One of the aims of the day was to bring together the public sector, private sector and voluntary (NGO) sector to discuss the relevance of chronic disease in the workplace to each. The afternoon’s session was a discussion within these groups, particularly to identify the most important barriers to prevention in each sector, and any particular issues for people with diabetes at work.

Among the key issues discussed were:

• depression among those with diabetes, and the role of mental health in absenteeism and productivity – this could be one way in which to engage HR departments in the importance of diabetes;
• the need to engage the workforce – for example, by having volunteers at ‘ground level’. Some people with diabetes could be actively engaged as champions of healthy living – they could be ambassadors for explaining how and why to live a healthy lifestyle. Engaging senior management is also essential, to lead by example and reassure employees that they can take the time to be healthy;
• health screening at work, rather than at the GP’s office. This can be very successful – Dame Carol gave the example of the Olympic site, where the (largely male, transient) workforce has taken up the opportunity for health checks in large numbers. We need to be more imaginative in designing where health checks take place;
• tackling the health of the NHS workforce itself. As one of the largest employers in the world, this was seen as essential. There are some best-practice examples in the NHS, so these could be rolled out further.

* The event was sponsored by Unilever, Sanofi-aventis and Novo Nordisk, and the keynote speeches were recorded for the 3FOUR50 website (www.3four50.com) by Joose TV.