Developing occupational health services for social and health care employees in municipal organisations

BackgroundIn Finland, the average age of employees in health and social care is high, 43 years. The average age of retirement is only 58 years. Also, sickness absence has increased substantially during the past decade. The development of occupational health services (OHS) for social and health care employees is an initiative urgently needed for the improvement of their wellbeing.PurposeThe purpose of this project, partly funded by the European Social Fund, was to develop the processes of OHS by finding new working methods, new tools and new collaborative ways.Material and methodsDuring 2001–2004 social and health care organisations from six municipalities and their OHS participated in a project led by the FIOH. The project evaluation consists of a questionnaire conducted with key persons (altogether 31 persons) gathered from five organisations, as well as self-evaluation reports written by the participating organisations. In addition, 38 semi-structured interviews were carried out with the same participants.ResultsTwo occupational health units changed their method of operation from single activities to comprehensive workplace-specific assessments. New instruments to measure workers' wellbeing were introduced in all of occupational health units. Quality work started in three health care organisations. Product development and net budgeting were the objectives of one occupational health unit. Work-related literatures were bought, and vocational know-how was improved. The cooperation improved among employees, and the cooperation between the manager and employees improved. Social relationships and possibilities for developing individual vocational skills improved, and general efforts to improve activity were greater than earlier.DiscussionIt is obvious that this project was able to evoke many types of progress because of the financial support received from the European Social Fund. The intervention would have been more effective if every organisation would have had its own full-time project leader. A follow-up evaluation should be carried out, to determine whether progress is still continuing.