NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens was recently featured in The Guardian, discussing plans to make the NHS a healthier workplace for staff, in order to lead by example and inspire patients to make positive lifestyle choices.

Shirley Cramer CBE, Chief Executive of RSPH/IHM stated: “It is very encouraging that Simon Stevens is taking the health and wellbeing of workers in the NHS seriously. Workplace wellbeing is a huge priority for us. With the population facing worrying trends in ill health including the increasing obesity epidemic, we should be grasping every opportunity to improve health and the workplace should be recognised and promoted as a healthy setting. 

"RSPH has been championing workplace health and wellbeing for many years, following on from a 2004 Government report identifying the need for a shift in public health priorities from a ‘top-down’ influence to a ‘bottom up’ on the ground approach designed to signpost individuals to positive public health messages within the community, outside the doctor’s surgery and have recently partnered with the Department of Health to launch the Ministers Award, which recognises and rewards the best examples of workplace wellbeing programmes.

It goes without saying that there are a huge number of challenges to introducing wellbeing initiatives to an organisation as complicated and vast as the NHS, yet there are already a huge number of successful initiatives in place in the NHS and in workplaces across all sectors and disciplines. It is important the NHS, as one of the largest employers in the world, recognise the benefits of investing in a workplace health and wellbeing strategy and to empower staff to make choices that will benefit their lives and as such the lives of their patients.”

At the start of this year, 30.43 million people were reportedly in employment in the UK, around half of the entire population. Utilising the influence of employers to develop targeted health and wellbeing messages will be key to tackling health inequalities long term.

As such, RSPH has developed a series of qualifications aimed at training Health Champions to promote healthy lifestyles from within their community or workplace. Now, in 2014, approximately 30,000 people have passed the qualification, and NHS workers, librarians, pharmacists, receptionists, health care assistants, teachers, fitness instructors, prison gym officers and elected councillors have all been trained as health champions.