Compliance with UK OH accreditation standards: A national survey of NHS occupational health services

Introduction
A new national accreditation scheme for occupational health services in the United Kingdom (SEQOHS) was launched in December 2010. This is a study to ascertain the preparedness of NHS (National Health Service) occupational health services in England to meet the SEQOHS standards. Regional workshops were organised by NHS Plus, a goverment funded project, in the first half of 2010 to review the standards.

Methods
A needs analysis was performed using a prioritisation technique to identify the standards with which respondents felt least able to comply. Respondents were asked to vote for the sub domains they felt least able to comply with. Each respondent had a maximum of ten votes to allocate to the SEQOHS sub domains, to be used in any combination. Responses for each sub domain were rated red, amber or green (RAG) based on priority scores. Red scores were in the upper quartile, amber scores were in the middle two quartiles and green scores were in the lower quartile. The highest scores indicated the sub domains respondents felt least able to comply with.

Results
8 workshops were attended by 137 occupational health practitioners representing 89 different occupational health services. Overall, there were 127 red, 195 amber and 228 green rated sub domains. Business standards, some core services and delivery standards had most red ratings. South Central and East of England had the highest percentage of red rated sub domains.

Discussion
There is a mixed picture of preparedness for the SEQOHS accreditation process. This varies by sub domain and geographical area. A high level of support and detailed guidance will be required from NHS Plus. Healthcare services are not accustomed to adhering to business standards nor having service level agreements. Typical issues raised in the workshops will be presented. Solutions must target individual services and host organisations.