Research
Since inception, the group has developed an extensive and broad ranging research portfolio in the field of work and health.Please refer to our Research section-link. We present our research at national and international conferences (including, ICOH, EPICOH, EASOM, ACOEM, FOM and SOM, ACPOHE).
CPD education and teaching
We offer a broad range of bespoke postgraduate courses for health professionals. These include: Asbestos, Effective Leadership for Health Professionals, Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS), Ionising Radiation Regulations 18, Lead, Occupational Health Report Writing and Vocational Rehabilitation Case Management. Please refer to our CPD courses section link. We also deliver occupational health undergraduate teaching to medical students at the University.
Input into policy and clinical guideline development
Our European competency study Requirements for occupational medicine training in Europe: a Delphi study led to the development of common occupational physician competency standards within Europe, that were subsequently adopted by the World Health Organisation.
We conducted the first ever international study on common core competencies for specialist occupational physicians International perspective on common core competencies for occupational physicians: a modified Delphi study. and the first ever UK study on core competencies for OH nurses Core competencies for UK occupational health nurses: a Delphi study..
We developed the first clinical algorithms for OH practice Development and implementation of clinical algorithms in occupational health practice.; and peer review processes to evaluate OH report quality Peer review audit of occupational health reports: process and outcomes.; Impact of peer review audit on occupational health report quality.
More recently we have developed a series of COVID-19 return to work guidelines for health professionals, employers and employees, that have been revised with the evolving situation. COVID-19 return to work in the roadmap out of lockdown: guidelines for workers, employers and health practitioners; COVID-19 return to work guide for health professionals advising patients and employers..
National leadership
Prof Macdonald is Chair of the UK Academic Forum https://www.som.org.uk/research-and-academic-forum and a member of the Bevan commission.
We are members of the UK Centre for Work and Health strategy group to progress development of a designated national centre for work and health research– as a follow on from our published review The Value of Occupational Health Research.
Prof Lalloo is a co-author of A Manifesto for Occupational Health in Scotland (2020). published by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties in Scotland.
We have followed the evolution of OH as a specialty and we have been actively involved in identifying unmet needs gaps and in influencing its continuing future development. We have published on this subject Occupational health services now and in the future: the need for a paradigm shift. and are actively involved in groups to influence local and national policy. See below for our work in the drive toward developing a UK Centre for Work and Health.
Promotion of the value of OH, OH research and OH as a career
Highlights include our published review on The Value of Occupational Health Research, formally launched at The House of Lords in June 2019 by Lord David Blunkett.
The report has been a key driver toward the development of a UK Centre for Work and Health and was the feature of an Editorial in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. https://oem.bmj.com/content/76/12/873. See Guest blog by Prof Drushca Lalloo, lead author of The Value of Occupational Health Research report for a summary of the findings and actions recommended https://www.som.org.uk/value-occupational-health-research.
Networking with key stakeholders, national and international collaborators
We have a broad network of key stakeholders and collaborators including, academic colleagues and departments in the UK, Ireland, Spain, Peru, Brazil, US, Turkey, UAE as well as the UK Faculty of Occupational Medicine (FOM), the Society of Occupational Medicine (SOM), the Faculty of Occupational Medicine in Ireland, Scottish Government, the Department for Work and Pensions, the NHS, local authorities, and the voluntary and private sectors.
Conferences and workshops
Highlights include hosting the EASOM (European association for the Schools of Occupational Medicine) International conference, Glasgow in August 2014, membership of local organising committee for the 26th Epidemiology Conference in Occupational Health (EPICOH) Conference, Edinburgh, 2017, and recently co-hosting a very successful Risk Summit on COVID-19 infection with SOM and FOM.
Covid-19
Our Covid-19 activity includes:
- Development of updated COVID-19 return to work guidelines for workers, employers and health practitioners in the roadmap out of lockdown; the first in the UK to account for vaccination and previous infection COVID-19 return to work in the roadmap out of lockdown: guidelines for workers, employers and health practitioners
- A BMJ Editorial on Safely returning the clinically vulnerable to work
- Development of COVID-19 Return to Work Guidelines for health professionals
- Host of an COVID-19 support and strategy group for OH professionals in UK and Scotland
- Co- host of a Risk Summit on COVID-19 infection with SOM and FOM. YouTube