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Reps

  1. Familiarise yourself with the case for healthy workplaces. This gives an evidence base for doing more.
  2. Read the Healthy workplace toolkit.
  3. Raise awareness of the Healthy workplace toolkit by sharing the guidance with staff.
  4. Take the Healthy workplace toolkit to your employer e.g. at partnership forums, the Joint Negotiating and Consultation Committee, Health and Safety Committee.
  5. Work in partnership with your employer to implement changes using our top tips for employers.
  6. If your employer is resistant to take the work forward, perform an organisational health check using the Healthy workplace toolkit.
  7. Identify areas within the healthy workplace domains where working practices or policies can be improved.
  8. Develop an action plan of improvements that must be made.
  9. Negotiate improvements with your employer using the RCN's Healthy workplace resources as evidence e.g. spinning plates resource on flexible working.
  10. If your employer continues to be resistant or you have major concerns about working practices, speak to your RCN senior officer for ideas on progressing the work.

Employers

  1. Familiarise yourself with the case for healthy workplaces to understand the link between improving health and wellbeing and patient care.
  2. Read the RCN’s Healthy workplace toolkit.
  3. Pick a Healthy workplace toolkit domain.
  4. Read the case studies and pledges of other organisations.
  5. Use the indicators to carry out a health check of your organisation.
  6. Identify areas where working practices or policies can be improved (use data from staff surveys, sickness absence, grievance or incident data to help decide priorities).
  7. Pledge to improve your practices or policies.
  8. Develop an action plan (if you have an RCN workplace representative(s), work in partnership with them).
  9. Celebrate your success.
  10. Repeat the cycle using a different Healthy workplace toolkit domain.

Nursing staff

  1. Read the case for healthy workplaces to understand more about the campaign why the RCN believes a healthy workplace is important.
  2. Read working towards a healthy you and the techniques to help you prevent and manage physical and emotional stress.
  3. If you want to find out more download the Healthy workplace toolkit and carry out a health check of your organisation.
  4. If you identify areas for improvement, liaise with your local rep to bring about change in conjunction with your employer.
  5. Celebrate your success.

Directors of Nursing

  1. Read specific evidence for Directors of Nursing on the link between improving health and wellbeing and patient care.
  2. Engage with the RCN, your reps and staff to bring about change using the Healthy workplace toolkit.
  3. Celebrate your success.



Carry out a health check on your organisation

The healthy workplace toolkit supports you as a health care employer, RCN rep, employment agency or host organisation to create healthy working environments.
Workplace meeting

Page last updated - 03/08/2019