Healthcare Connections - Occupational Health Providers

Healthcare Connections (HCC) is a leading occupational health service provider. It delivers:

• All rail medical assessments - including PTS medicals - to group railway standards
• Alcohol and drug screening - 'standard' for cause, random, periodic, pre-employment - including policy development and implementation
• Premium for cause screening service for minimum down time
• Health surveillance - pre-employment, HAVS, noise, MSD, dermatitis, night workers, etc.
• The services of occupational health nurses and occupational health physicians
• Via a network of medical centres across the UK - all close to mainline stations
• On site where facilities allow
• Via a fleet of mobile units where there are no facilities
• First day absence management through its Nurses On Call service
• Web and telephone-based medication advice via chemist on call
• Pandemic flu (so-called 'bird flu') management service including anti-viral drug provision
• Medical review officer (MRO) service
• Chief medical officer (CMO) service
• Expert witness service

Total Health Resource Management

Total Health Resource Management (THRM) is a software package that will integrate all occupational health services and HR resources, enabling the HR professional to review a member of staff's complete history, including personnel record and absence records, and then provides immediate access to the appropriate template forms and letters for completion by the line manager, HR manager or member of staff.

This enables fast and accurate status enquiries and means that a geographically dispersed workforce will always have the current, correct template forms and letters just a mouse-click away.

Rail assessments and health surveillance

HCC's service includes all railway medicals assessments, which of course includes PTS medicals to group standards. Recent legislation has brought much attention to HAVS, noise and night workers' assessments.

HCC provides medicals and screens which also include:

• Pre-employment (providing a health baseline)
• MSDs
• Lung function
• Vision
• Skin disorders (dermatitis, etc)
• DDA assessments
• Workstation and pregnancy risk assessments

(List not exhaustive)

HCC can provide the complete range of occupational health services (which would be designed to suit the needs of your company) to ensure your HSE obligations are met as well as your annual Link-Up audit.

Where referrals are necessary, HCC can provide the services of occupational health physicians or other appropriate occupational health specialists.

Alcohol and drug screening

Having launched in 1996 as an alcohol and drugs screening provider, HCC's roots and a core area of its expertise is in this aspect of railway safety.

HCC can assist in policy development and implementation and subsequently manage all aspects of a random, unannounced screening programme. The current industry minimum is 5% of a company's safety-critical workforce, although many are raising the bar to a best practice level of 10% in advance of the group standard being moved.

HCC provides a standard for cause service which will provide a result on the same working day as the sample is received at the laboratory.

In Jan 2007 we launched another industry first: a premium for cause service which provides a result within six hours of receipt at our laboratory - 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.

Management referrals

HCC provides a full range of physician-based health assessments. Many providers will refer to their physicians with little justification: HCC does so only when absolutely clinically necessary.

Occupational health physician-based assessments and medicals include:

• Management referrals
• Attendance management
• Home visits
• Returning to work
• Retirement through ill health
• Levels 4 and 5 HAVS

Occupational health strategy and health promotion

HCC has broad experience working with organisations to understand their inner workings and culture to ensure the best health strategy and solution is designed and implemented.

HCC will design and implement health promotion strategies and workshops - to educate and encourage a healthy lifestyle (smoking cessation, healthy eating, benefits of exercise, etc.).

Accreditations

HCC has gained accreditation to the following:

• ISO 9001:2000 (quality)
• ISO 14001:2004 (environment)
• Achilles Link-Up (14349) for drug and alcohol screens
• Achilles Link-Up (14349) for medicals

In addition, our laboratory has its own accreditations as follows:

• ISO 9001:2000 (quality)
• ISO 17025 (laboratory analysis)

HCC is proud of its heritage and status in occupational health and would be delighted to present its credentials to prospective clients.