Quality outsourcing

Outsourced occupational health should not imply a lower quality service

Summary:

Occupational physician Dr Steve Boorman oversaw one of the biggest-ever outsourcing programmes of an occupational health service. Here, he argues that the potential benefits of outsourcing can be lost if not properly thought through and if driven almost exclusively by price, perhaps explaining some of the negative views on the commercialisation of OH, as reported in the latest Occupational Health [at Work] pay and benefits survey (see this issue pp. 22–25).

As the clock ticked towards the year 2000, businesses were expending vast resources in preparing organisations for the expected Armageddon posed by the so-called Y2K Millennium Bug. Soon after the dawn of the new century, it became apparent that predictions had been overly pessimistic and most systems functioned without interruption. Yet, as a then senior manager at Royal Mail, my attention was focused on alternative programmes that also carried high risk for business continuity and which were considered to be of extreme sensitivity and complexity…

 Dr Steve Boorman is director of employee health for Empactis. He chairs the Council for Work and Health and the FOM’s Ethics Committee. Dr Boorman held various roles at the Royal Mail Group between 1990 to 2011 including director of corporate social responsibility and chief medical adviser

Author: Boorman S

Tags outsourcing quality

Occupational Health at Work June/July 2019 (vol. 16/1) pp26-28

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