Working as part of a highly specialised interprofessional team for occupational lung disease I often reflect on the multi-dimensional nature of health in occupational environments. Our team at Royal Brompton (now part of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust) care for hundreds of adults with work-related respiratory symptoms and lung diseases, providing expert care in our clinical service as well as advise to our wider network.
It can be challenging to explain occupational health to a generalist audience, whether that is primary care, or respiratory physicians in the acute or community based NHS providers. It isn’t “core curriculum” and yet work – its pleasures and sorrows, to paraphrase Alain de Botton* – has an impact on everyone.
A few years ago we established a mission statement to support the quality assurance, improvement and innovation of our work and we display this proudly on our website. We also reflect upon it regularly in our clinical quality forum, where we discuss how to best effect change with the discretionary effort that we all willingly put into our own “work”:
We aspire to be the UK’s leading specialist centre for the investigation, management and prevention of occupational and environmental lung diseases.
Our core values:
- Compassionate, effective and inclusive interdisciplinary care and support for patients who have, or may have, occupational or environmental lung diseases;
- Sharing our knowledge across the UK to raise awareness of occupational lung disease through education and training, so that what we learn can help patients everywhere;
- Recognising the importance of partnerships with our occupational health colleagues in industry, and the support we give them in the interests of patients;
- Ensuring our staff feel valued, and proud of their work;
- Being at the forefront of current and emerging occupational respiratory hazards by utilising our clinical, research and laboratory expertise.
Whenever we are invited or asked to contribute, collaborate or participate in activity, we look to our core values to ensure that the intended action will have consequences aligned to our values. This is informed by contemporary leadership practice such as David Stanley’s examination of Values-based leadership in Healthcare.**
Being explicit about these values is a great way to ensure that we stay grounded and serve the population and wider society to the best of our abilities. In our service we welcome you to join us in these aims – if you are curious about our service please contact us and we can explain more!
References
*Alain de Botton (2010) “The pleasures and sorrows of work”. Penguin publishing
** David Stanley (2019). Values-based leadership in healthcare: Congruent leadership explored. Sage publishing.
Article by Dr Jo Szram
Consultant in Occupational Lung Disease