Business Action on Public Health emerging findings

Research summary
Business Action on Public Health – Shared Value & Impact
Emerging Findings
Introduction
Employee impact
The Business Action on Public Health (BAPH)
programme was a three-year Department of Health
funded project delivered by Business in the Community
across some 450 employers in the East of England
from 2012 – 2015. The BAPH model generates value
not just for employers’ productivity, and for employees
in terms of improved health and wellbeing; but also to
public statutory health and care services in terms of
significant long-term resource savings.
Numbers of staff participating to improve their
health & wellbeing (per year)*:
This is the start of a major step change in the role of
responsible employers - to be generators of shared
value under the era of an ageing population, combined
with government austerity.
BAPH provides employers with a practical, tested and
realisable model to actively support staff health and
wellbeing, and enhance performance. BAPH also
offers a platform to share best practices that can have
a positive influence on improving the health of the
wider community.
75% of staff who participated to better
their wellbeing went on to improve it
*excludes staff attending purely for education/information
Since working with the BAPH model across these
activity categories, around 70-75% of employers’
HR/Occupational Health functions report that
employees who participate to better their wellbeing go
on to experience improvement from these activities.
As a result, there was reduced prevalance for a
proportion of participating staff, in the risk of
developing diabetes, overweight/obesity issues, more
severe mental health and stress problems, smoking
illnesses, and heart/coronary compilcations. This
reduced prevalence rate is estimated between 4% and
12% based on a number of population level ratios.
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At least two thirds of employers reported
staff had started their own group wellbeing
activities as a result of BAPH.
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This is a good indicator of sustained behaviour change
amongst employees and their peers.
Health & Care service impact
Example costs of entering Health and Care services e.g. GP clinics, hospitals, local authority care/social care * Social care/local authority cost of treating diabetes NHS cost of treating obesity and overweight individuals in hospital NHS cost of providing community mental health support within 3 months (low to mid-­‐level problem/non-­‐severe) NHS treatment for admissions attributable to Smoking Cost per person diagnosed with diabetes
treated in Social Care settings = £18,900
Estimated annual cost per incidence (approx.) Attributable resource savings from BAPH model £18,900 £8,200 £824 £1.78 million £450,500 £78,500 £3,030 £656,000 Employer impact
(Institute of Diabetes for Older People, 2013)
“For the Public purse there is a potential return
on investment (from BAPH activities), through
preventing long-term sickness and helping to
keep people in work, and through improved
productivity.
“For the health service, it often tends to be
longer term… yes there will be fewer sick days,
fewer cigarette breaks, but resource savings are
longer term as a result of behaviour changes.
This preventive effect can lead to lower heart
disease, reduced incidence of dementia, and
lower incidence of diabetes. There could be a
real win-win on obesity, sedentary behaviour
and diabetes – meaning BAPH can have a
genuine impact on related health care and then
social care costs”
Liz Robin, Director Public Health
(Cambridgeshire County Council)
Employers’ implementation of BAPH activities could lead
to resource savings for health and social care services
as a result of reduced incidence of long-term conditions
amongst staff who are at risk. The table above illustrates
how the BAPH model helps to generate additional
shared value for health and social care services, from
reducing prevalence amonst a proportion of staff at risk.
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Public Health practitioners and Employers can
better align objectives and generate shared
value by working together with BITC’s ‘honest
broker’ role.
(BAPH Knowledge Transfer Report, November 2015)
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*Estimates were adjusted downwards by about 45% to account for double-counting (i.e.
participation in multiple activities) and discounting out proportion of employees attending for
educational/information purposes. Unit costs were derived from PSSRU (Personal and Social
Services Research Unit), Office for National Statistics and HSCIC (Health & Social Care
Information Centre). Estimates may vary marginally in final report and analysis.
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Over 70% of active employers report
increased staff pride in the organisation
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Improving wellbeing at work is underpinned by a more
rounded approach from about 250 actively participating
employers (out of 450), who support employees to:
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•
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strengthen their personal resources and capabilities to
increase productivity
take pride in their roles within the organisation
function to the best of their abilities, both as individuals
and in collaboration with colleagues
have a positive overall experience of work and impact
at work
More than half of employers reported improved
feedback from line managers of participating staff
1 in 5 employers reported an average of 0.29 sick day
improvement resulting from BAPH, which generates
over £1.5m of total value for employers.
Method
Envoy Partnership conducted primary data collection
from a random sample of 30 employers, triangulated by
interview surveys with four public health practitioners,
three employers and staff (health champions). Wellbeing
analysis drew on European Quality of Life survey,
National Accounts of Wellbeing (NEF) and NICE
guidance on Quality Adjusted Life Years.
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