Further detail

Health and Wellbeing Support - Occupational Health (OH) and Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) Contracts

After 12 months of in-depth tendering work, the new contracts for both occupational health and the employee assistance programme are now in place, having launched on 1 April 2024.

The tendering process included internal consultation with key stakeholders throughout the process including the individual and panel evaluations. Stakeholders involved at varying stages included:

• All ACC areas and Specialist Divisions and Corporate Functions including SPA / Forensics.

• Officers and staff representative organisations (SPF, ASPS, Unison, Unite)

• Staff diversity associations (namely Disability and Carers Association [DACA], Scottish LGBTI Police Association, Christian Police Association [CPA], SEMPER Scotland, Scottish Women’s Development Forum [SWDF], Retired Police Officers Association Scotland [RPOAS])

A corporate communication plan was developed to support the launch of both contracts on 1 April 2024 and to ensure maximum awareness of the new service provision. This communication plan included:

• Hard copy promotional material from Vivup and Optima, accompanied with a letter from the Chief Constable, was posted to the home addresses of all Police Scotland / SPA staff and officers.

• Contract launch day communications which included an all staff and officer email drop, an intranet landing page feature, the distribution of promotional materials through our wellbeing champion network and the development of a detailed FAQs.

• Four online town hall sessions were delivered to share key messaging on the new EAP service but also provided officers and staff with an opportunity to provide feedback or raise questions directly with us. Over 300 people attended at least one session which included trade unions, staff associations, line managers and all officer and staff.

• The utilisation of our wider health and wellbeing network of wellbeing champions, TRiM co-ordinators and assessors and Lifelines facilitators in the delivery of the key messaging locally.

• The People Direct services briefed and responded to all OH and EAP related queries.
The New Contracts - Occupational Health

Optima Health will continue as providers of our occupational health services with the new contract commencing from 1 April 2024. Some of the new services include:

• A new online occupational health portal will be launched in the upcoming months, accessible 24/7, 365 days a year. The portal will offer an interactive solution for recording, assigning, and tracking all occupational health activities in real-time. It will aid in the return-to-work process, enable instant online appointment scheduling, and ensure the delivery of high-quality outcome reports.

• A personalised workplace wellbeing platform will be provided, offering guidance and assistance through various formats like videos, podcasts, and infographics. The platform will also feature a live chat function.

• An interactive digital assessment routing tool will be introduced as an alternative to physiotherapist-led triage, allowing individuals to access a safe and efficient clinical assessment that guides them to the most suitable care pathway.

• Increased performance management focus with the adoption of a Power BI dashboard, which will allow us to monitor the service in real time. These data will feed directly into our new P&D dashboards and assist us in reporting moving forward.
The New Contracts - Employee Assistance Programme

Vivup are the new providers of our Employee Assistance Programme. Vivup also currently manage Police Scotland’s benefits portal. Improvements to the EAP services will include:

• Qualified health professionals are available via a 24/7/365 helpline where staff and officers can phone at any time for advice, support, and signposting on a wide range of topics.

• Specialist advice and counselling on a range of topics including trauma/crisis support, PTSD, bereavement, relationship difficulties, mental health, including low mood, depression, and anxiety, work-related issues, achieving a positive work/life balance, addiction, financial (citizen advice level). Also, a specific focus on menopause.

• The implementation of a ‘Stepped Care Model’ system of delivering and monitoring mental health interventions, and treatments, so that the most effective less intensive treatment is delivered to our staff and officers first; only 'stepping up' to intensive/specialist services as clinically required.

• Line management support and advice. The 24/7 helpline is available for line managers to phone at a convenient time to receive advice, support, and signposting for difficult or complex people cases they are managing.

• Lifestyle management telephone support & advice line including debt and legal advice support services. Experienced advisors assist on a broad range of issues.

• Increased performance management focus with EAP specific data feeding directly into our new P&D dashboards which will assist us in reporting moving forward. Vivup have plans to introduce a Power BI dashboard in the coming months.
Professional Health and Wellbeing Support – TRiM (Trauma Risk Management)

In terms of pathways of support for those experiencing trauma, TRiM is very much embedded within the organisation and continues to be a well utilised avenue of support for our officers and staff. We had 377 TRiM referrals over the year with assessments delivered to over 1500 officers and staff. The primary reason for referrals again features suicides and road traffic collisions (RTCs) and, due to a number of significant incidents involving children and babies, this has emerged as a recurring nature of referral.

We saw 36 new assessors added to the TRiM network across the year with the need continuing to grow. Moving forward, we are developing a role of TRiM co-ordinator for each specialist department, aimed at increasing the presence of TRiM within the organisation. Throughout the year proactive education and awareness as regards trauma and TRiM has again been a focus with face-to-face awareness sessions provided to senior investigation officers, first line managers, the road policing unit and family liaison officers.

The focus of TRiM moving forward will be firmly within distinct areas as highlighted below:

• Capacity - ongoing targeted recruitment of co-ordinators and assessors to ensure resilience i.e. two co-ordinators for every division and an even organisational spread of assessors.

• Ongoing learning, training and development activity with a key focus on refresher training.

• TRiM network clinical supervision to support our people, this is to be embedded as good practice and supported by our EAP.

• Referral process – complete review of the current process and look to find digital solution, key link to EAP.

• Monitoring and evaluation – to focus on the impact of TRiM and to take a more proactive and preventative approach to identifying areas and individuals requiring support.
Health and Wellbeing Support – IHR / IOD

In the last 12 months, the review of the ill health retirement (IHR) and injury on duty (IoD) award processes saw the implementation of a number of improvements. Currently, both processes are functioning well in terms of case progression and timescales with the average length of time from start of process to the selected medical practitioner (SMP) appointment being five months.

Regular oversight and checks are in place to identify cases where timescales indicate variance from norms and to ensure quick remedial action when necessary.

Critical to effective performance is ensuring appointments from selected medical practitioners for the determinations necessary in both police pensions, and police injury benefit regulations. Improvements here are demonstrated by the reduction in officers’ cases awaiting finalisation at the end of the last two financial years as below.

Ill Health Retiral No of Officers in Process
March 2023 77
March 2024 59
Injury on Duty No of Officers in Process
March 2023 50
March 2024 39

Case Analysis

Health conditions leading to ill health retiral and injury on duty are recorded and monitored by Police Scotland. Over the same last two financial years they can be broken down as follows and indicate little change over the period.
 

Psychological Physical Both
March 2023 36% 46% 18%
March 2024 36% 47% 17%

The average age and length of service of those in the ill health retiral process is also recorded and, again, there had been little change in the last two financial years.

Average Age Average Service
March 2023 45 years 20 years
March 2024 48 years 20 years

The following table shows the percentage of officers undertaking modified or adjusted duties prior to entering the ill health retiral process and demonstrates a reduction in the last financial year compared to 2022/2023.

% age of Officers with Duty Modification in IHR process
March 2023 79 %
March 2024 61%

A survey to gain feedback on IHR and IOD processes went live in March 2024. There has been only one respondent so far. Further engagement has taken place with the Scottish Police Federation and local P&D teams to ensure they proactively encourage officers to provide feedback to inform further process improvements. The Q1 report will provide detail of the feedback received as it is anticipated we will have more responses by then.

As previously reported, in order to maximise efficiency of SMP resource and to minimise officer and ex-officers having to detail their circumstances for two different processes, there is now the opportunity for officers to ask for simultaneous assessment of an IOD claim at the same time as their IHR assessment. This will only be applicable where an officer believes their disabling conditions have been caused by their police duties. There has been very minimal take up thus far however, it is expected this will increase as we see new cases enter the new process and awareness increases. Further engagement will take place with the staff associations and through case advisor to further enhance awareness of this option.

Monitoring and Evaluation - Independent Health and Wellbeing Evaluation and Review

We have been working with Thrivewise, specialists in organisational health and wellbeing, on the completion of an Independent Health and Wellbeing Evaluation and Review. We worked closely with Dr Taylor and colleagues from Thrivewise to fully define the scope and methodology of the review, which included a range of evaluation types such as a needs assessment, a process assessment, and an impact assessment. The final draft was submitted on 15 April 2024 and a paper containing the findings and recommendations was submitted to People Board and the Wellbeing Governance Board in May for further discussion and comment. Please see the accompanying paper, Health and Wellbeing Programme – The Way Forward, for further information.
Monitoring and Evaluation - HMICS Review

Police Scotland assisted HMICS in the review of frontline health and wellbeing. The review has included extensive field work within C3, Custody and North-East Divisions, one-to-one interviews with key stakeholders across both the SPA and Police Scotland, as well as a comprehensive documents review.

The overall aim of the review was to engage directly with frontline officers and staff in order to identify the issues they consider support or impact on their wellbeing and to assess the work undertaken by Police Scotland/ SPA to improve wellbeing. Please see the accompanying paper, Health and Wellbeing Programme – The Way Forward, for further information.
Monitoring and Evaluation - Lifelines Scotland Project Impact Evaluation

Our partnership with Lifelines has continued this year, with 1280 of our workforce having attended the first day, titled ‘Staying Well and Understanding Resilience’, and 947 having now completed the second day, titled ‘Supporting your Colleagues/Teams’, since the project began. Earlier in the year we conducted a Lifelines Scotland project impact evaluation. The purpose of the piece of work was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Lifelines Scotland wellbeing sessions in creating a workforce that is mental health informed. Key findings from this evaluation include:

• 91.83% of respondents recalled the training either well or very well.

• Over 70% of respondents think about the messages from the session(s) on a daily or weekly basis. This suggests that the learning messages are being retained and considered regularly by those undertaking Lifelines sessions.

• Over 89% of respondents have spoken to at least one person to ask if they are ok or to offer support since the Lifelines session(s). This demonstrates that attendees are putting into practice the learning from these Lifelines sessions.

• 88.4% of respondents feel confident asking for help in relation to their own mental health or suicidal thoughts and over 21% have actually asked for help when needed.

• This demonstrates that learning from sessions about seeking support is being put into practice on a long-term basis.

• Over 86% of respondents rated at least 8 or above (out of 10) for recommending the session(s) to others. This demonstrates that the Lifelines learning sessions have a strong net promoter score (NPS) (Qualtrics, 2023) of 59.86% which indicates that our people believe these sessions are worthwhile for their colleagues and peers to attend.

Other themes to arise from the feedback include:

• Respondents felt they were looking out more for others and keeping an eye out for signs/concerns in colleagues. This theme was evident in over 40% of responses.

• Respondents felt more confident in assisting others – asking ‘are you okay?’ This theme was evident in around 25% of responses.

• Respondents felt that they were showing increased levels of self-care/looking after themselves more fully. This theme also appeared in around 25% of responses.

• Workload commitments remain high, meaning less time available to spend on encouraging positive wellbeing and looking out for others. This theme was demonstrated in around 20% of responses.

• Stigma and old-fashioned attitudes towards mental health still exist which are an ongoing barrier. This theme was brought up in around 18% of responses.

• Geographical challenges and working from home can mean colleagues are not always easy to approach and see regularly. This theme arose in around 11% or responses.

• Many believe that all officers and staff should have the chance to undergo this kind of course. This theme was raised by over 35% of respondents.

• Topics covered are very important and are valuable in helping people look after themselves and others. This theme appeared from around 39% or respondents.

• There is recognition that topics can be sensitive or triggering for some, so should be approached tactfully and with full support provided. This theme was apparent in around 12% of responses.

In conclusion the feedback received from this survey suggests that the majority of respondents found the messaging provided in the Lifelines session(s) to be beneficial and that the learning is being utilised long term, on a regular basis within their roles. This suggests that the Lifelines Scotland programme is effective in creating a mental health informed workforce who are looking after their own mental wellbeing, looking out for others and can support colleagues who have experienced trauma.
Health and Wellbeing Learning, Training and Development - Lifelines Facilitator Programme

Our Lifelines Scotland Facilitator programme continues to progress with more officers and staff undertaking the training to enable officers and staff to facilitate crucial Lifelines resilience, self-care and post trauma support training through a Police Scotland and peer support lens.

We are now moving towards having 110 officers and staff within the organisation who can facilitate Lifelines Scotland sessions within their own areas. We are working closely with Lifelines Scotland colleagues on the quality assurance approval and sign off of the cohort at present. c40% are fully signed off and are now able to deliver Lifelines sessions to our workforce. Next year we aim to develop an annual schedule of Learning, Training and Development (LTD) activity utilising this new capacity. We hope to deliver 50 sessions to 20 participants with a stretch target of reaching 1,000 people. In order to achieve and increase this roll out, project coordination support is needed. This work contributes to our wider aims of improving workforce wellbeing, tackling psychological absence and suicide prevention.

The increased capacity is also allowing us to utilise the facilitators in areas such as probationer training, where we have agreement to include the training within the probationer training schedule. The first delivery of the Lifelines Scotland training will be in July within module 2 for the most recent probationer intake and will be delivered to approximately 200 probationers. The training will also play an integral part of an ongoing CPD programme for our refreshed wellbeing champions network.
Health and Wellbeing Learning, Training and Development - Mental Health Action Plan

We are currently collaborating with colleagues from across the organisation on the development of a workforce mental health action plan. The action plan will consider the insights and focus we have gained from both the independent evaluation of Police Scotland's health and wellbeing programme and the HMICS Frontline Focus – Wellbeing Inspection. The action plan will detail how officers and staff can develop the requisite knowledge and skills to foster good mental health and wellbeing and prevent mental health issues, self-harm or suicide. The plan delineates between those who need to be mental health informed and those who need to be mental health skilled and has a key objective of ensuring that all members of Police Scotland / SPA are mental health informed.

Learning, training and development activity features heavily within the action plan with the Lifelines Scotland facilitator programme very much at the core as we strive to create a mental health informed workforce. This action plan will provide a foundational level of understanding, which aims to make a significant impact in creating the conditions for a mentally healthy workplace.
Learning, Training and Development - People Manager Development Programme (PMDP)

Roll out of the People Manager Development Programme (PMDP) commenced during Q2/Q3 of this year. The programme targets all people managers and includes a dedicated health and wellbeing module and is designed to emphasise the importance of supporting our people and creating a positive workplace. A major part of the module focuses on mental health and the role of the people manager, raising the awareness and understanding of our people managers in how to have supportive conversations, the importance of utilising the preventative measures, how to spot early signs of poor mental health, and what tools they need to engage their people and ask about their health and wellbeing.

The PMDP involves two days of training for people managers. The training has been piloted across CJSD, OSD, LP North, and with a group of superintendents. An evaluation of the pilot displayed some early top line outcomes from the spotlight session which focuses on health and wellbeing:
• Participants are asked to rate the sessions on a scale of 1-10
Health and Wellbeing – 8.35

• Participants are asked whether they feel the content of the sessions are relevant to them and their role.
Health and Wellbeing – 96% Strongly Agree

• Participants are asked whether they will be able to apply the knowledge, skills, and understanding in their day job.
Health and Wellbeing – 96% Strongly Agree
Communications & Engagement - Wellbeing Champions Network

The relaunch of our wellbeing champions network has taken place with a new cohort of champions now in position. We now have c243 wellbeing champions across the force, with a mission to support colleagues’ health and wellbeing. We are striving for a ratio of one champion to 100 employees, with variation in remote and rural areas. This covers staff and officers.

Champions have an agreed four hours per month for champions duties and whilst we have been establishing the new champions into their roles in early 2024 this has been fairly evenly split between direct support for colleagues, wellbeing promotional activity and CPD.

EAP, Police Treatment Centre and Lifelines are the top three services champions signpost to. At present some 30% of respondents report spending one to two hours per month on champions duties, with 18% reporting more than seven hours. We are working with the champions to ensure the balance in activity across the force.

Features of the network now include a Webex channel for the network to communicate and share good practice, an ongoing CPD programme which will initially take the form of Lifelines Scotland training delivered by our own facilitators. We have collaborated with our Learning, Training and Development and See Me colleagues on the development of some bespoke sessions around communication. The champions will also have a new monthly online network check in and a wellbeing champions SharePoint site where they can access information and track their proactive activity. The further development of the network will be supported by the insights and good practice we have gained from both the independent evaluation of Police Scotland's health and wellbeing programme and the HMICS Frontline Focus – Wellbeing Inspection.
Communications & Engagement - Your Wellbeing Matters Intranet

We continue to develop our ‘Your Wellbeing Matters’ space within the intranet with the support of corporate communications. The revamped space, which went live on 1 April to align with the launch of the new contracts, plays a vital role in ensuring our people access the right information and support at the right time. During the development phase of the site we gathered a huge amount of user insights from a variety of stakeholders upon which we based the redesign of the site. This development will continue over the coming months with user testing and insight central to these further developments. We will also work alongside other P&D areas to guarantee uniformity across the department.
Communications & Engagement – Health and Wellbeing Awareness Campaigns

As part of this year’s Carers Week and Disability Awareness Day activities the health and wellbeing team delivered a series of online drop-ins. The sessions, which had over 100 officers and staff in attendance, aimed to prompt thinking around how our people might look after their own health and wellbeing, the daily challenges they face in doing so and how they might overcome these. The team also shared the details of the support available. The session was very much driven by themselves and their willingness to engage and share experiences was fantastic. Some comments shared with the team are provided below:
• “Finding some time to speak with others in a similar position has been helpful”
• “I was part of the wellbeing Teams call. I would be keen to get involved with lived experiences series even though I’m sure my story isn’t that unusual/different.”
• “Would it be possible to have a regular group session/forum in order to allow people to share experiences/advice on processes/support that are out there?”

Mental Health Awareness Week took place during May with the overall theme for 2023 being anxiety. Health and wellbeing worked closely with corporate communications on a series of articles across the week which aimed to inform and empower our officers and staff to take action regarding not only their own mental health but that of those around them. Articles touched on a range of subjects relating to maintaining positive mental health and reminders on where you can get further information and support if you are experiencing negative mental health.

Communications and engagement featured heavily within the findings and recommendation of both the independent evaluation of Police Scotland's health and wellbeing programme and the HMICS Frontline Focus – Wellbeing Inspection, so we must prioritise the development of the strategy and expand what we do in this area.
Communications & Engagement – Operation Support

Guidance and support was provided for operations throughout the year including supporting the completion of impact assessments, which take a holistic look at officer and staff wellbeing and the determinants involved. The assessment enables us to drive a preventative approach and ensure appropriate and timely support is in place.

One of the major events this year was that of Operation Lewintrick. Guidance and support were provided for the UCI Cycling World Championships. Health and wellbeing have supported the operation through the completion of a health and wellbeing operation matrix assessment, ensuring that timely and appropriate health and wellbeing support is in place throughout with key performance indicators created to monitor and evaluate this provision.