DR MAX PEMBERTON: Why we can't expect Kate to get back to 'normal' any time soon
It affects every aspect of your life, not just your health. Thankfully, more of us are surviving what was once a dire prognosis, however recovery time does take much longer than people anticipate. And it's not always an easy ride.
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Work-life balance: why quality data and personal development tools are crucial for employee wellbeing
Employers have long recognised that promoting wellness and helping employees achieve a good work-life balance are key to business success. Staff who have a healthy work-life balance tend to be happier, more engaged and more productive. They take less time off sick and they stick around longer because they enjoy their jobs. Moreover, companies that are known for this tend to become employers of choice and attract the best staff, creating a virtuous circle. But while many businesses strive to promote employee wellbeing, the area is in a state of flux and uncertainty, leaving many employers and HR professionals unsure about how best to approach it. Problems can be difficult to pin down, and the effectiveness of interventions can be hard to measure. For one thing, recent upheavals to typical working practices have prompted a host of fresh challenges and workplace stresses – from managing hybrid teams to knock-on effects on staff engagement and a sense of belonging. Likewise, there are still many lingering bad habits from the pandemic-related lockdowns, when work and life seemed to merge. One example is an always-on culture. When people worked from home, they would often reply to emails at 10pm because there were no boundaries between work and life. But this isn't desirable, either for the business or its employees. The accelerating pace of new technologies can present further challenges. For instance, wellness programmes devised three years ago may not factor in the impacts of AI. So what are some of the best ways to ensure a mentally and physically healthy workplace, one where staff want to be and deliver good work because they're happy? Lampros Sekliziotis, a product leader at software company Sage, says data plays a key role. 'If you spot a problem based on insights from the data, you can target it.' This might be through training or it might be flagging wellness initiatives. Both these can be targeted to individuals. Employee pulse surveys – short, quick surveys that are sent to employees on a regular basis – have long been particularly useful for gathering insights, says Sekliziotis. 'You could ask: 'Are you aware of the various wellness initiatives that we have?'' Alternatively, he says, data around holidays, timekeeping, and job satisfaction might suggest 'the company isn't as good as we think in terms of life balance'. Again, interventions can be targeted, and their effectiveness can be measured. Pulse surveys are one of the features built into Sage People, an all-in-one HR and payroll solution. Another key part of wellness is a feeling of personal fulfilment and life progression. HR systems have therefore been extending their capabilities and offerings to help businesses nurture a more fulfilled, happy and productive workforce. For example, micro-learning platforms can give employees all the joy of gaining new skills and knowledge in their own time and at their own pace without them feeling overwhelmed. One such offering is Uptime, a learning and personal development app that Sage offers to its customers. Kate Travers, principal solutions consultant at Sage, explains how Uptime can help: 'This has been designed to help users absorb key insights from books and podcasts, documentaries and courses, but all filtered down into just five-minute chunks.' It taps into the way people use streaming platforms to pick and choose the content they consume. 'It's designed to provide user engagement through learning, combining smart technology with a people-first approach.' Another way Sage's platform can be used to improve wellness and ensure a good work-life balance is by providing a single point-of-entry for employees. This is important because properly promoting wellness and wellbeing can be an extremely wide-ranging and holistic undertaking. After all, wellness takes in areas ranging from time management and job satisfaction to engagement and office design. For example, what kinds of new training needs should HR identify to help people upskill and reskill? How can office spaces be better planned to best suit employees who haven't been in the office for years, or who are reluctant to return? What provisions should be made for staff to improve their commutes? Do employees feel like they're doing meaningful work? Do they feel empowered and in control of their work and careers? And how can you keep them better engaged and informed? This is why good businesses now realise that work-life balance and wellness need to be baked into the company ethos and mission rather than just an afterthought. And it also means that wellness tools should be easily accessible and seamlessly integrated into the wider workplace experience. Steve Watmore, HR and payroll product manager at Sage, says familiarity with an app can be a huge help here. 'If you use a platform or an app regularly, you're always in that space, and anything else that happens within that app is engagement,' he says. The more that people use these apps, the better they know them and the better they become at leveraging their resources. Staff soon start to view these tools as places they can go to not just for information but for personal growth and development, and that can be very empowering. 'It becomes a real focal point for employees,' says Watmore. 'We see that within the Sage People app and we've seen that with the Sage People platform.' Giving people the right tools is a huge part of fostering engagement. Staff feel happy when they're in control and making their own decisions. This perhaps shows us where the thinking about wellness is going next. In the past, you might have provided some wellness initiatives, but now you have more of a smorgasbord of wellness-related initiatives, ranging from distraction-free zones to cycle parking and illness policies to mental health support. You offer them to employees, but staff make the choices themselves, and are all the happier and empowered for it. Discover more about the importance of a work-life balance and employee wellbeing
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
How you can prolong your life and protect yourself from dementia with these very simple steps - as bombshell new study makes stunning discovery: ROB GALLOWAY
We've all heard it many times before – to get healthier, you need to do 30 minutes of strenuous exercise at least five times a week. I know, maddening if you feel this is beyond you: I see patients' frustration with this advice all the time in A&E.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE NHS plot to fly hundreds of drones a week over Kensington Palace, Hyde Park and Oxford Circus branded 'crazy' by worried Londoners scared they might CRASH or cause disruption
An NHS plan to fly drones over popular London hotspots has been branded 'crazy' by worried locals who are scared the aircraft may crash. The health service are looking to use the drones to deliver urgent blood samples between 12 hospitals across London after a six-month trial period at Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals. The proposals could see the aircraft range as far as Wimbledon in the city's south west, to Chadwell Heath in the east, with the aim of cutting costs and reducing delays in delivering the vital samples by beating busy road congestion. Apian, the logistics company who would deploy the drones and oversee the flights, say they have provided more than 6,000 urgent supplies since their trial period started last November. The company's website says this has shown 'the capability to make faster, more reliable and more sustainable deliveries than traditional land-based modes of transport'. They add that their trialled deliveries to the rooftops of Guy's and St Thomas' would have taken more than 30 minutes by road, but that they have been able to deliver them in just two minutes by drone. But as the NHS look to expand the services across the city, locals in some of the affected areas are divided at the prospect of having the drones buzz in the overhead airspace. While some praised it as a 'clever idea', others claimed it could potentially cause harmful accidents. Natasha McCluney, 59, who works as a courier across Kensington, said: 'I really can't see that working. It all feels a bit too sci-fi to me. 'It doesn't feel like that's been trialled enough – and I can just imagine the drones crashing. I can't imagine the people living here would love things flying over their heads all day either. 'If it helps with the speed of those tests I'm all for progress – but blood samples feel like a really important thing to be transporting. So it makes me a bit nervous.' Renee Dawkins, 23, who works near High Street Kensington, said 'it feels strange to not have something as important as blood samples in human hands'. She added: 'That being said, if it's more efficient, it makes sense to go for it. And I can imagine it would be a good cost-cutting measure if you don't have to employ lots of drivers to transport samples. 'But I imagine it might be disruptive. Will they have cameras? Will they be flying over people's houses? That's a concern.' The safety of drone blood transportation was tested last year when NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) used Apian aircrafts to send 10 blood packs from Northumbria Hospital to Alnwick Infirmary and back again. Five were delivered by drone while the other five were by transported road, and the researchers concluded that using the aircraft did not influence the blood's quality or how long it lasted. NHSBT Chief Medical Officer, Dr Gail Miflin, said the results were 'very promising' after the drone delivered the packs on the 42-mile journey in 61 minutes, while the vehicle on road took 68 minutes. The safety of drone blood transportation was tested last year when NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) used Apian aircrafts to send 10 blood packs (above) from Northumbria Hospital to Alnwick Infirmary and back again On top of the existing link between Guy's and St Thomas', the new plans would see drone pathways link Charing Cross Hospital, Great Ormond Street Hospital, University College Hospital and the Royal Free Hospital, if approved. Queen Mary's Hospital, St George's Hospital and the Nelson Health Centre would also be linked south of the River Thames. And a third zone in east London would link King George Hospital, Queen's Hospital and Barking Hospital. This means the drones could fly over places like Kensington Palace, Hyde Park and Oxford Circus. Kensington local Ben Vitalis, 26, said the strategy was a good way to 'modernise' health services and speed up transportation – but thought that issues such as the unpredictable British weather had been overlooked. Mr Vitalis said: 'I'm surprised by this being part of the flight path as it is a relatively residential area. 'I appreciate that the strategy could help modernise things and improve the running of services – especially in terms of beating congestion when it's vans and cars transporting samples. 'But I also foresee a lot of potential problems. Who will be in charge of the drones? How skilled are these drivers? 'And what about the weather? Will the drones manage in the rain or the fog? What about visibility? British weather isn't known for being the most reliable.' Apian's website says the drones can fly in bad weather 'up to a point', adding that they have been used for deliveries in the mixed climates such as Australia, Finland and Ireland. It adds: 'If the weather is so extreme that flights are not possible, the deliveries will be made via existing ground-transport options.' Barry Gerber, 55, lives near Hyde Park and praised the idea, saying: 'I think that's a good idea. I have no problem with that. Especially if it's going to help people be treated quicker. 'As long as they're not flying too low I can't foresee them being that disruptive. And I imagine if they're transporting medical supplies, these drones will be larger, and so they'll be higher up. 'As long as drones aren't being used to spy on people – I have no issue.' Apian say any cameras on the drones are used for the delivery of packages, not for taking any photographs. They say: '[The drones are] equipped with low-resolution, black-and-white camera sensors used primarily to assist with navigation and to help ensure the safety and reliability of our operations. 'There is no live feed of images available to anyone - including the pilots overseeing flights.' Virginia O'Connor, 70, who used to live in the UK but now lives in the US, was also positive about the plans on her visit back to London. She said: 'I think that sounds like a really clever idea. London is so congested – so that will really help with speed of transport. 'It's an effective way to use that technology. I don't think they're doing anything like that in the States.' Fereshteh Guillon, who lives across from Holland Park, feared any noise from the drones would be 'disruptive'. She said: 'Already, when I'm sitting in my conservatory, it's really noisy - with planes flying over every few minutes. Now I'm going to have to deal with drones as well? Virginia O'Connor (left) used to live in the UK but now lives in the US and was positive about the plans on her visit back to London 'I don't mind if it's going to help the hospitals - but they should have soundproof drones. Surely that's possible. It also depends on the time of day. If it's at night that will be very disruptive.' Ms Guillon was also upset that locals who live along the flight paths had not been warned about the plans. She said: 'Why were there no consultations for this? They didn't ask any of us in the neighbourhood. I didn't receive any letters. They should inform people of these plans before they go ahead with them.' Apian told MailOnline that the plans are in 'early stages' and are being developed in co-ordination with the Civil Aviation Authority. They also said there will be an opportunity for local stakeholders, including residents, councils and businesses to have their say. A spokesperson added: 'As reported previously, we are excited to build on our successful work in London. 'Safety is our top priority. Apian works with industry-leading drone operators who have safely completed millions of deliveries worldwide. Every flight is monitored by a qualified pilot and backed by multiple layers of redundancy. This approach is helping us transform healthcare delivery through autonomous logistics technology.' MailOnline has approached NHS England for comment. Apian told MailOnline that the plans are in 'early stages' and are being developed in co-ordination with the Civil Aviation Authority NHS England announced their first trial of the delivery service in July 2022, where they tested Apian drone transportation of chemotherapy drugs. These were flown from Portsmouth to a hospital on the Isle of Wight in 30 minutes, down from the four hours it normally takes by conventional transport. Chief Executive of NHS England, Amanda Pritchard, announced the pilot as the health service marked its 74th birthday. She said moving to drone technology would also be good for the environment by cutting carbon emissions from cars, ferries and planes. Boots Pharmacy then followed suit, announcing that it would be the first community pharmacy in the UK to deliver prescription medicines by an Apian drone. The pharmacy's first drone flew from the British Army's Baker Barracks on Thorney Island and arrived at St Mary's Hospital in Newport on the Isle of Wight on July 4, 2022.
