In a year wherein both are celebrating 50th anniversaries of their founding, RCPI Faculty of Public Health Medicine and RCPI Faculty of Occupational Medicine held a joint conference at No. 6 Kildare Street, on 25 September.
In a welcome by both faculty deans, Dr Alex Reid of Occupational Medicine outlined how the past 50 years saw much of the country’s working population transition from “life jobs” in once-dominant sectors to the current era of portfolio careers and working-from-home, while Dr Kevin Kelleher reminded that great studies in epidemiology in Public Health Medicine were conducted around industry.
During an opening address, Dr Mary Horgan (interim Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health) reflected on the displays of collaboration seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Nowhere better than the pandemic to see occupational health and public health in action. My abiding memory was the rollout of the vaccine, delivered by public health with the help of occupational health,” she said.
In updates from their specialties, Dr Abigail O’Reilly (occupational medicine physician, HSE Dublin and Midlands) shared advocacy ongoing in Ireland, a jurisdiction where there is no legal framework for universal access to occupational healthcare, while Dr Chris Carroll (public health medicine physician, HSE Public Health) shared current work updating defining “equity stratifiers” in HSE public health policy to improve measurement and comparison of health inequalities between different social groups.
From the Society of Occupational Medicine UK, Dr Nick Pahl shared work done so far to advocate for universal access to occupational healthcare in that jurisdiction, and tactics used to try change policy, such as building a compelling evidence base, framing occupational healthcare as a productivity and growth solution, and using economic arguments and case studies.
The results of a 2024 European survey asking workers about job quality was shared by Barbara Gerstenberger from the EU agency Eurofound. The survey found that levels of work intensity are increasing, and that that there is high prevalence of prolonged sitting 75 per cent of the time at work.
A focus on Finland, where universal access to occupational healthcare was enshrined in law in 1978, was provided by Prof Jorma Rantanen (occupational health scientist, University of Helsinki Department of Public Health). He provided a picture of the current landscape, where there are six regional occupational health hubs in the country, and employers responsible for occupational health provision can avail of reimbursement.
Prof Rantanen said the impact of Finland’s occupational health policy can be seen in prevention of workplace accidents (80% decrease since the late 1970s) and decline in incidences of disability pensions among workers. He did identify some weaknesses that persist in the Finnish system, including gaps in coverage among self-employed, small and medium-sized enterprises, and farmers.
For a final word, Dr Rachel McNamara (Higher Specialist Training in Public Health Medicine trainee) put into the context of forthcoming decades and projected demographic changes, that an expanded workforce will need to thrive and self-sustain in order to preserve Ireland’s public health.