Does your health screening service communicate results in ways that work for men and women?
Although it may not seem like much, offering on-site health screenings to your staff can have a massive impact on their overall health and wellbeing. Recent studies found that around 20% of people haven’t visited their GP for over a year, and only 24% of eligible adults said they would attend their NHS health check when invited, as they felt doing so was a burden to NHS resources when they perceive themselves as fit and healthy. Workplace health screenings can help to bridge that gap between official check-ups with GPs.
Supporting greater access to healthcare
Not only are health screenings a great way to offer your employees healthcare support between GP visits, you may also be helping your staff access healthcare in ways you hadn’t predicted.
Many trans and non-binary people avoid making and attending medical appointments due to negative experiences with healthcare professionals. The 2018 LGBT in Britain Health Report, jointly conducted by Stonewall and YouGov, revealed that 40% of trans people have struggled to access appropriate healthcare because of their gender identity. A further 37% went on to say they actively avoid seeking medical treatment out of fear of discrimination.
A non-biased health-focussed health screening provided by an employer can be a massive support for trans and non-binary staff members, who otherwise would not have had their health checked.
Ensuring everyone’s health needs are met
When organising health screenings we tend to think about the health needs of our staff in general terms – such as will they check for diabetes, or check everyone’s cholesterol and blood pressure? But how often do we think about whether they’ll look for gender-specific health issues? The guess is not very often.
Here are a few things to think about before you book your next workplace health screening:
- Ask what provisions they make for gender-specific health issues, and if they offer gender-specific add-ons for further tests (in addition to testing for general health conditions). See how the practitioner supports employees during their check – will they explain what each test is, what it tests for, and what that means for the employee’s health in a way that’s easy-to-understand?
- Check whether or not the health screening provider will take the time to communicate the higher risks of certain conditions between men and women, such as women being at a higher risk of developing osteoporosis or men being at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, and what that could mean for them.
How are the results delivered, and do they highlight and explain gender-specific risks?
When it comes to receiving the screening results themselves, look into whether your employees will all receive the same report, or if they’ll be provided with separate reports depending on their gender.
Once employees receive their results, how will they be presented? Will they receive a personalised report, or will they just receive a list of tests with generic responses as opposed to a scale of risk? If the employee receives a more in-depth personalised report, how will the information be presented to them? Will the reports provide additional context to the results?
For example, your male employees may receive a report that discusses the results of a prostate disease test. Will the report include what was checked for, how they check for it, and what that means for the employee?
Looking after employees’ long-term health
It’s generally understood that having happy, healthy employees leads to improved productivity across the workforce. So, as an employer it’s part of your duty of care to ensure that your employees’ needs are met and looked after during their health screening. Offering employees professional treatment within the convenience of their own workplace with professionals who can put them at ease and take care of them, not only looks after your employees’ health, but allows you the flexibility to provide the health screening over several days, causing minimal disruption to the working day.
The demand for employer-led healthcare is increasing, and employees show more loyalty to employers who they feel actually care about their health wellbeing, according Vitality’s Healthy Hybrid report (2021).
When you offer health screenings, you encourage employees to undertake regular health checks and help to equip them with the knowledge of how to look after their health in the long-term, should anything be raised during their health screening.
This article is provided by Health Shield.
In partnership with Health Shield
At Health Shield we're passionate about improving people's everyday health.
