The Medigold Memo - Issue 01 - Winter-Spring 2023

Head Designer

Foreword

Copy & Proof

Copy & Curation

Layout & Design

Marketing

Nicole Corr

Alex Goldsmith

Gemma Steel

Jodie Palmer

Annabel Scriven

Mark Rowley

Paula Ayoade

Hello from our CEO!

February often gets a bad rap. The new-year optimism of January has worn off, the cold, wet winter weather is lingering, and spring still seems so far away. Yet while I would normally share in the ill-feeling towards the shortest month in the calendar, this year things are different.

Why? Because February 2023 is a milestone month for Medigold Health, full of fantastic things to celebrate.

First, it sees the launch of our brand new quarterly newsletter, The Medigold Memo, with this jam-packed bumper first issue.

We know from listening to our customers just how important it is to you that we keep you informed about what’s happening both across our business and within the general world of workplace health and wellbeing. We think that this newsletter will provide the perfect platform for us to do just that, enabling us to connect more with with the companies and organisations we serve and giving you the chance to get to know the wonderful people we have working behind the scenes to deliver your occupational health services. We hope it will also allow you to learn more about how we can support you to better look after your employees.

The next page offers just a snapshot of what we’ve got in store for you in this and future issues.

Second, (and I am immensely proud to be able to say this) it sees Medigold Health celebrate our 25th birthday!

Yes, that’s right - we have been supporting the nation’s employers to keep their people in work, safe and well for a quarter of a century.

I’m sure you’ll agree that is really something to shout about, and we’ve got a whole host of exciting events planned to honour our silver anniversary year, as we talk about more in our special feature on page 16.

Here’s a sneak peak of what’s in store on the following pages!

Health Notes

In every issue, we’ll be highlighting opportunities to engage your staff with pertinent health and wellbeing issues, providing information about upcoming national health awareness campaigns and events, and running features offering advice and top tips to share with your teams. Plus, we can also reveal that our Health Awareness Campaigner, Steve Thompson MBE, will be making a regular appearance with his column Tackling Health Head On with Steve Thompson – flip to page 12 to find out more!

Our services under the spotlight

Medigold Health provide an extensive portfolio of specialist health and wellbeing solutions designed to help our clients keep their people in work, safe, and well, so in every newsletter we’ll be shining a spotlight on the different services available to you and the benefits they could bring for your business.

People are at the heart of everything we do

This is where we’ll be introducing to you to the wonderful people who are at the heart of everything we do here at Medigold Health, to help bring our teams to life and help you put a face to the name! It’s our opportunity to recognise our colleagues’ achievements, share their stories and celebrate the amazing things they’ve been doing to support our company, our customers and our communities throughout the year.

Company News

We’ll be keeping you posted on everything that’s been happening across the Medigold Health Group, making sure you stay in the loop on key developments within the business through our company timeline, letting you know about upcoming events and future plans, and sharing our successes.

We really hope you enjoy this first issue and as always, we would love to hear what you think. If you’ve got any feedback, or suggestions about what you’d like to see in future newsletters, do get in touch with us.

last missed. has the same!

22

Our services under the spotlight

This month, the spotlight’s on our Drug & Alcohol Testing and Support Services, brought to you by Hampton Knight and Matrix Diagnostics

12

Meet our Health Awareness Campaigner (and new columnist) Steve Thompson!

We recap on all the work Steve’s been doing over the past year since joining Medigold Health and introduce his new column.

A quick glance back at 2022

What’s been happening across the Medigold Health Group this past year?

Well…a lot! We’ve welcomed many new faces and awarded multiple internal promotions, garnered numerous accreditations and awards, celebrated a lot of achievements and completed a successful acquisition!

March

Welcome aboard Steve!

Former England rugby star Steve Thompson MBE came on board as our new Health Awareness Campaigner.

April Congratulations Nicky!

In April, Nicky Piper took over as our Chief Nursing Officer.

May Congratulations Chantal!

Chantal McDonald was appointed as our new Director of Client Services.

May

Acquired Matrix Diagnostics

Welcoming Matrix’s UKAS-accredited drug and alcohol diagnostic laboratory into the Medigold Health Group was a huge win for us, meaning we are now able to offer our customers a fully end-to-end testing service.

June

Congratulations Jo! Our Operations Director Jo Packer was promoted to Chief Operating Officer.

May

One planet, one goal

We published our first ESG Report as part of our ambitious Environmental, Social and Governance agenda.

Read more

October Congratulations Kent!

We were delighted to see one of our lead OH Physicians, Dr Kent Haworth, step into the role of Chief Medical Officer.

July

Welcome aboard Katie!

We were joined by new Chief People Officer Katie Wery, who now leads our People Function across the Medigold Health Group.

October New accreditation!

We successfully achieved ISO 14001 Environmental Standards accreditation.

October

Let’s Talk Menopause Webinar!

In support of World Menopause Awareness Month, our Chief Nursing Officer Nicky Piper hosted a webinar exploring what employers can do to better support employees going through the menopause.

Watch now

November

Sponsored Northamptonshire Business Excellence Awards

We sponsored the NBEA Employer of the Year Award and helped raise £25,000 to fund treatment for local 10-year old cancer patient Jesse Mansfield.

November Changing the Narrative on Men’s Health Webinar!

This time Nicky Piper teamed up with our OH Physician Dr John Colvin and special guest Steve Thompson to deliver another highly informative and inspiring session looking at how we can help promote better health amongst men by breaking down the barriers that typically prevent them from talking about the key health issues that affect them.

Watch now

Meet our Health Awareness Campaigner (and new columnist!) Steve Thompson!

Backin March last year, we were thrilled to welcome England Rugby Union legend Steve Thompson MBE to the Medigold Health team as our new Health Awareness Campaigner.

Click here to read more about Steve’s appointment as our Health Awareness Campaigner (and why our CEO Alex Goldsmith thought he was the perfect man for the job).

It was a jam-packed 2022 for Steve, as alongside his work with us appearing at the Health and Wellbeing Show and contributing to our Medigold Matters podcast and several of our live health webinars, the former England and Northampton Saints hooker was also busy with his own campaigning, helping to increase awareness of the issues jeopardising player safety in rugby and fighting for the introduction of stricter concussion protocols to reduce the risk of brain injury within the sport.

As part of this, he released both an acclaimed memoir and a hugely powerful and moving BBC documentary, each looking back at his stellar career and bravely recounting the subsequent health struggles he has experienced since being diagnosed with dementia in 2020 aged just 42.

It is therefore with huge delight that we reveal that Steve will be featuring regularly in our future newsletters, with a quarterly column sharing his thoughts on today’s key health issues and passing on his personal tips for how to boost your mental health and wellbeing.

The very first Tackling Health Head On with Steve Thompson segment will be airing in the next issue, so keep your eyes peeled!

Having developed the condition as a direct result of his job, Steve is now passionate about spreading the message to organisations of the importance of looking after and protecting the health of their employees. He is also a staunch advocate for raising the profile of men’s health in general, and particularly men’s mental health, having grappled with his own following his diagnosis.

You can watch Steve’s BBC documentary, “Head On: Rugby, Dementia and Me” now on BBC iPlayer. Click

Friday 10th February was a very special day for Medigold Health, as it marked 25 years since the company was founded by our Life President, Dr Mike Goldsmith, in 1998.

During that time it has gone through a staggering transformation, growing from a small team of five providing management referral assessments and pension medicals from a single site, to a workforce of nearly 700 employees across 65 locations offering an extensive portfolio of occupational health and wellbeing services to over 2.5 million people nationwide.

In 2014, Mike’s son Alex took over the reins as CEO. Under his stewardship, and with the support and investment of the Business Growth Fund, the last nine years have seen Medigold Health undertake a series of highly successful mergers and acquisitions that have allowed us to expand both our service offering and our clinician base, helping us to become one of the leading and most trusted names in the OH industry.

Along the way, we have garnered multiple awards and recognition, being named on the list of 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain three years running (from 2017-2019) and taking home the Big Business of the Year Award at the Northamptonshire Business Excellence Awards (NBEAs) two years in a row (in 2019 and 2020). Alex himself has also been recognised as one of the LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders and NBEA’s Businessman of the Year for 2019.

To commemorate this milestone anniversary, Mike and Alex invited former employees who had been part of the organisation from the beginning, as well as some of our longest-serving current colleagues, to join them for the obligatory cake-cutting ceremony and a celebratory afternoon of

reminiscing at Medigold House, our head office in Queensbridge, Northampton.

Reflecting on the momentous occasion, Alex said “As I look back on the past 25 years and reflect on everything we have achieved as a business, there is so much to be proud of. What undoubtedly brings me the most pride, however, is the fact that even as we have experienced significant growth, we have always managed to retain our ‘family business’ ethos.

We have always understood that our people are what make our business and that they are at the heart of everything we do. I am grateful that we have been able to build and maintain a culture where they really do feel like part of a family and where they feel supported and inspired to achieve their full potential and go that extra mile every day.

I truly believe that translates into the service we deliver to our customers and has been key to our success. Looking to the future, with the passionate people we have behind us, I am certain that the Medigold Health Group will

be able to continue taking bold steps forward, being better than yesterday and succeeding in our mission to ensure every employer across the UK has access to the high-quality health and wellbeing services they so vitally need, now perhaps more than ever before.

Mike Goldsmith added: “It was a real treat to catch up with some of the people who have been such a part of our company’s story. When I first started Medigold Health all that time ago with a vision to help the UK’s employers to better look after their people, I could never have imagined just how successful we would be in making that vision a reality. Despite the changes the business has seen over the years, I’m so happy to see that our dedication to our core mission and our commitment to quality has never wavered. I am incredibly proud of how Alex has carried the business forward over the last decade, shaping it into what it is today and laying the foundations for an even brighter future. Here’s to another 25 years of keeping people in work, safe and well!”

Hear, hear!

Here’s how we’re toasting our silver anniversary year...

• We’ll soon be rolling out our 25th Birthday commemorative logo, which you’ll see popping up on our website, communications and social media through the year.

• We’re also recording a Carpool Karaoke-style interview (thankfully without the singing!) with Mike and Alex Goldsmith, as they look back on the last 25 years of Medigold Health and share their insights on what it takes to run a successful business and the future of the Occupational Health industry.

• We’ve got lots of 25th birthday themed content planned for our social media channels, including lots of fun facts and trivia, plus a series featuring past and present members of the Medigold Health family sharing their stories of working with us and chatting about how things have changed within the business over the years.

...we do hope you’ll come along for the ride!

It’s National Heart Month – time to show your heart some

love!

With today marking Valentine’s Day, love hearts are everywhere right now, and they’re a great reminder that February is also National Heart Month.

Led by the British Heart Foundation, Heart Month is an annual campaign to get people thinking more about heart health and how they can reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), a general term for conditions that affect the heart or blood vessels, such as coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke.

The shocking stats

• There are currently around 7.6 million people in the UK living with heart and circulatory diseases.

• 1 in 2 of us will experience a heart or circulatory condition during our lifetime.

• Around 48,000 people under the age of 75 die from heart and circulatory diseases each year in the UK.

• CVD costs the UK economy an estimated £19 billion each year.

• Around 1 in 4 strokes in the UK occur in people of working age and stroke is the single biggest cause of severe disability.

Cardiovascular

disease (CVD) is one of the main causes of death and disability in the UK, but the good news is that it is largely preventable. Here, we share some of the main risk factors for developing CVD and the simple lifestyle changes you can make to reduce them.

Risk factor: High blood pressure and cholesterol

High blood pressure (or hypertension) can cause significant damage to your blood vessels and is one of the most important risk factors for CVD - around 50 per cent of heart attacks and strokes in the UK are attributed to high BP.

Having high cholesterol can also increase your risk of CVD if left untreated, leading to a build up of fatty deposits in your blood vessels which can cause them to narrow, increasing the chances of you developing a blood clot.

Reduce your risk: Know your numbers

Both high blood pressure and high cholesterol can be easily treated, but because neither cause symptoms, many people are unaware that they’re at risk. It’s estimated that 6-8 million individuals are living with undiagnosed or uncontrolled high blood pressure. Getting tested is therefore really important.

If you’re over 40, you may be eligible for a free NHS health check every five years, which includes a blood pressure and cholesterol test. So, make sure you attend when invited. (You can

find out more about what the health check involves and how to book yours here).

You can also request a blood pressure or cholesterol check at any time via your GP if you’re concerned yours might be high. Alternatively, you may be able to have both checks done via your local pharmacy, at your gym, health club or leisure centre, or through your workplace, so it’s worth asking if they offer them for free.

Risk factor: Being overweight or physically inactive

Being overweight or obese and not being sufficiently active are also key risk factors for CVD, as well as other diseases (such as type 2 diabetes) that can further increase your chance of developing heart and circulatory conditions.

You may be more at risk if:

• you are sedentary most of the time (i.e., you sit or lie down for long periods of time during the day)

• your body mass index (BMI) is 25 or above

• your waist measurement is more than 94cm (about 37 inches) if you’re a man, or more than 80cm (about 31.5 inches) if you’re a woman

• you have a waist to height ratio higher than 0.5.

You can find out how to work out your BMI, waist measurement and waist to height ratio here.

Reduce your risk: Get moving and give your diet a healthy overhaul

Increasing the amount of physical activity you do will help to both strengthen and protect your heart and reduce your blood pressure and cholesterol. When combined with a sensible diet, it will also help you to maintain a healthy weight and prevent the build-up of harmful fat in your blood vessels and around your organs.

Working age adults should build up to doing at least 150 minutes of moderate activity every week (that’s anything that raises your heart rate and makes you breathe faster and feel warmer). But there’s no need to sign up for an expensive gym membership. Whether it’s trying out a free online workout or a new dance class, being a bit more vigorous with the housework or gardening, marching up and down the stairs during the tv ad breaks, or going for a 20 minute walk every lunch time, the key is to simply find ways to start moving more every day. It’s also important to always go at the right pace and intensity for you and to pick activities that you enjoy and that fit your lifestyle – that way you’re more likely to stick with it.

And when it comes to diet, it’s all about making small but healthy changes you can sustain. You don’t have to cut out all your favourite treats, but try to have some balance and add in more of the good stuff. That could mean giving comfort food dishes a healthy twist by adding in more veg or choosing wholegrain options where you can, replacing your sweet afternoon

snack with a piece of fruit a few days a week, or having one or two fewer takeaways per month. Remember, before making any drastic changes to your diet or exercise regime, it may be a good idea to speak with your GP first.

Risk factor: Smoking and drinking alcohol

The chemicals contained in cigarettes can cause serious damage to your heart and blood vessels and contribute to the build-up of harmful plaque in your arteries. Meanwhile, excessive consumption of alcohol (above the recommended limit of 14 units a week) can lead to high blood pressure and weight gain, both of which increase your risk of developing CVD.

Reduce your risk: Quit smoking and reset your relationship with alcohol

Stopping smoking and reducing the amount you drink is one of the best things you can do to improve your heart health. There is lots of free advice and support available to help you do both – simply speak to your GP or visit the below websites to find out more:

Quit smoking - Better

Tips for cutting downAlcohol Change UK

Health - NHS

For more information on how to keep your heart as healthy as possible, check out the British Heart Foundation website.

Our services under the spotlight

Medigold Health deliver a whole host of specialist health and wellbeing solutions designed to help our clients keep their people in work, safe, and well, so in every newsletter we’ll be shining a spotlight on the different brands, products and services available to you and exploring the multiple benefits they can bring for your business.

We thought we’d kick off the series with our Drug & Alcohol Testing and Support Services. Substance misuse and addiction can affect anyone, and it can have huge repercussions in the workplace, putting employee health, safety and wellbeing at risk and negatively impacting on productivity and performance. We think it’s important to adopt a holistic approach to managing this issue and that’s why we offer a complete, end-to-end service, providing:

Policy review and awareness training

We’ll help you to develop a robust policy that complies with all current health and safety, employment and data protection legislation and equips your managers with clear procedures to help them initiate an appropriate response should an employee be suspected of breaching the policy or seek support for an alcohol or drug problem. We can also provide awareness training to educate your managers and employees on the risks and signs of substance misuse and their responsibilities and obligations under your policy.

Drug & alcohol testing and competency training

We offer the full remit of testing services to help promote compliance with your alcohol and drug policy, including random annual testing programmes and a 24/7 for-cause call-out service. Numbering over 100 collection technicians, our testing network is one of the largest in the UK, meaning we can support you wherever you are, whenever you need us. Alternatively, we can provide you with high quality testing kits and CPD-accredited competency training on all testing procedures if you’d prefer to conduct your own testing in-house.

UKAS-accredited lab analysis and reporting

Having an accredited in-house laboratory means we can take care of the entire testing process for you, from collection right through to analysis and reporting, ensuring the highest standards of accuracy and maximum efficiency.

Counselling and support services

Our counselling services allow you to fulfil your duty of care to protect the wellbeing of your employees and ensure that any member of staff who is struggling with an alcohol or drug problem or dependency is offered appropriate treatment and support.

To learn more about all of these services and how they could help your organisation, click here to visit our website, or get in touch with our expert team.

This month, the spotlight’s on our Drug & Alcohol Testing and Support Services, brought to you by Hampton Knight and Matrix Diagnostics

WATCH THE WEBINAR

Looking for some general advice on how to confidently handle difficult conversations with employees about suspected alcohol and drug misuse? Watch our recent webinar, where our Chief People Officer, Katie Wery, and our Drug & Alcohol Awareness Trainer, James Clark, discuss how to navigate this tricky topic in the workplace.

Want to be the first to know when we announce our next webinar? Click the link below to be added to our webinar mailing list!

People are at the hear t of everything we do

In every issue, we’ll be introducing you to some of the brilliant people we have working here at Medigold Health and sharing some of the highlights from our popular Staff Stories social media series.

From helping to promote awareness of issues and causes that are close to their hearts, to fundraising for fantastic charities and doing their bit for the community, our colleagues certainly have been a busy bunch!

Natalie Betts IT Support Engineer

Shared her experience of living with dyspraxia to raise awareness for Dyspraxia

Week

“Whilst generally I can manage quite well at work, sometimes I can find I am affected by my dyspraxia. However, I am very fortunate to have great support within Medigold Health.”

Dan Reet Senior Account Manager

Celebrated the league win in May of Pilsley FC U14s Boys Team (which he manages in his spare time)

“I am so happy for the lads. They so deserved to be named league champions, not least because of all their hard work and training they put in this season, but also because of the incredible sportsmanship they continually demonstrate as a group. I couldn’t be prouder to be their coach and I couldn’t be more thankful to Medigold Health for their continued sponsorship of the team.”

Matty Foy Occupational Health Technician

Contributed to our Remembrance Day feature

“I previously served in the British Army regular service for over 26 years and am now an Army Reservist, so Remembrance Day has a very special place in my heart and is hugely important to me.

It is an honour to stand alongside former soldiers and civilians from across the country as we gather to remember the fallen, the young men and women who sacrificed so much for our great country.”

Dolores Valentine Client Services Team Manager

Shared her thoughts on the importance of Black History Month

“To me, Black History Month is about acknowledging and celebrating black men, women, non binary, trans and disabled people.”

Alex Goldsmith CEO of Medigold Health

Contributed to our Men’s Health Awareness Month blog article

“On both a personal and professional level, I’m really keen to champion this topic. My role can place significant demands on my mental and physical health and in order to do it as best I can, I need to be aware of my state of health.”

Sarah Horn Secretariat Administrator

Shared her story for Breast Cancer Awareness Week

“I have worked at Medigold Health for ten years now and a major reason why I would not consider working anywhere else is that I will be forever thankful for the love, help and support I received from my Medigold family through one of the worst times of my life after I discovered I had breast cancer following a routine mammogram.

I want to plead with every woman to go for her mammogram. It may be a little embarrassing, but my lump was in my chest wall and even the Consultant could not feel it and it would not have been found so early without a mammogram. I was so “lucky” they were able to treat me and now I am cancer free and here to tell the tale.”

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Coffee break corner

The cost of living is rising at its fastest rate for 30 years and, with the continued hike in energy prices and food and fuel costs soaring, many of us will be starting to feel the pinch. Here, we share some tips for how you can get on top of your finances:

All about the bills

Take some time to go through your accounts so you know exactly how much you’re spending against how much you have coming in. Cancel any unnecessary subscriptions, then make a budget.

Ensure you factor in all essential bills for rent, utilities and annual expenses like insurance, as well as your food shop, and set aside the money to pay for these as soon as you get paid.

Start an emergency fund

Once you know how much you’ve got leftover once bills are covered, set up a standing order for a fixed amount to go into your savings account. Even just a small amount put away each month will soon start to add up and will mean you have money available to cover any unplanned costs if the unexpected happens.

Get thrifty

Now your savings and bills are covered, whatever is left is your disposable income, your ‘fun money’. If there isn’t much, have a look at how you can cut back in other areas to free up more cash. Could you swap your daily meal deal for a packed lunch, indulge in one or two less takeaways a month, or cycle to work instead of driving to reduce travel costs?

Seek professional financial advice

If you are struggling to manage your money, consider seeking professional financial or debt-management advice. This is often provided through workplace Employee Assistance Programmes, so if your employer offers this support service, contact them.

Alternatively, get in touch with your local Citizens Advice or call debt charity Step Change .

Get in touch

We hope you enjoyed this first issue of The Medigold Memo and that you’ll look forward to the next one! In the meantime, you can stay in the loop with what’s happening across the Medigold Health Group via our social channels.

Interested in learning more about what we can do for your business? Get in touch!