Latest / The SOM Podcast / SOM NEWS UPDATE - OCTOBER 2026

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SOM NEWS UPDATE - OCTOBER 2026 · The SOM Podcast

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  Speaker 1: This podcast is sponsored by Orchid Live. Find out more
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  Speaker 1: at orchidlive.com. Here's your SOM News Update for October 2026.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Steve Randall. Time's running out to enter the SOM
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  Speaker 1: Occupational Health Awards, showcasing OH and demonstrating its value to
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  Speaker 1: organisations and the wider community. There are nine categories, but
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  Speaker 1: you'll need to be quick to enter, as the deadline
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  Speaker 1: is Monday 2nd November. You'll find the link in the
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  Speaker 1: show notes. Winners will be announced at our Christmas drinks
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  Speaker 1: reception at the Royal College of Physicians London on Tuesday
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  Speaker 1: 8th December. And again, you'll find a link to book
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  Speaker 1: your tickets. MUSIC Coming up in November, SOM's Scottish group ASM,
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  Speaker 1: the Future of Work and Health, Friday 20th November, and
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  Speaker 1: the RCN and SOM OH Nursing Conference 2026 on Friday 27th.
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  Speaker 1: And the SOM special interest groups will be busy, OH
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  Speaker 1: in TV, film and media on Monday 2nd, SOM Portfolio
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  Speaker 1: Support Group on Thursday 5th, Mining on Tuesday 24th, Neurodiversity
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  Speaker 1: on Tuesday 24th, Functional Assessment on Wednesday 25th, Drugs and
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  Speaker 1: Alcohol on Monday 30th, and occupational health technicians on Monday 30th.
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  Speaker 1: Around 300,000 people drop out of work in Britain every
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  Speaker 1: year because of ill health, but government-backed plans say acting
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  Speaker 1: within days could stop that happening. A major review update,
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  Speaker 1: Keep Britain Working, a national growth opportunity, warns that once
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  Speaker 1: someone leaves a job due to sickness, their chances of
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  Speaker 1: returning fall to under 4%. Under new proposals, bosses would
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  Speaker 1: hold health check-ins within five days of a problem arising...
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  Speaker 1: to agree practical adjustments before illness becomes long-term absence. Experts
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  Speaker 1: say getting it right could boost the UK economy by
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  Speaker 1: tens of billions of pounds. Want to get involved in
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  Speaker 1: the peer review process for OM? Being a reviewer can
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  Speaker 1: be a highly rewarding experience, particularly for early career professionals.
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  Speaker 1: You'll also be contributing to protecting the integrity of published
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  Speaker 1: scientific literature. The journal runs a biannual reviewers' training workshop,
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  Speaker 1: and candidates from around the world are welcome. Interested? Just
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  Speaker 1: email omj at som.org.uk. Occupational Therapy Week, hosted by the
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  Speaker 1: Royal College of Occupational Therapists, takes place from the 2nd
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  Speaker 1: to the 8th of November. With this year's theme, Participation
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  Speaker 1: Changes Everything, focusing on how enabling participation supports health, wellbeing
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  Speaker 1: and everyday life. There'll be a special episode of the
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  Speaker 1: SOM podcast to tie in with the week. Joanna Vallum-Smith,
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  Speaker 1: Professional Advisor for Health and Work at the Royal College
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  Speaker 1: of Occupational Therapists. is joined by experienced OTs, Lisa Harrison
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  Speaker 1: and Emily Kenworthy. Together, they explore how OTs contribute to
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  Speaker 1: OH teams, specifically focusing on management referrals. The conversation highlights
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  Speaker 1: new joint guidance published by SOM and RCOT that outlines
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  Speaker 1: the vast scope of OT practice in workplace settings. Here's
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  Speaker 1: a taste of what's to come.
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  Speaker 2: Could I ask you both to explain from your perspectives
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  Speaker 2: when and how occupational therapists might do a management referral?
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  Speaker 3: We get management referrals in on the complex end of
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  Speaker 3: a person's health conditions and the disruptions to their daily
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  Speaker 3: life and their work abilities from occupational health providers. And
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  Speaker 3: we also get a real wide range of referrals, some complex,
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  Speaker 3: some more simple, directly from businesses or via HR professionals.
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  Speaker 3: So there can be lots of breadth to the conditions
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  Speaker 3: that we are trying to support people to manage in
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  Speaker 3: their work environments.
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  Speaker 4: So as part of the NHS, we can get referrals
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  Speaker 4: from multiple trusts that we support regarding that. So it
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  Speaker 4: might be when someone is either at work and struggling
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  Speaker 4: due to an injury or an obstacle or an underlying
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  Speaker 4: health condition or is at risk of going off sick,
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  Speaker 4: but also to support staff to return to work following
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  Speaker 4: sickness or an injury or a reason they've been absent
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  Speaker 4: from work.
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  Speaker 1: Check out that episode in the same place you're listening
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  Speaker 1: to this one. And our most recent mini-CPD podcast episode
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  Speaker 1: covers Z-scores, a measure of lung health which, despite being
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  Speaker 1: recommended in several professional guidelines, still has low adoption within OH.
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  Speaker 1: Rebecca Burton told me why the long-established spirometry metric using
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  Speaker 1: percentages may be missing underlying issues.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we've got to be very careful at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: The Health and Safety Executive, as you probably know, have
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  Speaker 2: got a massive push on respirable silica.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, something we've covered on this podcast.
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  Speaker 3: Exactly.
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  Speaker 2: And that is really, obviously within spirometry, that's really important
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  Speaker 2: that we're making sure that, you know, you might have
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  Speaker 2: young workers who have been working with this stuff for
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  Speaker 2: quite a long time who might have been exposed. You're
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  Speaker 2: doing a spirometry and you go, no, it's right. They
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  Speaker 2: blew above 70%. But actually, that's just that fixed cutoff.
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  Speaker 2: What you're not doing is comparing that to other people
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  Speaker 2: of their age, height and sex at birth, because potentially,
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  Speaker 2: you know, you might see a difference there.
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  Speaker 1: SOM members get all the news first in the e-news
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  Speaker 1: email and remember to catch up with our other podcast
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  Speaker 1: episodes in the same place you're listening to this one.
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  Speaker 1: They include Special Interest Group, Occupational Therapist and Mini CPD series.
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  Speaker 1: And until next time, thanks for listening to the SOM
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  Speaker 1: News Update. This podcast is sponsored by Orchid Live. Orchid
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  Speaker 1: Live is a specialist occupational health software used by a
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  Speaker 1: number of SOM members to run every aspect of their
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  Speaker 1: occupational health operations. They hold healthcare records for over 1
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  Speaker 1: million UK workers and work with both in-house OH teams
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  Speaker 1: and OH providers. You can find out more at orchidlive.com.