Supporting employee health at Pet’s Choice

Blackburn with Darwen’s Health and Wellbeing Team partnered with Pet’s Choice Manufacturing in Blackburn to offer free health checks to employees in their workplace. The aim was to provide staff with an opportunity to explore and understand their current health status and receive personalised and confidential advice in their own workplace. This preventative approach can help to avoid future doctor’s appointments during work time. 

The trained professional health coaches visited for a day and was invited back for a further five days providing bookable one-to-one appointments. Since then, they have supported the business with their healthy eating week and connected them with the local primary care team to offer prostate cancer checks (finger-prick blood test) in the mobile health and wellbeing van. 

Adele Langford, Pet's Choice quality and systems manager, said: "It's been beneficial for me that the company are looking after us and our wellbeing. As I'm getting older, I found it really useful to know where I'm at and what I need to focus on. For example, through my Health Check I found out that my cholesterol was high, so I managed to get to the doctors early and get the advice I needed.

"Everyone has been talking about their results and found it really interesting, and it's encouraged others to get their check done too. It's been good to know that Pet's choice will look after us, it's hard to get a doctor's appointment these days. I've been here for 24 years and it's nice to know they care for my wellbeing."

Marie from HR said: "Last year, we launched our company health and wellbeing initiative, designed to support the health and wellbeing of all our employees. As part of this programme, we introduced on-site NHS Health Checks, giving employees convenient access to trusted health services during the working day.

"Many of our colleagues work long hours and can find it difficult to attend appointments outside of work, so bringing these services directly to site helps remove some of those barriers. A key aspect of the health checks is that all results remain completely confidential to the individual and are not shared with the company.

"This gives employees the reassurance and privacy needed to take an active role in managing their health. The programme has been really well received, and we have had great success working with local healthcare providers and organisations to bring valuable health and wellbeing support directly to our workforce."

The event highlighted how bringing health services directly into the workplace can remove barriers to access and encourage employees to prioritise their wellbeing.

Wider feedback stated that employee satisfaction was high, with many participants stating they valued both the convenience of the service and the opportunity to have meaningful conversations about their health.

For workplace health checks and partnering with the health and wellbeing team, email [email protected]