BUSINESSES in south Bucks could benefit from a new health project aimed at improving the physical, mental and social well-being of their staff.

Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust has been given £2.5million of capital funding to develop higher quality occupational health (OH) services. It is one of five throughout the country to receive the grant.

The funding will be managed by NHS Plus, a network of NHS OH departments across England which supplies quality services to non-NHS employees.

The trust aims to create a centre of excellence in OH to promote the health and wellbeing of the working population in Bucks. The capital funding will allow the relocation of the existing department at Wycombe Hospital to a new facility nearby.

Jean Sweetman, head of OH at Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "This funding is a great bonus to employees and employers in Buckinghamshire.

"It will offer businesses, which may not have had the opportunity in the past, the chance to see the benefits an occupational health service could bring to their organisation."

Typical work carried out by OH advice includes management of sickness absence, rehabilitation and advice on workplace issues.

Mary Broughton MBE, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses' Health and Safety Committee, said: "The FSB's own Health Matters report revealed that there are low levels of awareness and access among small businesses to local NHS occupational health services.

"This announcement of a new capital fund to help develop centres of occupational health excellence, directed at serving smaller businesses, is a positive development which we very much welcome."