About - Dr Shriti Pattani

Working as a General The poor integration of health and work services and the consequent adverse impact on patients, health services and the economy became evident to me in my tripartite role as a Consultant in Occupational Medicine in the NHS, a General Practitioner and a Health and Work Medical Champion in Public Health.

Work is an important contributor to good physical, mental and economic health. Evidence suggests that unemployment can lead to poor health for individuals, their families and also future generations of the same families.. Disabled people are proportionately affected by unemployment.

Integrating Work Coaches and disability employment advisors into primary care where they can reach patients more easily and also link up with health professionals to provide more holistic support is drawing dividends. Barriers to working are multifold and social factors can be a significant contributor both to sickness absence and unemployment which can precipitate ill health.

Early results indicate that work coaches and Disability Employment Advisors can provide a range of support and advice on work related, financial, housing and managing dependants whilst being able to refer to Occupational Health for selective patients which reduces the burden on GP’s and NHS interns of prescriptions, number of GP appointments and ill-health burden resulting from unemployment.

President Society of Occupational Medicine (June 2022 – June 2023)

National Expert in Occupational Health and Wellbeing NHS England (September 2021 – present)

Consultant in occupational medicine and GP, NHSDoctor (since 1991)

Born in Uganda and coming to the UK as a refuge I am passionate about free education and healthcare which creates opportunity to reduce health and economic inequalities. Joined up working across the public sector is essential to optimise efficiency and effectiveness across health, care, education, employment and social services. This provides particular benefits to people disadvantaged by their socioeconomic status and disability. In a society which is democratic and supports the value of helping those who are less fortunate, it is critical to optimise the use of tax payer money to achieve this aim.

General service and achievements

NHS Doctor for over 31 years, Consultant in Occupational Medicine for over 20 years and a General Practitioner for 25 years. Clinical Director large Acute London Trust
Since 2016 Shriti Pattani has been the Chair of the NHS Health at Work Network, which represents 90% of NHS Occupational Health (OH) services dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of over 1.3 million NHS staff. NHS Health at Work Network influences and advises the Government and other bodies, e.g. PHE, NHS employers about OH in the NHS.
- A key non-Covid achievement was the creation of national vaccination and serology standards for all staff entering the NHS or moving between Trusts.
- This was agreed and adopted nationally as the standard (across all Trusts). This agreement has allowed for more efficient movement of staff between Trusts, and for those starting their NHS career, with the potential to save the NHS millions by improving efficiency and the monies can be diverted to other important areas.
Senior Lecturer and Course Director at the Royal Society for Public Health (since 2010), educating the next generation of OH physicians, both in secondary and primary care and she has been instrumental in encouraging young doctors to specialise in OH. Under her direction the course has become internationally renowned and now achieving over a 90% pass rate for the diploma exam.
Honorary Senior Lecturer Imperial, College, London.
Nominated nationally and published in the BMJ as a Role Model in OH.
As the Public Health England Health & Work Medical Champion. Shriti Pattani supported the Government’s green paper, Improving Lives: The Work, Health and Disability. Shriti Pattani connected employment services with health services and educated medical professionals (doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, etc.) in both primary and secondary care on the importance of work on wellbeing of patients, their families, and the future generation – and the huge public implication of not doing so. Connecting employment services with health services. The work is ongoing and now being rolled out nationally.