Health challenges in remote locations

Abermed

As the search for new oil and gas reserves expands into increasingly remote locations, this brings new health challenges for companies and employees.

Recent advances in technology have made the four corners of the globe instantly accessible - but for sick or injured employees working in remote parts of the world, home can seem very far away indeed.

As an international occupational health specialist, Abermed provides a full range of medical services all over the world, covering all health issues arising from employment.

This ranges from health promotion and survelliance to help prevent staff becoming ill in the first place, all the way through to a worldwide repatriation service if things do go wrong, ensuring the patient is safely transported to a suitable medical centre where they can be treated and cared for.

The nature of the global oil and gas industry means people often find themselves working in harsh conditions and remote locations and as around 70% of Abermed's current client base is made up of oil and gas companies, the experienced staff and team of offshore medics really understand the industry and its demands.

To meet the demands of this changing industry, Abermed is now leading the way in the use of remote medicine and telemedicine, which allows doctors to assess and diagnose a patient from thousands of miles away - saving both time and money.

The company is fully equipped to provide both topside and diving medical emergency services, offering a round-the-clock service with specialist doctors experienced in practising offshore.

The team can also supply an occupational hygienist service, supply company doctors to organisations, carry out audits of medical services on installations and prepare protocol manuals.

Abermed also runs an offshore and remote locations medics agency, supplying fully trained and qualified medics to oil and gas companies - demand for which has significantly increased amid a buoyant oil and gas market.

Long history

Abermed has a long and proud history of providing professional medical solutions to business and industry.

From its inception in 1983 - when it started life by providing 24/7 medical support for divers in the North Sea - Abermed now provides a wide range of professionally delivered services and medical personnel tailored to meet the specific demands of each individual client.

The company prides itself on working in partnership with clients to ensure high standards of care, safety and general good health are maintained in the workplace.

Occupational health and surveillance

Occupational health covers all the health and medical issues that can arise in the course of employment.

It's a two-way process - an individual's health can affect their work and, if not given proper consideration, an individual's work can affect their health.

Abermed specialises in occupational health care and health surveillance, to monitor employees' health and identify early signs of work-related damage from exposure to hazards.
 
This involves recognising, evaluating and then controlling health problems arising from work, with the aim of protecting employees' health and well-being.

Health surveillance for hazards with a recognised health effect that can be measured is now a legal requirement in many countries and companies are under increasing pressure to ensure they do all they can to avoid employees developing health problems caused by their work.

This is a vitally important area for both employees and their employers, not least because recent years have seen a huge surge in compensation claims from people suffering from debilitating conditions linked to for example prolonged exposure to vibration at work - with millions of pounds being paid out by way of compensation.

Conditions can often take years to develop - for example, exposure to vibration can result in very painful and debilitating health problems, which cost time and money if they are not properly managed.

Investment in employee health delivers real benefits to organisations. Abermed can provide a complete occupational health service, including health education initiatives, healthy lifestyle advice and promotion, health assessment and workplace/environment assessments, to ensure that your workforce remains healthy and productive.

Healthy people are generally happier people who are more productive and contribute more to the organisations they are employed by!

Training

Part of ensuring that staff are happy at work includes making sure they are fully trained.

Abermed has developed comprehensive medical training solutions, including distance learning and refresher courses, which allow workplace health risks to be managed to the highest standards.

These can be designed to be suitable for doctors, nurses, medics or first aiders and cover a wide range of subjects, including:
First aid
Automatic external defibrillator training
Offshore medic courses
Thrombolysis
Emergency Response Team medical training
Occupational health surveillance
Noise assessment
Hand-arm and whole body vibration
Tropical medicine
 
Abermed is able to deliver medically based courses to suit your requirements and specific training needs, and has recently delivered its pre-hospital emergency medical course to groups of medics in the Middle East. 

The team of highly skilled medical personnel are not only recognised for their qualifications, knowledge and experience but also for their individual skills in specialist areas.

Travel health service

For employees travelling overseas, Abermed has been providing a travel health service for more than 20 years and can cater for the complete range of requirements.

Travel health nurses can obtain details of a planned trip and will highlight any diseases to which the traveller is likely to be exposed.  Advice is then given on what practical steps need to be taken to reduce the chances of infection and what medical supplies should be taken on the trip as well as administering any required vaccinations.

Abermed sites are designated Yellow Fever Centres, approved by the UK Government Health Department, and staff can also administer certain vaccinations at clients' own premises.

Telemedicine

The global reach of Abermed's work means it is at the forefront of telemedicine advances, which allows health care to be delivered remotely.

The equipment used can be as basic as a telephone, which enables a medic to discuss a case with a doctor and seek advice, while at the other end of the scale, using video and real-time data capture together it is possible to obtain an effective consultation with a specialist doctor or surgeon based anywhere in the world.
 
The interest in, and use of, telemedicine is growing rapidly, driven by the requirement for the provision of quality medical advice to remote locations.

Abermed are distributors of a system which enables a doctor, remote from the patient, to view real time the vital signs. The doctor can then help and guide the medic towards the most appropriate treatment.

A significant advantage of telemedicine is that access to highly qualified occupational health and other medical disciplines is made easy, without the need for either the medical practitioner or the patient to travel long distances to carry out the consultation.

Telemedicine can also be used in diving operations, using Bluetooth technology to transmit data from a hyperbaric chamber to a unit outside the chamber and onwards via a secure internet connection to the doctor, regardless of where in the world they are based.

Offshore and remote medics

Abermed is able to provide fully assessed medics for offshore and remote locations, as well as a full service which ranges from recruitment and selection to protocol manual preparation and review of medic logs.

With more than 100 qualified and experienced Abermed medics working worldwide, there is also a database with over 250 medics available for work.

Offshore co-ordinators locate and appoint medics for clients for both short and long term contracts as well as temporary cover if required.

Offshore medic supervision

As Abermed is fully equipped to provide both topside and diving medical emergency services, specialist doctors are therefore on call 24/7, supervising medics and providing day-to-day advice and supervision and a full support service.

The doctors are ready to support rig medics by telephone at all times and when a serious situation arises they can be quickly mobilised offshore.

Offshore medics have to work in often challenging environments and often have to perform medical tasks that onshore would be reserved for doctors, so there is generally an obligation for offshore medics to have direct reporting to a fully qualified doctor, who will usually be based onshore.

Medevacs

If a member of staff has been injured in an accident or fallen seriously ill, Abermed can arrange specialist medevac flights and medical teams to accompany the patient back to the UK or another location where they can receive the medical care they need.

Abermed's repatriation service is an essential insurance for organisations with people working in many countries, particularly in parts of Africa, Asia and South America, where there are often limited local medical facilities and expertise.

Contingency plans for each individual installation mean that topside workers and divers in need of specialist medical attention receive it as quickly as possible.

However, when someone has been injured in an accident or when they have been taken seriously ill it is sometimes impossible for them to fly home from remote locations by scheduled transport.

Abermed's partnership with Cega Air Ambulance provides an impressive global medical evacuation service, with the team deciding on the most appropriate action for the individual.

Throughout 2007, Cega successfully repatriated more than 2,500 patients all over the world.

Medical advisors

As well as offshore support, Abermed provides professional medical advisors, or company doctors, for many organisations.

Clients have access to a doctor at all times during the working week and receive help to develop health related policies and advise on health promotion and medi-legal matters.

The assigned doctor will work with the client on an on-going basis to ensure that they fully understand the working environment, organisational culture and specific needs and requirements.

Usually the doctor will liaise with the human resources and safety departments but their services are also available to other departments as required.

International network

Demand for these services have prompted further expansion plans for Abermed, which currently has 10 UK offices supporting an international network. This includes bases in Oman and Kazakhstan, where it has a controlling share in Kazanada, a medical care company.

Abermed's Managing Director James Miller says: "We expect this activity to continue at a high level for at least another couple of years, and well beyond that in West Africa, Caspian Sea and other areas where there are large oil resources, so we are now targeting these areas, as well as the Middle East and China.

"We are also expanding the training we offer and building on our capacity to do even more work for new and existing clients all over the world."

Abermed is headquartered in Aberdeen, with offices in Dyce, Dundee, Teesside, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Great Yarmouth and Norwich. It also has operations in Kazakhstan and Oman. For more information, call +44 1224 788800 or log on to  www.abermed.com.