Welcome aboard Steve Thompson MBE!

Former Northampton Saints and England hooker Steve Thompson MBE who was part of the Rugby World Cup winning team of 2003, has joined the company in a new role that will help employers to understand the importance of keeping people in work, safe and well. Steve, who is 43, has suffered long-term health issues in the aftermath of his career, including early onset dementia, and Medigold Health CEO Alex Goldsmith felt he was the perfect fit for spreading the occupational health message.

Alex said: “Our business is all about keeping people safe and well in the workplace and when we introduced the new concept of Health Awareness Campaigner, we could think of no better person to fill that role than Steve.

“Steve Thompson excelled at his job for many years but, unfortunately, has been suffering with the inadvertent ill-health effects that are the result of him simply doing his job.

“In essence, what occupational health is here to do is to help people who employ people not to damage them inadvertently in simply doing the job that they have been employed to do.”

For nearly 25 years, Medigold Health has been creating tailored health and wellbeing solutions for businesses throughout the UK designed to help them keep their people safe, healthy and well at work. We work with employers of all sizes, across all sectors, from major blue-chip companies to smaller enterprises with fewer than 250 employees, delivering everything from absence management, employee screening and alcohol and drug testing to wellbeing programmes and mental health support services.

In his new role, Steve will work with businesses to raise awareness of the importance of caring for their employees and the different strategies they can introduce to protect their wellbeing.

Steve said: “I’m very privileged and happy to be part of a great company and I just look forward to working with my colleagues, and also going out there and talking to the customers as well and seeing what awareness we can bring to brain injury and early onset dementia, but also all the other illnesses and things that can affect people in the workplace.”

Alex added: “Steve has always been incredibly passionate about everything he does, and I think he’s got a unique way of getting across important issues and helping people in all walks of life understand those issues around health.

He’s seen mental health problems and physical health problems across the spectrum, and yet he always talks in a very down-to-earth way and amiable way to people from all walks of life and so I felt he was the perfect guy for this job.”

In his first appearance in his new role, Steve will be joining his fellow Medigold Health Group representatives for the 2022 Health and Wellbeing at Work show (the UK’s largest event dedicated to improving the health, wellbeing, safety, behaviour and culture of today’s workforce), which is taking place at the NEC in Birmingham on 15 and 16 March.

Steve will be there on both days to talk with visitors about his experiences and all things occupational health, so if you are attending the event, head over to stand number 57 to say hello, have a chat and even have your photo taken with him!

Check out the video below to hear Steve and Alex discussing Steve’s new role: