Government review promises 'radical changes' to work related health
March 24, 2008
The National Director for Health and Work, Dame Carol Black, has promised "radical changes to work-related health services" as she published the Government’s first ever review into the health of the working age population.
The paper, entitled Working for a Healthier Tomorrow, calls for urgent and comprehensive reform and a new approach to health and work in Britain.
The review also emphasises that for most people, work is good both for their long-term health and for their family's well-being.
Therefore, the proposals focus on keeping people healthy at work and also on helping them return to work if they get ill.
The review found that ill health was costing the country £100 billion a year — enough to run the entire NHS. However, Dame Carol commented that although the economic cost was substantial, the human cost to families was immeasurable.
She said, "For most people their work is a key factor in their self-worth, family esteem and identity. So if they become sick and are not helped quickly enough, they can all too easily find themselves on a downward spiral into long-term sickness and a life on benefits."
The review spells out a range of key challenges, including insufficient access to good work-related health support in the early stages of sickness, and mental health conditions.
The paper concludes that provision of work-related health support is currently "disproportionately concentrated among a few large employers, leaving the vast majority of small employers without support".
The report also claims that there is an outdated sick note process which concentrates on what people cannot do, instead of what they can, and that this should be replaced with an electronic "fit note" which states what work the person can do.
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