Network Journal 2008 Issue 2 March/April

Ill health costs billions

The first ever review into the health of the working age population calls for an urgent and comprehensive reform and a new approach to health and work in Britain.

Dame Carol Black, the National Director for Health and Work, has published Working for a Healthier Tomorrow which revealed that ill health was costing the country £100 billion a year - enough to run the entire NHS.

While the review recognises that for most people work is good both for their long-term health and for their family's well-being, its proposals focus on keeping people healthy at work, and also on helping them return to work if they get ill.

Dame Carol emphasised that although the economic cost was substantial, the human cost to families was immeasurable. "For most people their work is a key factor in their self-worth, family esteem and identity," she said. "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. This is not only devastating for them, but also for their families."

The report lists some key challenges, which include insufficient access to good work-related health support in the early stages of sickness, including mental health conditions. Its key recommendations are:

• A new Fit for Work service to be piloted for patients in early stages of sickness - if rolled out the aim would be to make work-related health support available to all.
• For occupational health should to be brought into the mainstream of healthcare provision.
• For outdated paper-based sick notes to be replaced with an electronic 'fit note', stating what people can do, not what they can't.
• If successful Fit for Work should be extended to those on incapacity and other out of work benefits. Government should also expand provision of Pathways to Work to cover all on incapacity benefit.

Dame Carol said: "I hope this review will lay the foundations for urgent and comprehensive reform.

"But there are difficult and challenging messages for everyone, whether they are politicians, healthcare professionals, employers, unions or individuals. All have a shared responsibility for the health of Britain's working age population."

Copies of the report are available on the Health Work and Well-being website: www.workingforhealth.gov.uk

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