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Dame Carol Black maps the path to a healthier future
Issued by the News Distribution Service on behalf of Dame Carol Black's Review of the Health of the Working-Age Population
A vision of a healthier Britain was unveiled today by Dame Carol Black as she proposed radical changes to work-related health services making them available to all.
The National Director for Health and Work published the first ever review into the health of the working age population - Working for a Healthier Tomorrow - calling for urgent and comprehensive reform and a new approach to health and work in Britain.
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.
The review found that ill health was costing the country £100 billion a year - enough to run the entire NHS. But 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.
'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. Their children suffer financially, emotionally and it can affect their long-term futures.
'The aim of my review is not to offer a utopian solution for improved health in working life, but to identify factors that stand in the way and offer potential solutions.'
Dame Carol spells out the key challenges in the review, which include insufficient access to good work-related health support in the early stages of sickness, including mental health conditions. Provision is currently disproportionately concentrated among a few large employers, leaving the vast majority of small employers without support
Other issues include the current sick note process which concentrates on what people can't do, instead of what they can.
Dame Carol makes key recommendations to overcome the challenges, including:
* 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;
* 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;
*
Outdated paper-based sick note should be replaced with an
electronic 'fit note', stating what people can do, not
what they can't;
* Occupational health should be brought
into the mainstream of healthcare provision;
The review is the result of wide-ranging research and consultation including a series of events held around the country and a Call for Evidence which produced more than 260 responses.
An important step was also the ground-breaking consensus statement signed by more than 30 health professional bodies, including the BMA and RCGP. They pledged to help people enter, stay in or return to work, where appropriate, because it is often in the patients' best interests.
'Taken together, the evidence provides a clear and compelling case. In short, we cannot go on as we are.
'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.
'We must act now to build on the emerging consensus around a new approach to health and work in Britain,' said Dame Carol.
Notes to editors:
1. The full report is available on the
Health, Work and Wellbeing website at http://www.workingforhealth.gov.uk
2. Photographs of Dame Carol visiting a healthy working environment at the BT Centre in London are also available for download from the website.
3. The full consensus statement, which was signed on March 5, and the list of those who signed is also available on the website.
4. The Call for Evidence was launched in October 2007 and more than 260 responses were received from a wide-ranging list of organisations.
