Saturday 11 Oct 2014 @ 09:10
Department for Work and Pensions
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GPs: ‘Fit for Work will help patients’

GPs say they would refer eligible patients to a new service to support employers and staff over sickness absence in a new report out yesterday. 

Fit for Work will start later this year to provide an occupational health assessment and health and work advice to employees, employers and GPsto help people return to or stay in work after an illness.

Minister for Welfare Reform, Lord Freud said:

Being in work is good for people’s wellbeing and can help them to recover. Fit for Work will help employers and their staff to manage sickness absence and aid the return-to-work process and GPs will play a vital role in referring patients they think will benefit from it. This research will build on the learning from the pilot to help us understand how GPswill use this service and how we can support them in the future.

Fit for Work is a result of the independent review of sickness absence and the government response which accepted the recommendation to introduce an independent assessment service.

The study, ‘Exploring future GP referral to Fit for Work’, looks at how GPsmight signpost their patients to the assessment part of the support. Its publication coincides with the renaming of Health and Work Service to Fit for Work to more accurately reflect the nature and impact of the service. Most GPs contacted for the study had a positive approach to the relationship between health and work.

Other findings

Patients with longer fit notes and therefore off work for longer periods were deemed more suitable for referral to the service by their GPs.

GPs said they would be less likely to refer patients to Fit for Work with a clear recovery path who were likely to return to work under their own steam.

GPs said they would have referred 1 in 2 of their patients they considered suitable for the service (54% of deemed suitable patients).

People on sick leave will be helped to return to work by being provided with an occupational health assessment when they have been, or are expected to be, off work for 4 weeks. After the assessment they will receive a return-to-work plan with recommendations to help them get back to their job more quickly. General health and work advice will be available through a website and phone line.

More about Fit for Work and the independent review of sickness absence

Read Exploring future GP referral to Fit For Work.

The 2011 independent review of sickness absence by Dame Carol Black and David Frost CBE identified a lack of access to occupational health provision as one of the issues preventing employees returning to work.

The government accepted their recommendation to introduce an independent assessment service to help employees on sick leave get back to work.

Health Management Limited, a MAXIMUS company, will deliver Fit for Work in England and Wales.

Fit for Work Scotland will be delivered by the Scottish Government, on behalf of the UK Government.

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