Department of Health and Social Care
Printable version E-mail this to a friend

Johnson calls for new focus on work-health balance

Johnson calls for new focus on work-health balance

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH News Release (2008/0023) issued by The Government News Network on 20 February 2008

New support service for NHS doctors and dentists to be piloted in London

Health Secretary Alan Johnson today called for all employers to do more to promote the health and well-being of their staff.

Speaking at the British Heart Foundation's Well at Work Conference in London, Alan Johnson said;

"Ten years ago, we started the debate on work-life balance. Increased maternity leave, the introduction of paternity leave, time off for adoptive parents and the right to request flexible working have led to a quiet revolution, as more employers recognise that supporting a healthy work-life balance is essential to recruiting and retaining talented staff. The next stage is to incorporate work life balance with work health balance."

In his speech, the Health Secretary set out some key steps that employers and government must take:

- First, employers taking steps to promote health and well-being in the workplace;

- Secondly, government must work with employers to improve how we identify potential health risks - in particular around stress and mental health - and address these risks;

- And thirdly, government must do more to help those who able to work, but have been prevented from doing so by health reasons to get back into the workplace.

The Government also today launched Professor Louis Appleby's report 'Mental Health and Ill Health in Doctors', containing recommendations on how the NHS can support doctors to look after their own mental health.

Alan Johnson said:

"Like many large employers, the NHS too is affected by sickness absence and lower productivity because of poor health. It would be a sad irony if we were to neglect the many doctors, nurses and other health professionals, who do such outstanding work, often in the face of enormous pressure.

"We will pilot health and wellbeing schemes in a number of NHS Trusts who are facing the biggest health issues, which have been developed with the support of the major unions representing health employees. Employees will get confidential feedback on their health, alongside personalised advice on healthy lifestyles. And employers will get anonymised data on the health status of their workforce that can be used to target actions to improve health and wellbeing.

"From autumn this year, we are also piloting a support service in London, for doctors in distress, those who are struggling with mental illness or addictions. In particular, the pilot will focus on how we can get better at intervening early, so minor problems do not escalate into full-blown crises."

Professor Louis Appleby said:

"We know that many doctors are affected by mental ill health, particularly depression and drug or alcohol addiction and we also know that many doctors do not for early treatment, if at all. Many doctors are too worried about confidentiality or the effect on their career to do what they would tell their patients to do.

"After the publication of the Daksha Emson Inquiry report I established a group that worked together to consider what could be done to make it easier for doctors who become unwell to seek work earlier.

"Although our work concentrated on doctors many of the recommendations in this report are relevant for other health workers and it is for local and national organisations to consider how they can take forward the issues raised."

Recommendations in 'Mental Health and Ill Health in Doctors' include:

- Doctors who are ill to be treated first and foremost as patients not colleagues as a doctor's expert knowledge may not extend to their own condition

- Rules on confidentiality should be strictly observed with additional safeguards in place to ensure privacy of care such as location and timing of appointments

- Medical schools and Medical Royal Colleges to encourage the use of mental health services for doctors in training.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

1) A copy of health Secretary Alan Johnson's speech will be available on http://www.dh.gov.uk after 3pm this afternoon.

2) A copy of Professor Louis Appbleby's report 'Mental Health and Ill Health in Doctors' is available from: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_083066

3) Background

- The CBI estimates that 175 million working days are lost to ill health every year, with 36 million of these days lost because of occupational ill health costing UK businesses £13 billion a year.

- Back pain alone costs employers £600 million a year, with sufferers of persistent back problems on average taking 17 days off sick per year despite the fact that by taking small, cost-effective steps, absences can be dramatically reduced.

- Only half of those with back problems who are signed off for six months or more return to work. Only a quarter of those signed off for a year or more will return.

- Nine out of ten of those who come on to incapacity benefit want and expect to come back to work. Many start claiming incapacity benefit because of back and neck pain, depression or heart and circulatory problems - serious conditions but not ones that make long term unemployment inevitable.

- Those who are on incapacity benefit for one year are likely to stay there for eight. Once they've been there for two years or more, they are more likely to die or retire than ever work again.

- Some businesses are already offering excellent occupational health services and support to their employees. By introducing on site health clinics and health assessments, Parcelforce has reduced employee absence by a third and job satisfaction is up by a third too.

- The average worker spends just under an hour travelling to and from work every day. The British Heart Foundation recommends we do half an hour of moderate exercise, five times a week. It is estimated that seven out of ten adults fail to meet this recommendation.

- If every employee were to walk, cycle or jog at least part of their journey to work each day, we would increase the number of adults doing enough regular exercise from a desultory three out of ten to seven out of ten.

- British Gas's back-care workshops has reduced the number of sick days taken because of back pain by 43 per cent.

- BT's mental wellbeing strategy has not only reduced mental health related sickness absence by 30 per cent - British Gas also has a return to work rate of 75 per cent for people absent for more than six months because of a mental health issue.

- Calderstones NHS Trust, a learning disability trust in Lancashire had become concerned with results from staff surveys indicating that staff were stressed at work. As a result they decided to implement a healthy workplace scheme and now provide a range of activities such as lunchtime pilates classes, reflexology sessions,staff walks and are just about to buy two new bikes for staff use at lunchtimes.

- But 40 per cent of employers still have no systems in place at all to manage employee health and wellbeing.

4) The NHS Pilot

- Funded by the Department of Health, the doctors and dentist support service pilot is being taken forward by the National Clinical Assessment Service (a division of the National Patient Safety Agency) and will run for three years.

- The PHP aims to protect the safety of our patients and the health of our health practitioners.

- The pikot schemewill be established for registered medical and dental practitioners living or working within the London Strategic Health Authority area with concerns that may relate to:

- a mental health or addiction problem (at any level of severity);

- a physical health problem (where that physical health problem has raised a performance issue).


[ENDS]

Free, Secure, Compliant UK Public Sector IT Recycling Service