Employer groups claim staff should be able to get medical treatment on business park sites in bid to get them back to work more quickly

Workers should be able to get medical treatment at business parks as part of a major attack on the UK’s sickness culture, according to employer groups.

Manufacturers’ body the EEF urged the government to pump resources into getting people back to work quickly.

The call came after four in 10 respondents to a comprehensive EEF survey cited the limited capacity of the NHS to provide fast access to physiotherapy as a barrier to getting people back to work.

EEF chief medical adviser, Dr Sayeed Khan, told Personnel Today: “We need more resources to allow faster access to therapies and treatments. The NHS is not very good at dealing with members of the working-age population.

“The most common complaints are stress and back pain. It would be fantastic to have physiotherapy centres nearer workplaces, such as on business parks, for example.”

The EEF survey of 625 member organisations, covering 127,585 employees, also showed the benefits of managing sickness absence.

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Four in 10 companies that trained their managers on the issue reported a decrease in all types of sickness absence, compared with 26% of companies with no such training.