Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Join
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Join
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

Fit for WorkFit for WorkDisabilityFit notesReturn to work and rehabilitation

Fit notes: occupational health practitioners respond to government proposals for reform

by Nic Paton 1 Dec 2016
by Nic Paton 1 Dec 2016

The Government has announced a major review of statutory sick pay, fit notes and the role employers can play in helping people with long-term health conditions to stay in or return to work.

In a Green Paper consultation document – Improving lives: work, health and disability – the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Department of Health (DH) called for:

  • A review of statutory sick pay and fit notes “to support workers back into their jobs faster, and for longer”.
  • Jobcentre Plus work coaches to signpost claimants to therapy, as well as a “health and work conversation” between new people on employment support allowance and their work coach, “focusing on what they can do rather than what they cannot”.
  • A consultation on the Government’s controversial work capability assessment processes.
  • Encouraging “employers to work with their employees with long-term health conditions to stop them from falling out of work”.
  • A “wide-ranging debate about recognising the value of work as a health outcome”.

The review of fit notes will also include “consideration” being given to allowing other health professionals, not just doctors, to issue them.

For example, Karen Middleton, chief executive of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, argued that allowing physiotherapists to issue fit notes “would give patients the opportunity to be assessed, given advice and therefore begin their rehabilitation on the day they were signed off”.

Other proposals outlined in the document include:

  • The creation of a “Disability Confident Business Leaders Group” to work alongside ministers and officials to increase employer engagement around disabled employment, starting with FTSE 250 companies.
  • Developing large-scale trials on how health-led services and support can help get disabled people and those with long-term conditions back into work, with a particular focus on mental health issues and musculoskeletal conditions.
  • A closer working relationship with Health Education England, Public Health England and others “to make the benefits of work an ingrained part of the training and health workforce approach”.

Work and pensions secretary Damian Green said: “When things need to be improved, such as the work capability assessment and fit notes, we must not shy away from big decisions.”

The response to the Green Paper within the profession was largely positive, with the Faculty of Occupational Medicine (FOM) and Society of Occupational Medicine (SOM) both welcoming the consultation.

SOM president Dr Sally Coomber said: “We are keen to work with the DWP and the DH over the next few months, as they consult on the Green Paper, so we can develop better occupational health support right across the health and work journey.

“At the heart of this must be an accredited and quality-assured, multidisciplinary occupational health workforce.”

And Dr Richard Heron, FOM president, said: “We support the ambition to develop a system where healthcare professionals recognise the value of a referral for occupational health advice.

“While ‘Fit for Work’ is a step in the right direction, there is still a way to go before we can say that all employees have timely access to safe, effective and quality-assured occupational health support that puts the individual and their health circumstances at the heart of a support-tailored programme,” he added. “There also needs to be workforce capacity to deliver this support.”

Nic Paton
Nic Paton

Nic Paton is consulting editor of OHW+. One of the country's foremost workplace health journalists, Nic has written for OHW+ and Occupational Health & Wellbeing since 2001, and edited the magazine from 2018.

previous post
Wake up to the link between poor sleep and work performance
next post
Zika virus and business travel : six duty of care actions for employers

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

Three in 10 say physical health has worsened...

20 May 2022

Obesity prevalence projections show 36% will be obese...

20 May 2022

NHS pressures leaving thousands waiting for cancer diagnosis

17 May 2022

Long NHS waits meaning many with long Covid...

17 May 2022

Grants scheme set up to support women’s health...

16 May 2022

Crumbling school buildings ‘risk to life’ suggests leak

16 May 2022

‘Gulf War Syndrome’ caused by release of nerve...

13 May 2022

Workers feeing increasingly anxious, burnt out and fearful...

13 May 2022

Shift workers: knowing the diet-related health risks

12 May 2022

Majority unaware of long-term damage caused by stroke

12 May 2022

  • The importance of being an ethical leader and how to become one PROMOTED | What is ethical leadership?...Read more
  • RPO Report: 2022, The Year to Outsource PROMOTED | Employers should be overwhelmed with choice...Read more
  • Report: Enabling organisational agility through talent & people success PROMOTED | Work has been challenged...Read more
  • Employee Trends 2022 report PROMOTED | Edenred research on employees analysed the key employees’ trends for 2022...Read more
  • How finance apprenticeships can boost business PROMOTED | As the world’s most forward-thinking professional accountancy body...Read more
  • Paul Devoy: Showing appreciation to the Investors in People community PROMOTED | Ask most people what comes to mind when you mention Investors in People...Read more
  • White paper: How digitalisation can support evolving occupational health PROMOTED | Download this free white paper to discover how digitalisation can help occupational health meet emerging challenges...Read more

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Join
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today