The government has unveiled new plans to improve the health and well-being of people of working age.
The aims of the ‘Health, Work and Wellbeing – Caring for our Future’ strategy include:
making sure the topic gets the attention it deserves
that work is recognised by all as important and beneficial
that healthcare services meet the needs of working age people
that employers look at supporting people in work.
The strategy will place responsibility for good health on employers as well as the NHS, but the government has laid out little actual detail of how it would be delivered.
Health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, said: “Employers and the NHS share the burden of ill health, with millions of working days lost every year.
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“Achieving business goals at the same time as improving health leads to improved staff morale, recruitment and retention,” she said.
Hewitt said the strategy demonstrated the significant government commitment to making it easier for working age people to choose to be healthy.
