Health Secretary calls for GPs to encourage signed-off staff to return to work
The Health Secretary has called on employers to assist in bringing their staff back to work.
Alan Johnson MP said in a speech given to the British Heart Foundation that the Government's next mission was to improve on the work-health balance in the UK. One measure may be that doctors will be asked to assess what work patients can do, instead of signing them off from work indefinitely.
Sickness absence is a major cost for UK industry, according to Confederation of British Industry figures cited by the Health Secretary. He revealed that 36 million working days were lost each year due to occupational ill-health at a cost of £13bn, and said absence related to back pain alone was costing the industry £600m each year, with sufferers being absent for an average of 17 days.
Johnson said: "I want to continue our work with the British Medical Association and others to explore how GPs can help to change our sick-note culture into a well-note culture."
He added: "The evidence shows that far from being damaging, work is generally good for people's health. In fact, staying in work or returning to work is often in a patient's best interests."
Johnson said the initiative was a continuation of the Government's policies over the past decade: "We started the debate on work-life balance 10 years ago. Increased maternity leave, the introduction of paternity leave, time off for adoptive parents and the right to request flexible working has led to a quiet revolution. The next stage is to incorporate work-life balance with work-health balance."
