Rehabilitation
The Government wants to lead on vocational rehabilitation to meet the UK's labour needs, according to Isobel Stephen, head of the health, disability and work division at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Speaking at the Rehabilitation First management briefing, Stephen said the Government's aim was to increase the supply of labour as far as possible and added that it would not be possible to deliver an efficient rehabilitation policy without the input of other stakeholders.
"The Department for Work and Pensions is working in partnership with the NHS and the Health and Safety Executive in pilot programmes to test how vocational rehabilitation and occupational therapy can be best delivered. The main objective is to promote job retention and encourage people back to work but these are early days," she said.
The Framework of Vocational Rehabilitation will be published in September and a DWP discussion paper has invited insurers, legal representatives and rehabilitation providers to give their views on how to move the issue forward.
nThis story first appeared in Post Magazine.
