Support guide issued by NICE

The Society of Occupational Medicine (SOM) has welcomed new guidance from the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) on the management of long-term sickness absence. The guidance sets out a nationally agreed standard of support for people absent from work. NICE also recommended that workers with long-term health issues need access to support from suitably trained professionals. SOM noted that more than 70% of workers currently have no access to such specialists, and there were also no specialist services available to GPs who were trying to support workers with long-term medical problems.