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GP surgeries in England can offer advice to patients on getting back to work, including career coaching or exercise classes, as part of a pilot project to reduce the number of people who are signed off work sick.
The aim is to help people return to the workplace more quickly to reduce the length of time they need fit notes – better known as sick notes.
These are issued by health professionals if a patient is unwell or cannot work for more than seven days.
A total of £1.5m is being made available to 15 regions in England, and will be shared between GP practices in these areas to hire coaches or occupational therapists to support patients in their return to work.
The Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “It’s about fundamentally changing the conversation from ‘you can’t’ to ‘how can we help you?’
“When someone walks into their doctor’s surgery worried about their job, they should walk out with a plan, not just a piece of paper that closes doors.”
Health staff would be offered training to give work and health advice. People could be pointed towards fitness classes or career coaching.
In one case quoted by the government, a woman who was off work with a fractured ankle had an assessment with a fitness adviser and was referred for a 12-week exercise programme with the aim of strengthening the ankle.
The Department of Health and Social Care says that of 11 million fit notes issued electronically in England last year, 93% simply declared people “not fit for work” with no alternative support offered.
This new scheme expands on an initiative launched last October in the same 15 regions called WorkWell, jointly run by the Departments of Work and Pensions and Health and Social Care.
It involves NHS staff referring patients to other services. People in work but at risk of quitting have been given advice on mental health in the workplace.
In the new scheme, those out of work will be referred by NHS staff to services that offer support for finding a job, such as CV and interview techniques and liaising with employers on appropriate support.
Ministers say the policies are part of the move across government to encourage more people back into work with 2.8 million currently out of the workforce due to health conditions.
The Royal College of GPs said it recognised the health benefits of being in work and GPs would encourage it where safe to do so, but added that doctors did not issue fit notes without good reason.
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the College, said: “We want to work alongside the Government on this scheme so it’s important that it is not presented as a punitive measure for patients.”
Prof Hawthorne also stressed that the new scheme should also not be punitive for “hardworking GPs”, who are “doing their best under enormous pressures, caused by historic underfunding and poor workforce planning”,
WorkWell is operating in 15 English regions and the new fit note initiative will provide £1.5m to be shared between them.
The regions are Birmingham and Solihull; Black Country; Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire; Cambridgeshire and Peterborough; Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly; Coventry and Warwickshire; Frimley; Herefordshire and Worcestershire; Greater Manchester; Lancashire and South Cumbria; Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland; North Central London; North West London; South Yorkshire; Surrey Heartlands.