Dame Carol Black outlines vision for national occupational health service

News | HSP
17.03.2008

National director for health and work Dame Carol Black has published long-awaited proposals for improving the health and wellbeing of the working-age population, outlining her vision for what she described as a "national occupational health service".

The review's key proposal is for a new "Fit for Work" service to be piloted for patients in the early stages of sickness.

Information on how the service might operate is sketchy - the review is more about high-level principles than operational detail - but it could be accessible via GPs or in the workplace. Black said she had received positive interest in the pilots from a number of general practices and six primary care trusts.

If successful, she said, the pilots could lay "the foundation for a national occupational health service" and see occupational health "coming out of the cold".

Black described the proposed Fit for Work service as a "hub and spoke" approach, with case management at the centre. She said lessons had been learned from the HSE's Workplace Health Connect scheme and that there was a need for "a slightly different design" and "something more targeted".

Other recommendations include an electronic "fit note" to replace the paper sick note, and a health and wellbeing consultancy service geared towards smaller firms.

The review proposes that the government should initiate the consultancy service and that it should be business-led. Black said her research indicated that SMEs would be willing to access an occupational health advice service at "a reasonable cost".

Black said ill health is costing the country £100 billion a year, and described the rise in mental ill-health problems as "a considerable worry".

She said line managers had a crucial role to play in tackling stress.

"Good management is hugely important to keep levels of anxiety and stress down," she said. She highlighted a concern raised in evidence submitted to the review that line managers are often promoted into their roles because of their technical abilities and may lack people and communication skills.

Black acknowledged the valuable contribution that safety practitioners and safety reps could make to wellbeing, but did not have precise detail on what exactly their roles should be.

The full report is available here.