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Ill health 'costs economy £100bn' Ill health 'costs economy £100bn'
(about 3 hours later)
Ill health costs the British economy over £100bn a year - the same as the cost of running the NHS for a year, a report is set to say. A fundamental overhaul of the support given to workers who are off work through illness is needed, a government adviser says.
The calculation will appear in an analysis by Dame Carol Black, national director for health and work. Dame Carol Black, the national director for health and work, said ill-health was costing the economy £100bn a year.
She has been looking at ways of helping people who are sick get back to work. Her report, commissioned by ministers, called for a new fit-note system as well as fit for work schemes embedded in the NHS to help people back to work.
Measures in the report include replacing sick notes with "well notes" stating what work somebody who may have health problems can actually do. She said the reforms could help cut the numbers on incapacity benefit.
Dame Carol is also proposing trials of a new Fit for Work service to provide access to specialists such as physiotherapists and counsellors for all employees in the early stages of sickness. Some 350,000 people a year move from long-term sick notes in to the system.
The aim would be to take quick action to help these people stay at, or return to work. KEY RECOMMENDATIONS GPs - Current sick note system should be reformed to create fit notes, spelling out what the patient can doEmployers - Should offer more support to staff including healthy lifestyle promotion, such as subsidised gym membership, as well as access to occupational health teamsNHS - Call to pilot fit for health scheme, which will work via GP referral. Case managers appointed to manage absence through access to physios, counselling and advice
She said doctors did not wait until a cancer patient developed secondary tumours to offer treatment - but inaction in the workplace too often allowed easily treatable, minor problems to deteriorate into something more severe. It means Britain has one of the highest proportions of people on the benefit in Europe after numbers have more than trebled since the 1970s to 2.7m.
The report will say the total cost of ill-health to the British economy is around £103bn. Dame Carol believes workers need help at an earlier stage to stop them slipping out of work and into this spiral of dependency.
The bulk of that - £63bn - is made of the benefit costs and lost taxes for people who are not working due to illness or disability. Some 175m working days are lost each year, costing the economy £100bn in lost productivity, benefits and taxes.
We know that staying in or returning to work is generally good for patient's health, whereas unemployment is progressively damaging Alan JohnsonHealth secretary She has proposed creating a new fit note which encourages GPs to spell out what the individual can do rather than cannot do.
The rest of the bill is made up the cost of the care given by family and friends, the cost to an employer of having someone absent from work and other additional costs. She also said the notes should be passed on to employers - so they can given the individual support to return to work - if the patient agrees.
Dame Carol believes whole sections of society have "drifted" into a benefits culture, with generations of the same family never working. The report said businesses should do more to facilitate flexible working, such as shorter working weeks or a change of duties, to get staff back as quickly as possible.
However, she stressed that these people were not lazy - they just needed support to get back into employment. Firms, especially the big employers, should also establish their own occupational health and rehabilitation teams and promote healthy lifestyles through subsidised gym membership and encouraging staff to walk and cycle to work.
She said: "Often these conditions are mild, such as mild mental health and musculo-skeletal problems, such as a bad back. Sickness
"There are often treatable and preventable if we could get in there early. And it said fit for work schemes should be piloted.
"But we have nothing in place at the moment that gives us early intervention and prevention." These would work via GP referral with case managers appointed to tailor a programme to get the person back to work.
For instance, Dame Carol said GPs struggled to get speedy access to physiotherapy and mental health counselling services. The case managers would have access to counselling, physios, occupational health and financial and family advice.
Well notes Such a system would be essential to smaller companies which could not support their own occupational health teams, the report added.
Well notes set out what tasks a worker can perform instead of certificates automatically signing someone off. And Dame Carol said the fit for work schemes, if successful, could also be targeted at those on incapacity benefit.
Sick notes are given to those with short-term health problems, but ministers are concerned people can then "drift" into claiming incapacity benefit. She said the government's recent announcement that those claiming the benefit would have to undergo tests to prove they were unfit was welcome, but could not address the issue by itself.
Both of the main political parties are keen to significantly reduce the number of claimants. She said: "£100bn sounds a large figure. But I think the cost to human life is much larger.
"For most people their work is a key factor in their self-worth, family esteem and identity.
"But it is so easy to fall out of work and move to a place where your confidence and well-being suffers. We must do more to help people, because if you intervene at an early stage you can stop the longer-term problems emerging."
HAVE YOUR SAYThe simple problem is it is far too easy to be signed off from work Ashley Smith, Luton, UKSend us your commentsHAVE YOUR SAYThe simple problem is it is far too easy to be signed off from work Ashley Smith, Luton, UKSend us your comments
The proposed change is not backed by doctors, who say it is asking them to "police the system". The reforms were broadly welcomed by the doctors trade union, the British Medical Association,
GPs are also likely to be expected to offer patients advice about what they can do to get fit for work. BMA chairman Dr Hamish Meldrum said: "The BMA has long called for the sick note system to be reviewed.
James Purnell, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said working could make a "real difference" to people's health and quality of life. "A major problem is that GPs can have huge difficulties in accessing physiotherapy and counselling services that would help patients to return to work more quickly."
Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson, said: "We know that staying in or returning to work is generally good for patient's health, whereas unemployment is progressively damaging." But he warned the fit notes needed to be carefully looked at as doctors were not there to police the system.
Being unemployed could lead to problems such as more sickness, mental illness, disability, increased use of medication, higher hospital admission rates and shorter life expectancy, he added. Trades Union Congress general secretary Brendan Barber said: "There is currently insufficientsupport for people who are off work because they are ill or injured and the TUC agrees with Dame Carol that more needs to be done to encourage those on long-term benefits back into the labour market.
"This is best done by doing more to prevent workplace accidents and illnesses, and by giving ill or injured workers early access to rehabilitation."
It is now up to the government to decide whether the proposals should be introduced with ministers are expected to respond in full in the coming months.