NHS to Integrate Job Advice into Hospital Care as Part of Worklessness Crisis Tackling Plans

Strategic Insights -

Health Secretary Wes Streeting will announce a radical 10-year plan this week to tackle the worklessness crisis, including introducing work coaches into rehabilitation services for patients recovering from heart attacks and other health conditions. The plan aims to reduce economic inactivity and will give local NHS services greater power to run their services effectively, while demanding results in the form of a new target to reduce long-term sickness.

Key Takeaways:

  • The NHS will integrate work coaches into rehabilitation services for patients, including those recovering from heart attacks or suffering from other heart conditions, to provide job advice and support.
  • The Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, will publish a 10-year plan this week to tackle the worklessness crisis, including a new target to reduce long-term sickness in local areas.
  • The plan will support local projects to integrate health and employment, get people back to work, and give greater responsibility to local mayors.
  • The NHS will build on pilots that tie work and health together, with the goal of supporting people to return to work while in an NHS setting.
  • A report produced for the NHS last month found that long-term sickness is shrinking economic growth by 10% a year.
  • Local NHS services will be given greater power to run their services effectively in exchange for meeting new targets, including reducing long-term sickness.
  • The NHS will expand a scheme involving the deployment of work coaches in GP surgeries to include rehabilitation services in hospitals.
  • For the first time, patients will be able to refer themselves via the NHS app for help with back pain, arthritis, and mental health issues, which are the three leading causes of long-term sickness.
  • Work coaches will be "upskilled" employees who act as an anchor point for patients, assessing their support needs and providing guidance.
  • Dr. Shriti Pattani, an occupational consultant leading the project, said getting people to act on returning to work while in an NHS setting is more effective than sending them to a job centre.

Statistics:

  • Long-term sickness is shrinking economic growth by 10% a year (NHS report last month)
  • 10-year plan to be published this week

Sources:

  • The Telegraph