Occupational Health professionals have described this week’s white paper on Get Britain Working as “very disappointed”, not least because it completely overlooked the potential contribution that the profession could provide to the government’s ambitions.
The Department for Work and Pensions’ white paper, released on Tuesday by Liz Kendall as work and pensions minister, aims to better integrate health, skills and employment.
This includes a variety of measures to combat unemployment and inactivity. It includes targeted support for those with disabilities and long-term mental and physical health conditions who are out of work.
Nick Pahl, chief executive of the Society of Occupational Medicine(SOM), described the whitepaper as “very disappointing” and vowed to raise it as many MPs he could in the coming weeks.
He said that the announcement in the paper of an independent review of the role employers play in maintaining and creating healthy and inclusive workplaces, was the most interesting part of the article from a OH/workplace-health perspective.
The review will continue until next summer. It will “consider actions, make evidence-based and practical suggestions that support employers in improving recruitment and retention of people with disabilities and health conditions. This will include via the new Jobs and Careers Service prevent people from becoming ill at work, and better support healthy workplaces for early intervention and increased returns to work”.
Pahl criticised the article on LinkedIn for “failing to recognize the importance of occupational health in helping people to stay at work and return to it”.
He also pointed out the now lost – even if glacially-slow – reform agenda put in place by previous Sunak administration which included looking at incentives to invest in OH.
Pahl was not alone in his concerns. Amy McKeown, OH consultant, said: “Seems like an obvious missed to me.”
I’m confident occupational health will find a voice and a place. She added that they are a vital part of the solution.
Kevin Bampton said that the British Occupational Hygiene Society’s (BOHS) white paper “ignores 1.7 million people who are made ill because of poor workplace health protection”.
He said: “If you don’t ‘diagnose,’ that this is a major contributing factor to your strategy from the start, it’s doomed!”
Kwasi Opoku, OH and wellness specialist at the University of Ghana, said: “If you dig deeper into the slogan ‘Healthy workplaces’ in most organizations, you will find that it is usually an annual day for wellbeing organised by HR. This is a good thing.”
He added that “having proper policies and procedures in place, based on an expert ‘health needs analysis’ is almost never present.”
Tee Guidotti, a health and safety consultant, said: “I believe the goal here is to feel great about talking the talk. Not to acknowledge that oh already knows how to walk the path.”
Julie Luff, OH advisor, agreed that: “The experts at OH are very shortsighted; this weak government is very OH.”
The white paper was described by OH physician Paul Baker as “another push into the long verdant vegetation”.
Sarah McIntosh, chief executive of Mental Health First Aid England, referred to the independent review as “timely and needed” in response to the Get Britain Working White Paper.
She continued: “The paper’s approach must be based on compassion. Not everyone can work. Many people would like to be employed, but are discouraged by stigma, obstacles, and discrimination. If the government wants to create healthy and fair workplaces, they must take action. It is also important to work with businesses in order to change outdated attitudes, and make ill-judged assumptions about cost.
Jack Latus is the chief executive officer of Latus Group which provides OH services. He said that “every employee deserves access healthcare but at the moment, those who are receiving it most are the employees in large companies with the resources to provide these benefits.”
“Healthcare is a right, not an extravagance, and businesses of all sizes should be able offer the best health care to their employees without affecting their bottom line.
He called for the establishment of “stronger incentives” for employers to invest in their employees’ health, and that consideration be given to whether healthcare “should be a standard benefit at work”.
He said: “In countries such as France and Germany businesses take a more active role in supporting the health of their employees. This model is well worth considering if you want to seriously drive productivity and economic development.”
Ben Harrison, director at Lancaster University’s Work Foundation, has highlighted the danger that people with long-term illnesses are not unintentionally pushed into low-quality and insecure work, which will only worsen their health in the end.
He said: “It’s critical that people with health problems don’t lose their benefits if they return to work but are unable sustain employment over the long term.”
“While it’s positive that the government plans to review the employer’s role in creating healthy, inclusive workplaces for those with disabilities and chronic illness, this must be backed up by a much larger focus on retention from the government and employers. In the past year, 128 people a day became economically inactive because of ill health. These reforms will not succeed if we don’t take urgent action to stop this wave of people quitting the workforce.
William Roberts of the Royal Society for Public Health echoed this need for healthcare access to be a standard requirement and a minimum within the workplace.
He said that “joining up the dots between our work and our health” is essential to building a more healthy Britain.
Everyone employed in the UK has the right to have a healthy work environment. Robertson said, “We hope that the independent review of the role of UK employer’s in promoting the health of their employees will recommend a minimum level of support for all workers.”
