Fit for Work
[ch 10: page 198]The government’s national occupational health service (OHS), Fit for Work, closed at the end of March 2018 after less than three years of operation. There is still a Fit for Work advice helpline, website and web chat, offering general health and work advice and support on sickness absence.
The government says it is looking at how to shape, fund and deliver effective occupational health services and “aims to be in a position to set out a clear direction and strategy for future reform by 2019-20”. In April 2019, the Work and Health Unit, which leads the government’s strategy to support disabled people and people with long-term health conditions to enter and stay in work, published research on how and why employers use OHSs. It also looked at why employers do not buy OHSs. A summary of the report, Employers’ motivations and practices: A study of the use of occupational health services, can be found on the gov.uk website.
Web-based advice and details of the occupational health services available to businesses via the NHS can be found at the NHS Health at Work website.
Work and Health Unit, Employers’ motivations and practices: A study of the use of occupational health services (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/789894/employers-motivations-and-practices-a-study-of-the-use-of-occupational-health-services.pdf)
NHS Health at Work, (www.nhshealthatwork.co.uk)