GP pilot scheme to help sick people back to work

A pilot scheme aimed at helping people with health conditions back into work is to be introduced to GP practices across a county.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough are among 15 regions to share £1.5m from the government's WorkWell Primary Care Innovation Fund.

Patients with fit notes - better known as sick notes - will be connected with support services to provide work and health advice, freeing up GPs to treat patients, according to the government.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: "It's about fundamentally changing the conversation from, 'You can't' to, 'How can we help you?'.

"When someone walks into their doctor's surgery worried about their job, they should walk out with a plan, not just a piece of paper that closes doors."

Sick notes, officially known as fitness to work notes, are written evidence that someone's ill health is affecting their fitness for work.

A "fit note" certifies a patient is ill, confirming a valid reason for staying off work and eligibility for sick pay.

According to the government, 11 million fit notes were issued electronically in primary care in England and Wales last year and 93% of those who received them were not offered constructive alternative or support pathway.

The WorkWell project, jointly run by the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health and Social Care, aims to support 56,000 people with disabilities or health conditions to return to work.

The government said examples of possible WorkWell interventions included:

• Hiring work and health coaches, social prescribers, or occupational therapists for GP teams to refer patients to for holistic support, help and advice, from gym memberships to career coaching
• Supporting and upskilling occupational therapists or physiotherapists to issue fit notes and improve the quality of work and health advice given to a patient
• Upskilling GPs and wider GP teams to improve their ability to support patients with local work and health advice

Streeting said: "We can't afford to keep writing people off.

"Every person we help back into work isn't just transforming their own life – they're contributing to our communities, our economy, and breaking the cycle that's been holding Britain back."

About 2.8m people are currently out of work due to health conditions, according to official figures.

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