Health and Work Support Available for Healthcare Professionals
28 July 2010
The profile of health and well-being in the workplace has been raised over the last few years, reflecting medical evidence that work can be beneficial for people with health conditions...
The profile of health and well-being in the workplace has been raised over the last few years, reflecting medical evidence that work can be beneficial for people with health conditions. The British Medical Association recently acknowledged this when they carried a resolution about work being good for health and well-being at their Annual Representative Meeting in June 2010.
Practice managers may want to ensure that GPs and other healthcare professionals in their practice are aware of a number of initiatives available to them, that provide access to training, information and advice on health and work issues.
Occupational health advice line for GPs
A telephone advice service, providing GPs with support on health and work issues affecting individual patients, is available in England, Scotland and Wales. The service connects GPs with qualified occupational health nurses who provide professional and confidential support on all occupational health issues.
The advice line is delivered by NHS Plus in England, by the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives in Scotland, and by the Welsh Assembly in Wales.
Country |
Name |
Telephone Number |
Web site |
| England | Occupational Health Adviceline for GPs | 0800 022 4233 | www.health4work.nhs.uk |
| Scotland | Healthy Working Lives Adviceline | 0800 019 2211 | www.healthyworkinglives.com |
| Wales | Health at Work Adviceline Wales | 0800 107 0900 | www.healthyworkingwales.com |
Healthy Working UK Web site
www.healthyworkinguk.co.uk is a new Web site for GPs and other primary healthcare professionals, providing guidance on dealing with health ans work during consultations.
The Web site was developed by the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Society of Ocucaptional Medicine and the Faculty of Occupational Medicine.
National Educational Programme for GPs
Since June 2009, a National Education Programme for GPs has been taking place to raise awareness of the positive links between health and work and ensure GPs can provide support and advice to patients about fitness for work issues. The Programme consists of a series of one off, half day, workshops.
For more information on the Workshops, and to book places, please visit www.rcgp.org.uk/healthandwork.
Fit Note Guidance
Comprehensive guidance for healthcare professionals on the Fit Note is available at www.dwp.gov.uk/fitnote.
Doctors seeking general advice on medical statements (including the Fit Note), reports and disability benefits are advised to call the Atos Healthcare line.
You can find your local Atos healthcare contact number at www.dwp.gov.uk/heatlhcare-professional/guidance/atos-healthcare.
Please note that Atos is a general advice service for doctors and does not cater for individual patient queries.
The telephone numbers and Web sites referenced in this article are also available on the Quick Links page of the PMN site.