Health professionals are being urged to adopt five key principles designed to embed, and promote, the idea that access to ‘good work’ is a health outcome in its own right.

The call to action has been published as part of a ‘consensus statement’ on workplace health by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the Royal College of Nursing, and the Allied Health Professions Federation.

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The consensus statement by the three organisations is their first since 2019, since when, of course, we have had the Covid-19 pandemic, among a range of other key changes in the workplace and workplace health.

The statement has highlighted in particular the rise of ill health-related worklessness, with the Office for National Statistics calculating that, as of September last year, 9.25 million people in the UK aged 16 to 64 are economically inactive.

Long-term sickness was given as the reason for 30% of these (or 2.8 million people) and, of those, nearly two-fifths (38%) reported having five or more health conditions (up from 34% in 2019), suggesting that many have interlinked and complex health issues.

This has, in turn, prompted the government’s Get Britain Working white paper and Keep Britain Working review of workplace health.

The age of the working population is also increasing, the consensus statement emphasised, with many more people as a result experiencing ill health alongside trying to hold down and remain in work.

To that end, the statement has urged all healthcare professionals to:

Ask the work question. What do you do for work, how are you managing in work, and what may help you get back to work?

Understand through training the importance of work as a health outcome. So, how health may be promoted through good work, and where to signpost their patients who need further support.

Be able to advise their patients on the impact of health conditions and treatment on their work, and on adjustments to assist those with disabilities. This should be through easy access to up-to-date guidance from government, professional bodies, and work and health professionals.

Derive most value from the ‘fit note’ in primary care, hospitals and in the community. This could be through training for health professionals, and using updated easy-to-use guidance.

Recognise their own role in supporting healthy and safe working environments. This should include looking after their own health and wellbeing, and promoting the health and wellbeing of their colleagues within the organisations in which they work.

“Healthcare professionals can also promote a culture where good work is seen as a benefit to people,” the consensus statement has concluded.

“Through promoting healthy life choices and lifestyles, healthcare professionals might also contribute to the prevention of ill health and injury, so reducing risk of people falling out of work, as well as supporting people to enter, remain in, or return to work,” it added.

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