We were interested to see the editorial by Buijs et al on primary health care: the role for occupational health?1 It is clear that there is now a growing momentum across Europe to improve physicians’ awareness of the importance of work as a contributory factor towards health and wellbeing.
Following the Black review in 2008, the UK Government response, and the introduction of the new fit note there has been an important shift in attitudes among health professionals in the UK. A proactive approach and carefully designed programme of work, we believe, has been central to this shift.
The programme consists of collaboration across general practice, occupational health, and employers, providing a range of training materials to suit all learning styles. The training highlights the evidence base about the benefits of work as well as providing useful resources and strategies for GPs and other healthcare professionals when managing the work and health consultation. More than 3500 GPs across the UK have now attended face-to-face training run by the RCGP and many have downloaded e-Learning resources. All the resources, training, and information sit within one website created as part of this initiative in collaboration with UK and Welsh Government called Healthy Working UK.2 The next stage in this work is to embed the resources into specialist training and appraisal and work is being undertaken in collaboration with the RCGP in the UK to see how this may be achieved. Resources and ‘champions’ across all medical schools in the UK have also been developed and support the undergraduate curriculum. Further resources are also being developed to support key messages across all medical specialties. We believe that this work alongside the new fit note (and the launch of the electronic fit note in July this year) will support physicians in the UK to embed ‘health and work’ into their clinical management.
- © British Journal of General Practice 2013