The Department of Health and Social Care (DH) today (July 11) announced the launch of a new pilot scheme to “support people with health conditions back into employment and ease pressure” on GPs.
Backed by £1.5 million, the new WorkWell Primary Care Innovation Fund will trial a new approach to how fit notes are issued across 15 regions instead of “GPs spending valuable consultation time on administrative fit note processes”, it said.
The funding will enable pilot sites to connect people to “local support services” such as pharmacists to “provide work and health advice to more patients receiving a fit note”, it added.
Read more: Unemployment scheme to recruit into ‘pharmacy support’ roles
“WorkWell sites will use this funding to explore how specialist professionals like pharmacists and occupational therapists can provide comprehensive support that benefits patients, employers and reduces pressure on primary care services,” the DH said.
“Patients will receive targeted and timely support to manage their health condition while exploring realistic options for staying in or returning to work, rather than facing a dead-end ‘not fit for work’ declaration,” it added.
“Support pathway”
The scheme is expected to support up to 56,000 disabled people and people with health conditions into work by spring 2026, according to the DH.
Some 2.8 million people are currently out of work due to health conditions but of the 11 million electronic fit notes issued in primary care across England last year, 93% declared people “not fit for work” rather than offering a “constructive alternative or support pathway”, it said.
Read more: DH to launch pharmacist-staffed ‘neighbourhood health services’
The pilot could also include interventions such as:
- Hiring work and health coaches, social prescribers or occupational therapists for GP teams to refer patients to for holistic support, 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 patients
- Upskilling GPs and wider GP teams to improve their ability to support patients with local work and health advice
Read more: DH to roll out 42 neighbourhood health hubs from September
The scheme “directly supports” the 10-year health plan’s commitment to “embed employment advice within new neighbourhood health services”, the DH said.
It comes after the health secretary last month announced a new £5m pilot scheme to help those facing “barriers into employment” secure NHS jobs such as “pharmacy support” roles.
