The effectiveness of the Fit for Work service

Lessons from the Fit for Work evaluation – improving access to workplace health advice

Summary:

In spring 2018 the government’s Fit for Work assessment service closed. But what lessons can be learnt from the country’s first nationwide initiative to provide basic occupational health assessment and advice to every person in the labour force, regardless of where they worked? Clare Huxley and Rosie Gloster led a DWP-funded project to evaluate the service and now report their findings.

In 2008, Dame Carol Black’s review of the health of Britain’s working-age population advocated an expanded role for occupational health to help people stay in work as a means of improving their health and wellbeing1. In response to this review, the Fit for Work service was developed and launched in October 2014. Fit for Work was an occupational health assessment and advice service looking to address long-term sickness absence; the assessment part was operational until spring 2018…

Clare Huxley and Rosie Gloster

Author: Huxley C, Gloster R

Tags dwp - department for work and pensions ffw - fit for work service gp - general practitioner mental health msd - musculoskeletal disorder Return to work sickness absence

Occupational Health at Work April/May 2019 (vol. 15/6) pp21-28

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