In her ground-breaking report on the health of people of working age, Dame Carol Black calls for a new approach to health and work. Pointing to the economic and human costs of ill-health and its impact on work, she has said: "we cannot go on as we are". A rheumatologist and arguably the most eminent woman in British medicine, Dame Carol is National Director for Health and Work.
This Masterclass by Dame Carol Black sought to stimulate fresh debate about health and work and, in response to the challenges set out in the Black Review, about the part the public sector must play.
The aim of the Black Review was to identify the factors that stand in the way of good health, and to elicit interventions including changes in attitudes, behaviours and practices as well as services that can help overcome them. It reported that many common diseases are directly linked to lifestyle factors, but that these were generally not the conditions that keep people out of work. Instead common mental health problems and musculoskeletal disorders are the major causes of sickness absence.
Dame Carol's report suggests that the focus should be on keeping people who are in work healthy and getting them back to work if they have been sick. In effect that, work should more often be seen as an aid to recovery rather than something to be avoided. Early interventions to combat sickness absence, a reformed sick note with support for GPs and other healthcare professionals, an expanded role for occupational health, and case workers to deal with incapacity benefit claimants are among its wide-ranging recommendations.
Dame Carol has urged Government to lay the foundations for long-term change through, among other things, a renewed commitment to make the public sector an exemplar. Government at Westminster has responded by outlining a series of initiatives to be taken forward.
Dame Carol was introduced by Leo O'Reilly, Permanent Secretary at the Department of Finance and Personnel. Dr Paddy Woods, Acting Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety responded to waht Dame Carol had to say and the Masterclass Programme alowed plenty of time for discussion of issues raised, of how the agenda might be taken forward and policy and good practice developed in Northern Ireland.
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