New ‘Work Charter’ launched to help 6.5m people with musculoskeletal conditions to stay in work
Tuesday, 02 March 2010
Stephen Bevan
Category: Health and Wellbeing
Today sees the launch of a ‘Work Charter’ for people with musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in the UK. MSDs - an umbrella term that covers over 200 different ailments including arthritis, back pain and damage to joints, muscles and tendons – affect twice as many people as ‘stress’, account for a third of all GP consultations, cause 9.5 million lost working days, and cost society £7.4bn a year. An association of patient groups, The Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance (ARMA) has led the drafting of the Charter and The Work Foundation is happy to support it as it strongly echoes messages from our own
Fit for Work? Research which has looked at the factors which help or hinder full participation at work among the 6.5 million UK citizens who have MSDs.
We are especially keen to emphasise the importance of early interventions to diagnose and treat MSDs so that people with these conditions can stay attached to the labour market and avoid prolonged periods of unemployment, which can be even worse for their health. Our research has shown that GPs can make a big difference in helping people with MSDs to stay in or return to work and we expect that the Government’s ‘Fit Note’, due to be introduced later this year, will help both GPs and employers understand what people with MSDs can still contribute to work and support them to stay in work.
Our work on this topic has now extended in several areas. First, we have conducted studies of MSDs and Work in
23 European and other countries and have found considerable variation in awareness and practice. Second, we are conducting new research on the mental health of people with MSDs – quite often depression or anxiety can seriously impede return to work, even after the physical symptoms of MSDs improve. Today I will be presenting the results of our EU research to a ‘special interest group’ of MEPs in the European Parliament in Brussels. The European Commission is soon to publish a new Directive on Work-related MSDs and The Work Foundation is hoping to influence the way parts of the Directive and its guidance is drafted.
