a day ago
Heart attack patients will get job advice in hospital
Heart attack patients will get job advice in hospital as part of measures to tackle the worklessness crisis.
The NHS will also be set targets to reduce economic inactivity for the first time under radical reforms in the 10-year health plan.
Work coaches will be integrated into rehabilitation services for patients, including those recovering from heart attacks or suffering from other heart conditions.
It comes after a back-bench rebellion forced Labour to water down its welfare reforms, which aim to tackle rising disability claims and long-term sickness.
Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, will use the 10-year plan – due to be published this week – to demonstrate the Government remains serious about tackling the problem.
A report produced for the NHS in June found that long-term sickness was shrinking the UK economy by 10 per cent a year.
Mr Streeting will give greater power to local NHS services to run in a way that works for them, but in exchange he will demand results, including a new target to reduce long-term sickness in their respective areas by a yet to be determined percentage.
He told the Telegraph the NHS could not 'just be a recipient of Treasury funds' and instead it would 'help drive growth and cut economic inactivity'.
'Our 10-year plan will help to get our country back to health and back to work,' he said. 'We have already taken almost 250,000 cases off the waiting list and recruited 6,700 more mental health workers. Now we will put rocket boosters under those efforts.'
For the first time patients will also be able to refer themselves via the NHS app for help with back pain and arthritis, as well as mental health issues – the three leading causes of long-term sickness.
The NHS will build on a series of pilots that tie work and health together with doctors, saying the two are inextricably linked.
