Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health

Primary Care and Employment

GPs can offer patients effective support to get back to work following the issuing of a medical certificate. The best approach requires a combination of:

1. appropriate therapy (e.g. cognitive behavioural therapy)
2. an assessment of fitness to work
3. communication with employers and JobCentre Plus
4. a back-to-work plan

The process of sickness certification should include a consideration of the potential side-effects of being off work. It is a therapeutic intervention that has both beneficial effects and potential unplanned effects.

The education and training offered to GPs is already changing to reflect the importance of employment to people's health. Changes are also needed in the way health services are commissioned; in the incentive structure of the GP contract; in the culture of general practice and in the IT systems available to primary care staff.

We are working with GPs to make these changes and help people get back to work.

Employment advisors in Cambridgeshire

GPs in Cambridgeshire are providing access to specialist employment advisers in their surgeries to help people with mental health problems keep their jobs or get into work.

The Retain / Regain scheme is run by the Richmond Fellowship. It is hoped the scheme will help to break the link between depression, unemployment and poverty by helping people retain their jobs and helping those who do not have work to get into the labour market.

We are carrying out a research study into this scheme, contacting both GPs and people who have used the service to find out whether and how it makes a difference. It will report early in 2009.

The Greater Cambridge Partnership, through the East of England Development Agency's Investing in Communities programme, is supporting this important work as it has the potential to shape the way in which the Pathways To Work programme is delivered in future.

For any more information regarding the project contact: Mike Carter , Investing in Communities Manager on 01223 714083 Auriol Lamb Cubitt, Senior Employment Adviser, Retain / Regain on 01223 242267

For further information on the research contact Helen Lockett.