NHS to prescribe home exercise videos to help sick employees return to work

Steve Barkley, health secretary, said addressing the economic impact of the long-term sick is a priority. Credit: Lauren Hurley/DHSC

The NHS will distribute home exercise videos to workers with back pain as part of a campaign to stem the rising tide of unemployment.

Ministers plan to roll out «digital therapy» to treat musculoskeletal disorders musculoskeletal system (MSK). ) conditions that keep millions of Brits out of work.

The proposals were drawn up as part of an effort to reverse the growing number of people associated with long-term illnesses.

Steve Barclay, health secretary, told The Telegraph that fighting such diseases is vital to growing the economy and easing pressure on the National Health System.

A tenth of the entire working-age population, about 4.5 million people. , report suffering from MSK conditions such as pain in the back, neck, arms and legs.

The number of those who signed up for a long-term illness has increased by a third since the beginning of the pandemic and now stands at 1.35 million, up 460,000 in three years.

Ministers have called the surge in such diseases a major setback to the economy and want to prevent more people from dropping out of the workforce.

Returning to the workforce

Mr Barclay told The Telegraph: «More than one in five people who are economically inactive, have diseases of the musculoskeletal system. With proper care and support, many of them could return to work.

“This will benefit both them and the economy, and will also help ease the pressure on the National Health System. Many of those who are currently unemployed for health reasons would like to find decent and fulfilling jobs.

His department has released plans to “support people with MSK disease so they can better manage their symptoms and stay at work.”

The offerings said, “This includes providing free access to digital MSK treatments through the NHS app. and other national digital channels.

“These services do not require a referral to a GP, so they are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to meet demand.”

In London, the Guy and St. Thomas NHS Foundation has begun offering patients, who attend his fracture clinics, home exercise programs to help them recover.

They were redirected to an app where they were told which videos to watch and how. often health professionals can track their exercise performance.

Community Centers for Patients

The ministers also plan to turn institutions such as entertainment centers into «MSK Community Centers» where people can attend classes and receive treatment without going to a doctor.

In addition, job coaches will be based in places where like physiotherapy and general practitioners' offices «to help people with illnesses return to or stay at work.»

The plans came after official data showed that a key government position only one in five people were employed under the scheme a year later.

Only 797 of the 3,817 people enrolled in the state labor and health program last May, found a full-time job after 12 months.

The program offers specialized support for people who have the most difficulty finding work, with the majority of participants being disabled.

However, “employment outcomes” – where people either earn above a certain threshold within six months or are self-employed in the same period – are the worst among the long-term unemployed, with only 8% of them finding a job after a year.

Jeremy's Big Challenge Hunt

The numbers show how Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, is facing a huge challenge in getting benefit recipients back to work to help the economy grow.

Official figures show that more than 3.5 million people are claiming benefits without having to look for work, including about 2.5 million who were deemed too sick to work.

Expected to The government will announce the changes this week. to a work capacity assessment that determines whether a person is fit enough to work to make it difficult to receive benefits.

Jonathan Ashworth, Labor Party Minister for Underground Work and Pensions, said: number of people out of work due to illness, the Tories have abandoned major reforms to help people find quality jobs.»

A spokesman for the Department of Works and Pensions said: «We have taken decisive action to help people are starting to work, and the decline in inactivity, which has fallen by more than 300,000 since the peak of the pandemic, shows that our plan is working.

“As of February 2022, the Work and Health Program has supported 210,000 person in employment. work, of which 160,000 became disabled.”