Managing ill health

According to the latest Department of Health data, the number of patients waiting more than six weeks for diagnostic tests rose by over 50% at the end of August. The data covers the waiting times for 15 diagnostic tests carried out on the NHS, including MRI, CT Scans and colonoscopies.

In the past year, a number of insurers have launched products aimed at offering faster access to private diagnostic services. If NHS waiting times continue to increase, more providers will be looking to fill this time gap which is a significant factor in absence and rehabilitation costs.

Those employers who have relied upon, what was perceived as improving NHS wait times as part of their employee healthcare strategy, might have to review the financial impact of this aspect of the service getting worse.

As employers get to grips with the provisions of the new Equality Act that came into force 1st October, a recent survey from the Cancer Charity Macmillan shows that many do not realise that employees diagnosed with cancer are covered under disability discrimination. At the same time, less than 40% of those employees know their rights under the Act.

Macmillan’s report ‘ Making It Work’ is a very good guide for employers and the 700,000 people of working age who are currently living with the condition.

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I recently went to one of the workshops on Health and Work for General Practitioners run by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP). The DWP has invested £1m in this series of workshops up to March 2011 on the back of the Fit Note launch earlier this year. I was keen to see the current GP perspective and whether this is money well spent.  Whilst it is not clear as to how the success of the programme will be measured – which is a major drawback – from what I could see, it has all the makings of a good investment. (more…)

Legal and General have recently published some interesting stats on their group income protection early notification incentive scheme since its introduction in 2005. What struck me most is that they claim to have returned 73% of long term absentees through the provision of rehabilitation services to employers and their staff. I’d love to know how much the premiums cost the employers concerned set against the savings on absence, sick pay and ill health early retirement. (more…)

The media ran a story yesterday about an NHS Trust that will refuse pay rises to workers who have taken more than 18 days off sick or had 4 separate sick absences.  A Trust spokesperson says that it is part of a new performance appraisal system,  is discretionary and will not be applied to those with long-term illnesses or disabilities. Assuming it can do this legally and not in contravention of any employment law, what’s your view on this approach? Here are some of my thoughts based on what’s been reported so far.   (more…)

There was an article in the Sunday press about a urology surgeon, Stephen Keoghane who is launching a new website where consultants can record information about themselves to help patients make an informed choice as to who is best to treat them.  There is evidence to suggest that certain outcomes following surgery may be directly related to a critical number of operations performed by that consultant.  This makes eminent sense to me. (more…)

Figures recently released show that in 2009, employer- funded PMI policies fell by 4.7% which I think is mainly attributable to businesses failing or reducing their headcount in the recession rather than removing private healthcare provision.  Levels of corporate PMI are driven by levels of employment. When the economic climate is good, insurers increase their volume of business which contracts in a downturn.  But this time round there is an interesting paradox which could see some forward thinking insurers reverse this trend. (more…)