The Importance of Clinical Intervention

The Work Foundation has just released a 10 page report showing the benefits of early intervention in the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) citing a really good study from Madrid to support the case. You can read the full report by clicking here. 

It also highlights the barriers to successful early intervention including this one:

Health Technology Appraisal (HTA). In some countries, HTA (the mechanism which assesses whether the costs of medical treatments and devices are balanced by the benefits and therefore will be reimbursed) looks at the economic and societal benefits of giving patients access to treatment which will help them remain in work. In others only the direct clinical benefits and costs are examined, but not the labour market impact.

I’d like to know whether the UK government only examines the direct clinical benefits and costs. The Madrid study showing a cost benefit of 1:15 should make the UK government  realise that this really is an area where investing to save is the winning economic argument and that at the very least, there should be tax breaks on any employer spend on clinical intervention.