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The NHS in England will be set targets on getting people back to work, as ministers plan to link patient data to employment status and benefits claims to assess how much the health service boosts the economy. <\/p>\n
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, is promising to make the NHS \u201caccountable\u201d for whether patients are in work by introducing goals across England for how many people the health service should get to return to employment. <\/p>\n
Ministers hope to use the NHS to reduce Britain\u2019s rising sickness benefit bill and deal with a post-pandemic high of 2.8mn people out of work through long-term illness. <\/p>\n
They want the health service to focus more on the employment status of those of working age, despite a traditional reluctance among clinical staff to take economic considerations into account in prioritising treatment. <\/p>\n
Local health boards will this week be told to begin the process of developing nationwide employment targets after ministers were encouraged by early-stage pilots, according to people briefed on the plans. <\/p>\n
Initiatives in Yorkshire, Cumbria and the North East have been offering treatments ranging from cardiac rehabilitation to physiotherapy and occupational health with the explicit goal of getting patients back to work. <\/p>\n