Long-term Sickness
Long-term sickness can be devastating for both the company and the individual. In many
cases the company is unable to determine if the case is genuine and if so, how can they
help and if not, what can they do about it?
Medical intervention by the company using a good occupational Health service is required
not only to determine what the problem is but if it’s genuine or not, and in the case of the
latter, what to do about it. The company also has a duty of care to their employees and
should therefore take all reasonable steps to try and get that person back to work making
any adjustments, either temporary or permanent, as advised by the doctor
It’s a well recognised fact that someone off ill for a long period of time will be harder to get
back to work than someone who is only off ill for a short period of time and the longer they
are off, the more their confidence ebbs away making a return to work a very stressful
proposition for them.
A good Occupational health team will manage the case on behalf of the company, obtaining
information from the employees own medical team and reviewing case notes, job
description, sickness absence record and information from the employees HR department
so that they fully understand what the problems are and how they impact on the employee
and their ability to do the job. A medical review is usually undertaken to get firsthand
knowledge from the employee and in many cases this has the added benefit of giving the
employee the benefit of a second opinion on the course of treatment being undertaken.
The whole aim is to understand their condition and manage that individual back to work.
There are instances where the illness may be a recognised long-term problem like cancer
for example and in most instances like this employers are eager to understand what impact
this will have on the individual and their ability to do the job and how they can help.