The workplace has a significant impact on people’s health and well-being. Poor management of workplace health can lead to work-related ill health and to high levels of sickness absence. This gives real cause for concern, not least because of the costs involved, the impact on service delivery and the consequences for individual staff.

Sickness absence is a key business issue, and it is a key indicator of how well an organisation is managed.

To deliver these benefits we must: create workplaces where health, safety and well-being is protected and promoted; ensure staff have access to competent occupational health advice and support; improve access to preventative care and treatment for common health problems; enable people to remain in work while health problems are investigated and treated; and support and engage healthcare professionals on return-to-work issues