Employers call for revamp of GP mental health services

Recent research from the CIPD shows employers are calling for a radical revamp of the way GPs help people with mental health problems successfully return to work. GPs are typically rated negatively by employers for the low level of support they provide in helping people with mental health problems return to work.

Almost 40 per cent of employers rate GP support in this area as either very poor or fairly poor compared with only 20 per cent who rate GP support as good or very good. The survey also shows employers receive medical reports from GPs for just 50 per cent of employees off work with long term mental health problems, even though seven in 10 employers ask GPs to provide a report.

Employers are supporting a range of proposals for revamping how GP services are delivered. These include:

• a revamped Med 3 Sicknote including more information on phased return to work: 77 per cent of employers thought this would be effective or fairly effective;

•  improved training for GPs on ‘fitness for work’ issues: 77 per cent of respondents rated this proposal as effective or fairly effective;

•  changes to GP contracts to incentivise closer working with patients’ employers and provision of advice on phased return to work: supported by 70 per cent of respondents as effective or fairly effective;

•  an electronic sick note system to provide faster and clearer communication between GPs and employers: 52 per cent rated this proposal as likely to be effective or fairly effective, although 20 per cent rated this proposal as ineffective or fairly ineffective;

•  employment advisers in GP surgeries: supported by 60 per cent of HR practitioners as likely to be effective compared to 13 per cent who thought the opposite.