Developing an Employability Focus within Acute Services

01 October 2009

The following provides an overview of the Pilot Programme in the process of being developed and implemented by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Acute Services Division. The aim of the programme is to test and evaluate the contribution that Acute Services can make to the wider employability agenda and the emerging vocational rehabilitation agenda. The Pilot Programme responds to a number of recent policies including the Scottish Government’s ‘Co-ordinated, integrated and fit for purpose: A Delivery Framework for Adult Rehabilitation in Scotland’ and current thinking and evidence around the key role healthcare professionals can play in supporting the employability of individuals with health conditions.

In the pilot phase, the programme will focus on integrating an employability or vocational focus within the following service area with an existing rehabilitation remit: Musculoskeletal; Neuro, Spinal, Rheumatology and Stroke. Within these services, Allied Healthcare Professionals (AHPs) will be focussed on as best placed to support the delivery of these interventions to the following groups:

• Individuals who are in-work but are experiencing difficulty in staying in work due to a health condition;
• Individuals who are temporarily absent from work because of a health condition;
• Individuals who are absent from their work due to a health condition for whom the absence is at risk of becoming long-term and who may become unemployed as a result;
• Individuals who have not worked for some time, or who have never worked, due to a health condition

The core components of the pilot programme are as follows:

• An audit to baseline AHP employability practice and identify the training and development they require to confidently and effectively deliver employability/ vocational interventions.
• The development of appropriate enquiry questions and employability ‘goals’ or ‘outcomes’ to enable AHPs to identify at the initial assessment stage individuals aspirations to stay in/return to work or access employability support at some stage in the therapeutic pathway.
• Training and capacity building activities aimed at supporting AHP to deliver existing health interventions with an added focus on enabling individuals to achieve their employability goals.
• The development of partnership arrangements and clear referral protocols to community based services across the NHS GGC area who are best placed to deliver specialist employability support.

In addition to this core programme, an enhanced vocational rehabilitation intervention will be piloted within Rheumatology Services aimed specifically at individuals who would benefit from additional specialist support to return to or stay in work. This will involve the placement of a dedicated Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist within the service.

The pilot programme is being coordinated by a working group chaired by the AHP Director for Acute Services and is being supported by the Glasgow Works City Strategy Initiative. The pilot will become operational early in 2011 and will be robustly monitored and evaluated with a view to extending the programme to other Acute Services.

For more information please contact:

Claire Stevens, Senior Health Promotions Officer, NHS GGC, Acute Service Strategy Implementation & Planning
Tel: 01412014964
Email: Claire.Stevens2@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
Or
Kim Murphy, New Connections Development Officer, Glasgow Works City Strategy Initiative
Tel: 0141-287-6491
Email: kim.murphy@drs.glasgow.gov.uk