Putting job advisers in more general practices to help sick and disabled people back into work risks discouraging some patients from seeking medical help, doctors have warned.
In the Connect to Work programme specialist employment advisers in practices support people who have a long term condition or disability, regardless of whether they are claiming benefits. People can refer themselves or be referred by a GP.
The programme currently operates in 21 areas of England. On 9 October the government announced it was expanding it to another nine areas, including Cumbria, Oxfordshire, and West Sussex, to provide “intensive support” to more than 40 000 people through £167m of investment.1
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) plans to invest £1bn to eventually roll out the scheme to all of England and Wales and help around 300 000 people into work by the end of the decade. The government estimates that around 2.8 …
