175m days lost to illness says new report

A report on the health and wellbeing of today’s working population has highlighted the number of days lost to illness in 2006.

The number, which is approximately 175 million, suggests higher levels of employment are being compromised by economic and social losses through sickness, Dame Carol Black said in Working for a Healthier Tomorrow.

According to the research, three per cent of people are off work due to illness at any one time, with absence costing the taxpayer some £60 billion overall.

Consequently, Dame Carol sets out a number of challenges and approaches to improving occupational health and wellbeing, including the implementation of “fit notes” to indicate what ill workers can do, rather than sick notes which focus on what they cannot.

“The working environment itself can be a major influence on [employees’] wellbeing,” she continued.

“Supporting working-age health today requires un to reach much further.”

Dame Carol served as the president of the Royal College of Physicians from 2002 to 2006.