The second round of the national clinical audit of occupational health (OH) care on depression detection and management of staff on long-term sickness absence in England demonstrates that higher quality care is now being delivered.
Between April and June 2010, the average sickness absence rate for the NHS in England was 3.89%. The audit, commissioned by NHS Plus and conducted by the Health and Work Development Unit (HWDU) at the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), found that over 97% of the 7,636 case notes audited contained an action plan, which is a vital step towards ensuring an earlier return to work.
