This book for health professionals is about helping people who have been off sick return to work. Its straightforward, practical advice will enable doctors and nurses make a real difference in helping their patients remain actively in employment.

‘Clinicians emphasise the importance of rest, and therefore of relief from work, to aid the natural healing that occurs with the passage of time. But often that understanding is unmatched by advice and encouragement about timely return to work following illness or injury and the benefits for health and wellbeing.

‘Hence the place for this volume. It is designed to fill a gap common in clinical practice, by showing ways of helping and encouraging patients to return to or even to stay in work when they fall sick or are injured or are disabled. It is heavily based on personal experience of the authors, and is illustrated by vignettes that bring out significant clinical dilemmas.’ Professor Dame Carol Black, in her Foreword

‘Designed to fill a gap common in clinical practice, by showing ways of helping and encouraging patients to return to or even to stay in work’
Professor Dame Carol Black, in her Foreword

* Introduction
* Why does rehabilitation for work matter?
* Detecting and dealing with the barriers for return to work
* Primary care and rehabilitation for work
* A lay adviser in occupational health’s perspective Assessment of fitness for work in practice
* Who else is involved, what do they do, and how you can engage them?
* Specific causes of absence - case discussions
* The UK social security system and rehabilitation
* The legal framework

This really is a very good book, not just because it gives a decent account of the current hot topic - vocational rehabilitation - but also because of its highly practical approach, which does not get bogged down in clinical detail readily available elsewhere. It is illustrated throughout with realistic case examples, difficult issues and thought-provoking anecdotes. The clear advice presented here will help practitioners support their patients in negotiating their way back to work.’ OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AT WORK