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CASE STUDY 1

EARLY INTERVENTION

Individual was absent from work from July 2010 complaining of back pain from an alleged injury at work. His manager referred him to Occupational Health late December 2010 as little progress was made.  The Occupational Health Advisor sent a letter to his GP requesting a referral to an Orthopaedic Specialist.  A private appointment, company funded, was arranged for the individual to be seen by the specialist early February.  Treatment was undertaken following examination and the individual returned to work today.

There was a 5 month period of absence from when the individual was off work to seeking Occupational Health intervention.  The individual returned to work within 2 months (taking into consideration holiday season, GP and specialist appointment waiting times) of consulting with the OHA.

CASE STUDY 2

WORKPLACE ASSESSMENTS FOR HAND ARM VIBRATION (HAVS)

Correct assessment of job roles and interpretation of HAVS questionnaires and follow up assessment if declaration of symptoms will help reduce the cost of claims.

Clarity Healthcare prides itself in having OH practitioners qualified in the assessment of HAVS to level 3.  After undertaking an onsite assessment a decision can be taken immediately to state whether the employee has /has not got HAVS and whether further investigation is required.

The claim costs for HAVS is a six figure sum due to the limitation of employment.

RISK PROFILING

Each plant/site should undergo risk profiling on a rolling programme; this establishes the potential for accidents to employees and visitors.
As part of the programme Occupational Health should be considered as a vital input for the employees and visitors to site to ensure that the company does not place either at risk. Prevention through education and assessment is preferable to absence and claim resolution.

Risk profiling is essential as a general business tool for the benefit of the shareholders to establish that the company is healthy both financially and publically; bad publicity following accidents that could have been prevented is not something any company wants and limits the general confidence in the said company.

CASE STUDY 3

Sickness Absence Management

Large national distributor, significant increase in sickness absence, reduction in HR budget due to cut backs, required a cost effective and timely solution to manage sickness absence.

Company X are a leading player in the distribution industry operating from 37 sites across the UK.  They employ about 4000 people from Warehouse Operatives to Drivers.  Sickness Absence has become a significant problem as the number of cases requiring attention has doubled over the last year. Unfortunately due to the recession cut backs were made across the business.  The challenge facing HR was managing sickness absence on a declining budget. They required a cost effective solution that would help them deal with their short and long term cases. 

Clarity Healthcare's Occupational Health service includes a first line telephone consultation service that deals with short term absences promptly leaving face to face consultations for more complex cases that may require further investigation.  Each referral is reviewed in the first instance to recommend whether they are suitable for a telephone consultation or require a face to face consultation. The majority of the cases were referred for telephone consultations.  The benefits included:

Reduction in Waiting Time

The length of time between the referral being received and the consultation offered was reduced by up to 75%.  Employees were contacted within 48 hours of receiving the referral.  This meant that the employee was receiving advice within a short period of time.  If further information was required such as reports these were requested immediately.  Therefore if the individual required a face to face consultation all necessary reports were requested whilst awaiting the face to face consultation appointment.

Cost Saving

90% of cases were dealt with over the telephone with a clear outcome and recommendations.  This saved HR time in managing the case and the cost of the individual's earnings, resource cover, and Occupational Health consultation fees. 

If over a period of 3 months 10 employees were referred to Occupational Health following a series of absences, each earning approximately £15,000, 8 were identified as appropriate for telephone consultations and 2 for face to face consultations.  The cost savings were as follows:

Company X have made significant cost reductions and managed to tackle a large number of cases.  They continue to use telephone consultations as the main service for dealing with case management.

Important Note:

Sickness Absence was 11% in August 2007, after a period of 6 months in January 2008 it was a little over 5%.

Company X employed 4000 full-time employees over 12 months; the average wage bill was circa £52,000,000.

On average the sickness absence should run at circa 4%.  Therefore (purely in terms of the cost of the sick employee) sickness absence was (on average) costing individual sites £104,000 per annum.  The priority was maintaining a consistent % as the cost would immediately impact on the operating profit of the operation.

Therefore the cost saving to the whole business was £3,120,000