In their workshop yesterday, Melanie Summers, AIG Medical & Rehabilitation Ltd, and Steve Eckhardt, AIG Europe (UK) Ltd, said that this model has shown that successful return to work packages are more cost effective than late intervention, due to the nature of treatment being quicker and more effective in the acute phase of illness rather than the chronic, in addition to the associated psychological effects of long term absence on an individual. However, with employee motivation and the correct graduated return to work package, both forms of rehabilitation have proved successful.
They explained that rehabilitation is not only suitable for victims of a personal injury either at work, in a motor accident or in a public place but also a suitable programme for absence management programmes that address ill health holistically through an active occupational health programme.
