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Investing in Healthcare: breaking down the silos

Brussels, 16 October 2013
With the endorsement of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU In partnership with the European Economic and Social Committee Co-chaired by Antonyia Parvanova MEP & Gianni Pittella, Vice-President, EP

Return on early intervention

Investing in Healthcare: breaking down the silos

Prof Stephen Bevan

Founding Co-President, Fit for Work Europe Director, Centre for Workforce Effectiveness The Work Foundation

The case for a cross-governmental budgeting (the case of RMDs)

The Case for Cross-Governmental Budgeting

The Case of RMDs

Stephen Bevan
Director, Centre for Workforce Effectiveness, The Work Foundation (UK) Honorary Professor, Lancaster University, UK Founding President, Fit for Work Europe Coalition

A Reminder MSDs in the EU

Major cause of incapacity in the workforce

MSDs cost 240 bn each year 2% of GDP

Over 40m EU workers have MSDs Major & growing impact on productivity, labour market participation & social inclusion as the workforce ages & health spending is scrutinised

Some workplace risks for MSDs growing

MSDs cause 49% of absence from work

Pre-existing MSDs & psycho-social factors understated

Sustainability?
Across the EU, only 3% of health spending is devoted to Prevention with over 70% of spending now on chronic illness, this is unsustainable Early intervention for people of working age with chronic conditions such as MSDs can be a form of prevention which ensures patients pay rather than consume tax However, early diagnosis & treatment is still too slow Too many clinicians fail to consider Work as a clinical outcome Social Security systems are poor at supporting people with chronic conditions to remain in work Employers need to play a part too.

MSDs & Lost Productivity

UK 300k people move from long-term absence to permanent disability benefits 822 a day: 13% have MSDs 35m working days lost to MSDs each year

A Win:Win for Policymakers?

Healthcare interventions which help people remain in work reduce welfare payments, avoid lost tax revenues & avoid social exclusion BUT we still focus on health as a COST

If early interventions can reduce temporary work disability by 25% the equivalent of an extra 640k EU workers would be available for work each day If TWD was reduced by 39% this figure rises to 1 million additional workers each day

MSDs & Work Ability - UK

National Audit Office has calculated that improved clinical outcomes for people with rheumatoid arthritis could be achieved if early intervention was increased by 10 per cent. However, these gains would be need to be achieved by first increasing expenditure in the health care system (NHS) by 11 million over 5 years. A productivity payoff estimated to be 31million over 5 years from reduced sick leave and lower unemployment would accrue to individuals, employers and to the Department of Work and Pensions. This elegant and apparently persuasive economic argument was put to, and accepted by the Public Accounts Committee an influential group of MPs in the House of Commons. Despite wide support the political argument has yet to be won and no action based on this NAO example has yet been taken.

Invest to Save
By 2030 up to 45% of the EU workforce will have a long-term or chronic health condition which will affect their productivity Are we just going to wait for them all to get ill so we can then make them better or keep them functional, at massive cost? Joined-up, coordinated, cross-government action with a preventative focus and an Investment mindset is desperately needed Every Minister is a Health Minister

Thank you for attending the Fit for Work Summit 2013.
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