CSP: Prevention important for workplace health

The government's approach to tackling workplace ill health must include prevention as well as treatment, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) believes.

Chief executive Phil Gray made the call after Dame Carol Black published her review on the issue, which costs the UK economy £100 billion every year.

Mr Gray welcomed the review as a "major step in the right direction" and called for physiotherapy to be included in the enhanced early-intervention treatments backed by Dame Carol.

"In order to tackle a serious public health issue like workplace ill health, welfare services must begin to focus on prevention as well as swift and effective treatment," he said.

"Physiotherapists can provide the advice and treatment that will keep people in work and help people return to work, reducing sickness absenteeism and increasing productivity."