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Condition management as a pathway to work
Clyde's Pathways to Work Condition Management project helps people with chronic health conditions to return to meaningful work. This may mean paid work, or other activities that give structure and purpose to life.
It is our belief that claiming benefits presents the greatest single public health hazard affecting our population.
There are many Pathways to work condition management schemes across the country. The project for Clyde, is among the oldest and has had a chance to mature into a really successful project.
Although run by the NHS and funded by the DWP, the scheme importantly represents its clients first and is not intended to force people back into work when they can't cope with it. Those joining the programme find respite from the continual demands of agencies to fill in forms for unemployment benefit, or seek work. For many, just six months to regroup can be enough to considerably improve their health. Many go back to work, or into education or volunteering.
When a user first comes to the project they have a personal interview to assess their health situation and feelings. Over time they may be offered the chance to join larger groups and engage in offerings that range from cognitive behavioural therapy to food advice, exercise programmes, social reintegration and re-training opportunities.
Many have found themselves unable to cope through a mixture of bad luck - the failure of a business or the death of a family member -coinciding with a period of personal depression.
Job Centre staff can be seen as the villains of the piece for many on sickness benefit, wanting to get people back into unsuitable, low-performing jobs, and to be hostile to alternative routes, like returning to education. One man, now working as a researcher, says ‘You know you can’t cope. You’ve got so very little and they want to take that too.’
In fact, Job Centre staff in the area are relieved to be involved. They say that before they began working with the Condition management programme they felt a real sense of helplessness about chronically ill clients. They had no way of judging themselves whether conditions from depression to arthritis were mild or severe. They would be told distressing stories that were completely ‘off script’ for them. Now they can refer people to be assessed and helped by a CMP representative working in their offices.
CMP also work at GP surgeries. NHS staff are also delighted that they can refer clients when it's clear that work issues are having a big impact on health.
The result is that users have a friend in the system rather than being overwhelmed by scary forms from severe officials. Once recovered, some users of the programme go on to become 'befrienders' to others who are experiencing the same difficulties. Some eventually become condition management staff.
The programme is backed up by evaluation by an external academic institution and by narrative research. It found that 58% of those involved in condition management were seeing their GP less frequently, 48% were employed, job seeking or involved in education, 82% noted improved mental health and 92% found the programme helpful.