Work ability among health care workers in the United Kingdom: A pilot

Abstract

To assess the work ability of NHS health care workers in the UK, aged 45 and above, and the factors influencing it, in order to introduce occupational health interventions to improve their ability to work. After obtaining approval from ethical committee, a cross sectional survey was conducted, of a sample of (507) health care workers aged 45 and above, in the Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust using the work ability index questionnaire. The study population was stratified by job categories, and a 10% sample was chosen randomly from each strata. Data from the questionnaires completed by the subjects were fed into an Excel database and analysed using Minitab. The mean work ability index of the study sample was found to be 42.6 ± 5.3. Though not statistically significant, work ability index of men was found to be slightly less than that of women; work ability declined as age advanced; and nurses and managers were found to have better work ability than doctors and domestic assistants. Prevalence rate of poor work ability was higher among men (32.9%) than women (21.9%; p = 0.04), higher among the “60–67” age group (31.8%) than the “45–49” age group (20.2%; p = 0.1), and higher among domestic assistants (31.4%) than nurses (19.8%; p = 0.04). An analysis of the seven items, which contributed to the work ability index, has clearly identified the ‘current physician diagnosed diseases’ as the main discriminatory factor. The five diseases highly prevalent in the study sample were musculo-skeletal diseases, injuries from accidents, cardio-vascular diseases, neurological and sensory diseases, and digestive diseases. Prevalence of diseases, particularly, musculo-skeletal and mental health problems was found to be higher (63.2% and 23.5%) among people with poor work ability. This is the first study of its kind carried out in UK. The study concluded that as age advances, physical work demand on workers should be reduced and mental component of the work increased. To support this, work ability should be regularly assessed and promoted. The key recommendations made were raising awareness about aging among managers and employees, facilitating physical exercise at work, developing an action plan to prevent and manage musculo-skeletal and mental health problems, and conducting more research in this subject area.