Abstract

This session aims to meet health professionals' needs in recognising, examining, and identifying problems that patients with inflammatory arthritis (IA) face at work. We know that one in five people with inflammatory arthritis lose their job within five years of diagnosis and, once work disabled, they are unlikely to return to work. Therefore, preventive interventions targeted at work retention, which aim to help people to stay at work, are needed to avoid the transition from work instability to work disability. Rheumatology health professionals play an important role in identifying patients' work problems at an earlier stage and helping them to stay at work. Currently, there are no set pathways to outline health professionals' approach to identifying people with work problems and/or work rehabilitation interventions in the UK. Further, there is a need to train health professionals in the importance of the early recognition of these problems and evidence-based interventions to address work instability.

This session will focus specifically on the rheumatology occupational therapy-led work rehabilitation taken place in a NHS setting in the UK. Using real life case studies, Dr Prior will discuss the standardised assessments used in identifying work problems, collaborative goal setting and work interventions to provide a snapshot of work rehabilitation in the context of clinical practice.