Posted By MeiP Hi, I've inherited a case I'd like some views on please! One of our employees has been suffering with pain in their arms, suspected RSI (yes I kow, WRULD, but these are the terms they used). They were seen by our previous occ health people, who didn't diagnose anything, but put her on a course of physio sessions. Since I joined, we've had the new Occ Health people examine them & they also suspect RSI, but recommended an MRI which showed up a disc problem in their neck. The employee also has had adjustments made to their workstation including speech recognition software. Question is - how far do we go with this treatment before handing them over to the NHS? All opinions welcome! M

Posted By MeiP HI Steve, Thanks for your reply. Do you think this means as we've gone beyond this & provided access to specialist medical professionals and are acting on their advice, rather than rely on NHS? If they recommend ongoing treatment, how long do we / should we continue to treat? Mei

Posted By stephencarey It is possible that there are other health issues that possibly only the GP will be aware of that could affect any treatment being administered. It is very good that the firm is very involved and providing assistance but has a positive diagnosis been made. The MRI scan may have provided a possible reason but there could be other underlyng causes hence i believe a need to visit a GP. I would certainly have requested that a visit be made before going any further. If WRULD is confirmed then follow your course of actions.

Posted By Kieran J Duignan Mei As a registered ergonomist, what I find most striking about your account is the TOTAL ommission of any reference to educating and informing the employee. The approach you outline, known as 'the medical model', is very unlikely to ever resolve the issue totally, at least until hell freezes over. The alternative, 'the social model', treats each employee as an intelligent person capable of fulfiling their statutory responsibilities to co-operate in managing their occupational health provided the employer educates, trains and informs them appropriately. Available evidence suggests that the employee and you and relevant managers will have to continually monitor the condition as cumulative trauma (which can be extremely painful) tends to recur unpredictably. By providing voice-operated software, you've made a major contribution to re-designing the tasks to be done. What you should also do, at little cost, is provide training in simple exercises the employee can do daily, to reduce risks of severe recurrence of the symptoms. If your occ health providers are unable to provide such exercises, I'll be pleased to do so.