Posted By Mike Johnson I'm a reporter for BBC Radio 4, a workplace issues programme called Nice Work. I'm trying to find out if OH practitioners have experienced any cutbacks in provision by companies - particularly, say, in fields like physiotherapy. A couple of recent examples have been mentioned to me of companies which have reduced, due to cost saving measures, the physiotherapy services they offer to their staff. Are these isolated examples, or might there be others? Thanks Mike Johnson

Posted By Martin R. Bessant Hi Mike, I suspect that many companies have to justify the expense of maintaining an occupational health service. Until retired, I worked for the NHS in health and safety and although most NHS Trusts had access to an occupational health nurse, it was vary rare for any other services to be directly available. I would suspect that only large companies with substantial workforces would be able to provide a physiotherapy service. The NHS often will assist other companies by providing an occupational health consultancy, which may have access to other related services. This can be an income generator for the NHS which like many companies is "strapped for cash". You might care to look at other "health related" services like Chiropody or Dental Health which may be offered as a service to employees. Hope this helps and good luck. Martin.

Posted By Mike Johnson Thanks for the response Ian. Last thing I want to do is waste valuable licence-payers' money! The whole point of the post was to establish whether there was anything worth looking at here. If not, we won't waste listener's time! For the record, the show starts on the 14th August at 4.02pm and runs for six successive weeks.