NHS Work and Health Forum

While the forum is primarily aimed at people leading work and health initiatives in ICBs, it is open to others working in the wider work and health system, including: 

• NHS trusts
• voluntary, community and social enterprise sector
• primary care
• local government.

We will be running a series of events throughout 2026-27, in partnership with NHS England and the Joint Work and Health Directorate, and we are looking forward to sharing more about those in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, if you have any ideas, questions, or would like to get in touch, please do reach out to Conor. 

Re-watch this highly interactive learning session to explore how the group clinic model can ensure services supporting people with health issues into and at work are sustainable from the outset.

This event: 

• Launched blueprints for two integrated group-based care for people who are economically inactive due to health issues (young people and adults)
• Showed how employment advisors can improve their productivity by nearly 70% to cope with growing demand by releasing thousands of hours of 1:1 advisory time
• Held a “group clinic about group clinics” during the session where the panel discussion will model the process
• Explored how commissioners can create the right conditions for the group clinic model to spread

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Useful information

Harnessing Group Clinics to Deliver the NHS Ten Year Plan

Neighbourhood Group Clinics: a sustainable solution for integrating care systems.

NHS England and The Experience Led Care Programme has produced three blueprints and accompanying evidence packs to support development of group clinic models for the following groups: Young people who are NEET because they are unfit to work, adults struggling at work or not in work due to health issues, and employment advisors in all settings who are struggling with high caseloads who want to improve their productivity. To request a copy of these blueprints, please contact: georgina@elcworks.co.uk

With youth unemployment and economic inactivity high on the national agenda, understanding the links between health and young people’s employment outcomes is vital.

Rewatch our Young People’s Health and NEET Status webinar to hear new findings from University College London’s Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing and Centre for Longitudinal Studies on NEET trends over the past 15 years. Delivered with NHS England’s Health and Growth Accelerator programme, the session explored how health, wider social factors and cross-sector collaboration can improve economic outcomes for young people.

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Useful information

Our presenters also walked us through some additional research findings on Adolescent health and NEET in young adulthood, Mental health in adolescence, and the Rising rates of young NEETs explained by higher prevalence of physical and psychological ill health. We hope you find these an interesting read.

The NHS delivers healthcare services to people in all parts of the country, but with sickness absence rates of over 5%, well above the national average, is there more it can do for its own team?

Rewatch Charlie Mayfield, lead reviewer of the Keep Britain Working Review, and Ben Morrin, Chief Executive of NHS Employers, along with local leaders, as they discussed how NHS leaders can make the NHS a healthier place to work.

We heard from:

• Wayne Daley at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and their approach to staff wellbeing, which has seen 77% of their staff report improved mental health. 
• Richard Duggins at NHS North East and North Cumbria's and their staff wellbeing hub, which focusses on being quick, engaging and broad. 
• Karen Phillips at NHS Humber Teaching Foundation Trust, and how they started with workforce health, culture and focussing on creating the conditions in which people thrive.

We considered the tangible benefits for the health system, wider society, and the practical steps leaders can take, drawing on real examples from across the NHS.

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In September 2026 the Government launched the Pathways to Work Innovation Fund, a new £60m fund inviting private, voluntary and public sectors to come forward with the most ambitious, creative ideas to help disabled people and those with health conditions get into and on at work.

Rewatch Angela Matthews, Director of Public Policy and Research at the Business Disability Forum, and colleagues from the Department for Work and Pensions for this bitesize session to learn more about the fund: what they will be looking for, how to bid, and how you can play a part in shaping its outcome.

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Useful information:

Pathways to Work Innovation Fund: applicant bid pack - GOV.UK

Pathways to Work Innovation Fund guidance - GOV.UK