Physician welcomes health and work challenge

Professor Dame Carol Black, president of the Royal College of Physicians, was named by the Government as its first National Director for Health and Work. Her appointment is part of a Department of Health strategy to avoid work-related illness and accidents and ensure swift treatment when they do happen.

"As an experienced clinician, I am delighted to be given this opportunity to bring a new perspective to health through the world of work and its contribution to social well-being," Dame Carol said. "It constitutes a huge challenge to engage the range of public and private organisations necessary to effect change.

"It also requires working across traditional Government departmental boundaries and with healthcare professionals. However, it is this new co-ordinated approach which I believe will realise the potential of substantial health and social dividends for the whole population."

Health and safety minister Lord Hunt commented: "We are committed to building a world which rehabilitates people rather than rejects them when they experience ill health or inactivity.

"This is a key step in taking the strategy forward. This is a strategy that everyone can benefit from - the individual, their families, the employer and, ultimately, society as a whole."