Disability employment services, medico-legal and return to work services all assist people who have a disability or work injury return to work by providing specific medical and or legal advice. All three services are described below:
Disability Employment Services (DES)
Disability Employment Services (DES) provide assistance and support to people who have disability, injury or health condition to remain at or return to work.
DES develop individual programs that assist a worker or job seeker to understand, compensate for or manage their injury, disability or health condition, and address the barriers to gaining or maintaining employment. Disability Employment Services are generally provided by individuals experienced in the field of disability.
Medico-legal services
Medico-legal services is a broad term used to describe a range of specialised services designed for the Workers’ Compensation and Personal Injury insurance markets. Medico-legal services are often provided by DES providers aimed at assisting injured workers who have sustained a work related injury to remain at or return to work. Private rehabilitation specialists also offer this service.
Return to Work
For people who have disability, injury or other health conditions impacting upon their ability to maintain or gain employment, a return to work program may be required. A successful return to work can often require some planning between a worker, their employer and also their treating Doctor.
Workplace solutions and adjustments
Disability employment services, medico-legal and return to work services incorporate a comprehensive range of products and services to assist a person with disability or injury to gain or maintain employment.
Services can include:
- initial assessment and ongoing communication with workers, employers, treatment medical practitioners and other key stakeholders
- development, implementation and monitoring of return to work programs
- assessment of a workers’ physical capacity, via assessment on the job or through functional capacity evaluations
- vocational assessment and/or vocational counselling to determine the most appropriate job options, based on the workers skills, work capacity and labour market
- education of the worker to minimise re-injury or further disability
- adjustment to disability counselling
- coordination of on-the-job training or facilitation of training courses
- development or coordination of exercise programmes for physical conditioning or work hardening.
The above services are aimed at maximising a workers abilities and strengths, and reducing their limitations or barriers to work.
For further information on the above, please see the link below:
References
Barrett, T. & Browne, D. 2006, Rehabilitation: Work and Beyond, Vineyard Publishing, Perth.