12 March 2004 - Stress-illness Not to Become a Prescribed Disease
Government advisors have decided against classifying stress as a Prescribed Disease, which means employees that are off work suffering from the condition will not be eligible for state incapacity benefits.
The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council, has published its position paper, Stress as a Prescribed Disease and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which sets out to:
-
review whether, and under what conditions, it might be possible to extend the schedule of prescription under the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 to include adverse health outcomes ascribed to stressful exposures at work as a Prescribed Disease; and
-
focus on PTSD in relation to the Accident Provisions - of particular importance was clarification of the nature of stressful events capable of causing PTSD.
The IIAC commented:
"For the reasons set out in this paper, IIAC is not able at present to identify circumstances in which it recommends extending the schedule of prescription to include adverse health outcomes ascribed to stress at work. However, it recognises fully the importance of mental health problems as a source of morbidity nationally, and will continue to keep the topic under review".
"For PTSD to be diagnosed as the pathological change arising from an accident, it is the view of IIAC, based on evidence received, that the relevant incident should be a traumatic, single event that is, or could be reasonably perceived to be, severely life-threatening or with the potential to cause serious injury to the individual or others present at the time. It should be an event outside the realms of normal human experience. PTSD should only be diagnosed for the purposes of IIDB when it results from an incident of this nature".
