Looking back at three years of It Pays to Care!
In 2022, “It Pays to Care: Bringing evidence-informed practice to work injury schemes helps workers and their workplaces” was released to the world! The policy, and complementary principles paper, represented several years of drafting and over two decades of progression in practice around work injury management – building on the pioneering documents that came before it ( 2001’s Compensable Injuries and Health Outcomes and 2011’s Realising the Health Benefits of Work).
Led by Dr Mary Wyatt for the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the IPTC policy responds to the disturbing truth that work absence and long-term disability rates are higher in compensable settings. At the core of the paper is a revolutionary call to centre a biopsychosocial approach in work injury management and clear steps that can be taken by employers, regulators, insurers and healthcare providers.
The policy’s tagline is “an imperative for change and call to action” – which has been the mantra of advocacy efforts ever since.
As we celebrate three years of IPTC’s influence, we can reflect on how that tagline has morphed from words to action. At the policy’s launch, Dr Wyatt outlined three key goals for an advocacy project aimed at progressing the policy:
- Raise industry awareness of IPTC principles: Advocacy efforts were initially aimed at regulators who quickly got behind the policy. Which paved the way for insurers to endorse IPTC and work with us on socialising the policy, which has subsequently led to communication with employers and other stakeholders, including PIEF, Safe work Australia, and healthcare bodies and providers.
- Collaborate with industry around ITPC: We have had amazing support from industry stakeholders and have worked collaboratively on numerous policy and advocacy initiatives. These have included our series of national symposiums, workshops, webinars, and training initiatives.
- Develop practical solutions for industry to improve outcomes: Working with, and learning from, diverse industry players has led to many resources, tools and initiatives that are actively benefitting workers through a variety of means.
In the coming months, we plan to share a variety of reflections on the past three years – here and on our LinkedIn.
But we take this moment at the outset of our celebrations to say our first thank you – to everyone who has participated in our activities over the past years and all who have thrown their support behind the evidence-based principles of the IPTC policy! From the national organisations who have worked with our team to increase worker capability and build resources, through to the individuals who have advocated for the policy by simply sharing it with their colleagues – you have each played a role in the success we have had so far, and we are sincerely grateful.
