A raft of measures designed to help the sick back to work is being unveiled.

Sick notes should be replaced with "fit notes" spelling out what workers can rather than cannot do as part of the reforms.

Dame Carol Black, the National Director for Health and Work, recommended a number of "urgent" reforms aimed at helping people return to work when they fall ill.

Her report warns that people could easily find themselves on a life of benefits once they became sick and that ill health costs the British economy more than £1 billion a year.

Dame Carol said: "We cannot go on as we are. There are difficult and challenging messages for everyone, whether they are politicians, healthcare professionals, employers, unions or individuals.

"We must act now to build on the emerging consensus around a new approach to health and work in Britain."

Health Secretary Alan Johnson said: "We know that staying in or returning to work is generally good for patient's health whereas unemployment is progressively damaging, leading to more sickness, mental illness, disability, increased use of medication, higher hospital admission rates and shorter life expectancy. "

© Independent Television News Limited 2009. All rights reserved.