What drives RTW after an RTA? International research insights

What drives RTW after an RTA? International research insights

Modise, G.L., Uys, C.J.E. & Du Plooy, E. (2025). Barriers and facilitators of return to work for loss of income claimants: Healthcare workers’ perspectives. African Journal of Disability, 14(0), a1442. 

https://doi.org/10.4102/ajod.v14i0.1442  

This research explores healthcare workers’ experiences of the RTW process and how they collaborated (or struggled to collaborate) with the funder, employer and injured employee.

A key learning is the central role of coordination. Where the funder, injured person, clinicians and employer worked together with clear RTW guidance and aligned expectations, participants perceived better progress and more effective use of benefits. In contrast, fragmented communication and unclear roles were described as undermining momentum, confidence and decision-making throughout the claim.

If you’re supporting someone following a road traffic accident, here are some practical learnings from the study and we’d love to hear what works in your cases so we can build a bank of shared learning and case studies across the VRA:

1. Making early and purposeful contact with the employer, agreeing on what adjustments are realistic with clear review dates to avoid case drift.

2. Having a simple one-page RTW plan that everyone can follow, including the injured person, employer, funder/insurer and treating team. Keep it plain English: goals, duties, restrictions, timescales, and who owns each action.

3. Outlining recommendations on capacity, tolerances and job demands (what the person can do safely and consistently.

4. If the job is heavy/manual, consider modified duties, job carving, redeployment, transitional roles and, where needed, a retraining pathway. 

5. Regularly explore confidence, expectations, perceived injustice, fear of flare-up and motivation, then build these into the plan (e.g., graded exposure, reassurance, problem-solving and self-efficacy goals).

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If you try one of these approaches in practice, consider sharing a short anonymised case example with the VRA (what you did, what helped, what you’d do differently) to add to the member-led case study library.

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