Economic indicators and involvement of health professionals at worksite health services in a developing country.

Identification of accurate source lists for workplace health service research is problematic. Using the national list of health professionals registered to dispense medicines at 981 worksites in South Africa, a third of questionnaires were undelivered. A 33 per cent response rate was obtained to delivered questionnaires. Non-responders appeared to lack the information required. Although the number of employees at a worksite may influence sickness absenteeism, it does not appear to affect the absolute cost per employee nor the relative expenditure on different categories of costs incurred by worksite health services. Expenditure on staff and consumables accounts for nearly 80 per cent of worksite health service costs, regardless of workforce size. In 1988, the average cost of registered workforce health services at which medicines were dispensed and information was available, was R125 (35 pounds) per employee per year. Establishing standards and applying them to intra and inter industrial economic evaluation of workforce health services using sickness absenteeism and percentage breakdown of costs appears feasible in South African industries with both large and small workforces, provided that health professionals have access to adequate management information systems.