Table 6 Exemplary quotes from themes emergent from interviews and focus groups

1

PESI02 (pain consultant)

“At least 60 to 70% [sic] of the cohort of people we come across have severe mental health issues”

2

PESI05 (rheumatology physiotherapist

“… all of them will say that on the good days they feel perhaps that they could do something from a work point of view. But then it’s also, you know, they don't know when these bad days are going to be, and it’s that fear of not being able to do it on the, the bad days and the impact that, that has on their condition, and how that would be viewed by the, the potential employer”

3

PESI11 (recruiter from a non-NHS site)

“Then, there was a few people concerned about how it would affect their benefits. … That was, that was a common theme for people that said, ‘No’ or, you know, weren’t interested, because they, I think, for some of them, they felt that if they were on a placement for 16-hours a week, would then, DWP try and make them work 16-hours a week when they, they didn’t feel they were able to? So they couldn’t sort of differentiate when I was trying to say, ‘But this will, the study will help us identify if you can work those hours. Or it might identify that you can’t, but you can work eight.’ But you might not be able to work 16 but some of them just weren’t willing to, sort of give it a go. Yeah. … That was a big thing for people, the benefits.”

4

PESI07 (placement manager)

“But personally, I felt that I was helping someone ... it's not relevant to this survey [sic] but by my wife has been medically retired for very similar reasons, so I understand my wife’s frustrations. But then also, also being able to bring that into, into work and if, you know, helping somebody that's got something fairly similar get them back into a work ethic and maybe that will, er, leapfrog them into full time work … “

5

PESI10 (placement manager)

“… obviously we would like to help out if we can, but we thought, ‘Actually, we need some resource as well,’ and, and so I think, you know, there was a benefit in it for us as well.”

6

PESI10 (placement manager)

“And, and, if it helped her ultimately, yeah ...glad to be involved. But, um, you know, from our perspectives the process was just too short to warrant the amount of training”

7

PESI09 (placement manager)

“She didn't talk about anything other than her illness quite voiceably most of the time that she was here. And so that was a very negative impression that she was giving which meant she got quite a lot of negative responses.”

8

PESI09 (placement manager)

“I think we were surprised funnily enough how much they needed to move around. I think we were expecting people that needed to sit and do sedentary tasks, and actually a lot of them, “No, no, actually my back gets really stiff if I sit, so I need something that's going to involve me moving around”

9

PESI08 (placement supervisor)

“He started, so, so. He was getting more and more in, as if he was, sort of, really getting into what he was doing. 'Cause he was really doing a good job. And I mean, we were getting the public saying, ‘Who's he?’”

10

PESI08 (placement supervisor)

“He was very much in a shell to start off with but of course, by coming in with us at break times, which I think was probably quite a good thing to do for him ... he started to talk, people were talking to him.”

11

PP13 (participant)

“And knowing that we are here and we are trying to fight against all that things. It’s very good, it makes me feel like I’m not alone, there’s a lot of people in the same boat.”

12

PP17 (participant)

“I think we’re all in agreement that the two-day course was, I found, I thought it was brilliant. And it was, like, tailored to us. But one of the biggest things was when we were all explaining our own individual selves, everybody in the room’s going ...”Yeah, it’s true.” Because they understand.

13

PP02 (participant)

“she went above and beyond her job by finding out what my specific condition was. And because it was something very different to what a lot of people have then it made it all the more different to me ...”

14

PP20 (participant)

“And the, fortunately I’m very lucky, *** [placement provider] spoke to someone in the IT audits department and they absorbed me there, and still ongoing in the process, I’ve not completed my six weeks. I think I’ll complete it almost three weeks now. And I really enjoyed the place and the work over there, and actually I thought that I would be underutilised since it’s work experience and with no pay, they might be giving me simple tasks like that. But seeing my potential over there they took me on board and I’m going to do an audit for them.”

15

PP01 (participant)

“I enjoyed all the groups ([work preparation)] and doing it, but quite disappointing that, that I didn’t come away with anything, I didn’t even get a, a placement.”

16

PP13 (participant)

“So for me it was a, a great experience even if they didn’t put me, um, into training [placement], because the training [placement] they wanted me to put me was in Birmingham but because in Birmingham I will take one hour and 30 minutes travelling and come back, and I couldn’t because I’m a single mum with my son.”

17

PP02 (participant)

“And I think with the study as well, because obviously it put me back in touch with, like, people at work, not just social, it gave me back my management confidence, to just go into work ...”