The Government has this morning published its response to Dame Carol Black’s review of the health of Britain’s working-age population.  Although the report runs to 107 pages, one page has grabbed all the headlines - the proposal to replace the current GP’s sick note with a ‘fit note’.

Many employers are frustrated at the minimal information currently received from GP’s when an employee is ’signed off’.  A sick note is often not received from the employee for many days or even weeks, and when it does arrive simply states the ailement in broad terms and that the employee should ‘refrain from work’ for X weeks.

The Government proposes to introduce a ‘fit note’ which will focus on what the employee can still do in the workplace.  It may be that the end result is the same in many cases, that an employee can not work at all for a specified period, but the change in focus is to be welcomed.  However it remains to be seen whether GP’s will adopt that change in focus when consulting with their patients.

The Government has tested a draft ‘fit note’ with over 500 GP’s across Great Britain and it plans to consult formally on the changes early in 2009 with a view to the revised medical certificate being introduced later that year.

In addition, the Government is committed to replacing the paper-based medical certification system with an electronic one aimed at speeding up the transmission of information between GP and employer.

Posted: November 25th, 2008 under Employment/HR.
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