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BMA welcomes review of sick note system - 25-03-2008 |
The BMA has, for many years, been calling for an overhaul of the sickness scheme including the present sick note system as the current arrangements do not serve the best interests of patients, doctors or employers. Commenting on the proposals published by Dame Carol Black, national director for health and work, Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of BMA Council, said:
“The BMA has long called for the sick note system to be reviewed. GPs are often placed in a difficult position when issuing sick notes to patients in the early stages of their illness and it is not always possible for them to confirm whether a patient is well enough to do their job. This is often determined by the nature of their job and working environment. A major, additional problem, is that GPs can have huge difficulties in accessing physiotherapy and counselling services that would help patients to return to work more quickly.
“A Fit for Work service that provides patients with better access to services such as physiotherapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and debt counselling services may be useful ways in which people can be helped back into work and the launch of pilots to investigate this approach is the right way forward. The success of these pilots will undoubtedly depend on the government providing adequate resources to fulfil the extra demand for these services and the completion of a thorough and transparent evaluation of these pilots.
“The detail of how a ‘well note’ system would operate needs to be carefully examined, including the workload implications and the avoidance of any conflict of interest. The GP must continue to act as the patient’s advocate, not a policing arm of the Department for Work and Pensions. Employers must also take more responsibility for promoting the health and well-being of their staff including much wider provision of proper occupational health services that specialise in health at work, rather than the patchy occupational illness services that we have at present.“
| British Medical Association
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