End of the road for sick notes

2 June 2009

Last week the Government announced details of the new 'Fit Note'.  It is intended to replace the current MED3 sick note. The ‘Fit Note’ is designed so that people get good advice about staying in work and, if they cannot work, what their employer can do to help them return to work sooner.  The intention is to prevent employees having unnecessarily long sickness absence.

Background
The new arrangement comes out of the Government’s ‘Improving Health and Work: Changing Lives’ response to Dame Carol Black’s report published on 17 March 2008. In ‘Working for a Healthier Tomorrow’, Dame Black stated that the focus should be on “what people can do instead of what they cannot, and potentially improving communications between employers and GPs”. The report noted that the use of an electronic certification system linked to GPs' surgeries computing systems would promote quicker and easier communication between GPs and employers, giving the potential for ‘Fit Notes’ to be passed between them electronically if the patient agrees. The report recommended promoting the positive relationship between health and work.

Health Minister Ben Bradshaw stated; “Getting people back into work quicker is good for their health as well as the country’s finances. The Fit Note will give GPs a new opportunity to benefit their patients and I look forward to it being used in surgeries everywhere”.

Developed with the support of healthcare professionals, employer representatives and trade unions, the new ‘Fit Notes’ will roll-out across Great Britain in the Spring of 2010 with the aim that ‘Fit Notes’ will be computer-generated in GPs surgeries, replacing the current hand written version.

Rather than just having one 'fit / unfit' to work choice, as per the current MED3 form, the new 'Fit Note' will contain suggestions as to how an unwell individual can be eased back into work. The revised certificate has already been tested by more than 500 GPs' surgeries.

However, Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the BMA Council, issued a note of caution stating, “The GP must continue to act as the patient’s advocate, not a policing arm of the Department of Work and Pensions”.

Comment
The Government is undertaking a 12-week consultation on the design of the Fit Notes and it will be interesting to see whether any alterations or additions are made to the current proposals.

It will, clearly, assist employers to have information about what employees might be able to do notwithstanding their health issues. However, such information will also be something that needs to be considered in the context of Disability Discrimination Act obligations, particularly in respect of reasonable adjustments.  The new note will not of itself necessarily help employers assess whether an employee is disabled for the purposes of this Act.