Family GPs could soon be stripped of their powers to write sick notes for long term absentees from work if recommendations in a new government report are adopted.

The government’s ‘Independent Review of Sickness Absence’ report is expected to make a number of far-reaching recommendations to challenge what they describe as “Sick Note Britain.”

It is estimated that 140 million working days are lost to sickness absenteeism each year. 300,000 people leave work each year to claim sickness-related benefits.

Lord Freud, the minister for Welfare Reform, explained the thinking behind the controversial reforms: “The economy loses £15 billion in lost economic output each year due to sickness absence and we cannot continue to foot this bill.”

One of the proposed changes seeks to abolish the powers of family GPs to write long term sick notes and transfer them instead to an Independent Assessment Panel staffed by qualified health professionals.

According to the thinking behind the report family GPs are not best qualified to judge what work people with long term illnesses are capable of doing, and have little incentive to refuse to sign sick notes to patients in their practice.

Instead GPs would be expected to refer patients to a new Independent Assessment Panel when a patient had been off work for four weeks. The state-funded body would then concentrate on assessing whether an employee was capable of work as well as developing strategies to reintroduce those on long-term sick leave back into employment.
The British Medical Association welcomed the proposals: “GPs have a long-term relationship with their patients and it puts them in a difficult situation if they are being asked to tell a patient that they’re wrong and are fit to work,” it said. “GPs are often not best placed to assess what someone can and cannot do. It is far better if a trained occupational health doctor does that.”
Workers leaders were more critical. TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “Unions are concerned that however well-intended this report, there is a danger it will be seized upon by some rogue employers as an excuse to force people back to work before they are good and ready.
“The report also fails to address the huge issue of “presenteeism” where workers come in to work when they should be off sick, despite evidence that this is a major and growing problem in the workplace.”
Dame Carol Black, national director for Health and Work, said: “Sickness absence from work can be unavoidable, but when unduly prolonged it is wasteful and damaging. We believe we have presented an urgent and compelling case to change the current system so that it unashamedly promotes work for those that can.
“If implemented, these recommendations will ensure many more people with health conditions are able to enjoy the benefit of work; far fewer will needlessly lose work and fall into long-term benefit dependency.”

Updated by MP Locums, a Medical Recruitment Agency