Doctors told to sign off fewer patients
Matthew Pinto-Chilcott, Owner of Consensus HR comments: – “Admittedly it can be very difficult nowadays to get a GP Medical report as previously stated in order to get an employee back into the workplace, but is this the answer? currently when requesting a report, we must ensure there is a clause within an employee’s contract whilst also gaining their Consent under GDPR ensuring the member of the team is fully aware of their legal rights. They do not have to give consent if they do not wish but it must be emphasised to the member of the team that failure does not allow us to manage and support their health and could mean us having to make decisions with only what we know. My question would be what support they are able to offer the employee to return to work and what / if any further information would be needed from the company / HR as we currently provide a copy of their Job Description? This in principle is a very good idea but how it will be managed, should it be introduced we wait to see.”
NEWS ARTICLE: Doctors told to sign off fewer patients to get more people back into work
Doctors are to be told to sign fewer people off work with sick notes and instead help them to remain in employment under proposals being considered for next month’s Budget to reinvigorate the economy. A new approach to how doctors decide whether people are too sick to work is one idea under consideration as the Treasury and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) examine how to reverse a marked increase in the number of people off work with long-term sickness in the wake of the pandemic, The Telegraph reports. Doctors are to be encouraged to focus on ways people with long-term illnesses can continue to work with support rather than signing sick notes that enable them to drop out of the labour market altogether. A government source said: “The mental health benefits of work are well established. We want to do all we can to encourage as many people as possible to stay in work with the relevant support in place to help them do so, including signposting them to that support at the earliest possible opportunity.”
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