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Fit notesHealth and safetyHR practiceOccupational HealthAbsence

Government tells employers they can overrule GP fit notes

by Personnel Today 1 May 2013
by Personnel Today 1 May 2013

The Government has indicated that employers may, in principle, be able to overrule a GP’s advice in a fit note as to whether or not a person is potentially fit to return to work.

The little-noticed change was incorporated into new guidance on the fit note published by the Government in March and could allow an employer to give precedence to the views of an occupational health practitioner over those of a GP.

In the guidance for employers and line managers, under the headline “Is the fit note binding on me?”, the Government has made it clear that the answer is “no”.

The guidance states: “The assessment about whether your employee is not fit for work or may be fit for work (and any other advice in the fit note) is classed as advice, and it is for employers to determine whether or not to accept it.

“Occasionally, you may believe that your employee is not fit for work when they have been assessed as fit for work by their doctor, or you may think that your employee could do some work when they have been assessed as ‘not fit for work’ by their doctor.”

XpertHR resources

Is an employer obliged to comply with the advice on a fit note?

How to use fit notes effectively

Deal with the situation where a fit note contains recommendations to facilitate the employee’s return to work

The guidance continues: “In situations like this you as the employer are within your rights to gather other evidence about your employee’s fitness for work from other doctors or healthcare professionals. You can choose to give this other evidence precedence over the advice in the fit note.

“Your employee may disagree with you, and you may need to demonstrate to an employment tribunal why the alternative source of evidence was more acceptable to you than the fit note.”

This change is highly significant, according to Dr Sayeed Khan, chief medical adviser to manufacturers’ organisation EEF.

“The fact an employer can choose to go out and gather other evidence, and that the employer’s evidence can take precedence over other evidence, is really important,” he said. “For example, an occupational health nurse that knows the site very well and has done an assessment for work may be able to say: ‘There is work on this site that is suitable for that person’.

“Then, if the employee refuses to come back to work, the employer could listen to the nurse instead of the employee’s GP. From there, there might be consequences. The employer, of course, may have to be able to justify why they prefer to take that advice in a tribunal, but it is quite ground-breaking that they could override the view of a GP.”

The move has come as the Government unveiled a targeted tax relief in the Budget in March, up to a cap of £500, on health-related interventions, something many in OH have been pushing for for a number of years.

Meanwhile, the attitude of GPs towards patients’ health and work has been highlighted in a recent Department for Work and Pensions’ research note.

It found that of the 1,665 GPs that responded, the majority believe that work is beneficial to health and that it is important for them to be “actively involved” in helping patients return to work.

Nevertheless, many GPs admitted to feeling pressured to issue sick notes for reasons that were not strictly medical, and believed local “return to work” support and advisory services could be improved.

GPs were also, by and large, increasingly positive about the effect the revised fit note was having on their consultations and patient outcomes.

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4 comments

Avatar
Michael Hartley 13 Apr 2014 - 8:44 pm

Is it true that you can now obtain a free headstone engraved “I Told You I Was Ill”?

Avatar
Grumpy toots 23 Jan 2015 - 1:48 pm

So, not only will we have to work until we are 70, we must do it dying, and die quietly I presume…

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[email protected] 27 Jan 2015 - 7:38 pm

God bless the Tories. Perhaps we can donate the organs and limbs we haven’t f***d up to them. Come to think of it they might want them before we die.

Avatar
john 1 May 2015 - 10:02 pm

I have been ill and still am but work sacked me anyway for being ill for 7 weeks and I am still ill but went to work in support of my attendance look what happened the doc note says not fit to work until this date ??/??/???? if being dizzy and sick and able to do work for more than 5 min before I drop then these terms are stupid and need rethinking for the people who are really ill and unable to work.

Comments are closed.

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