Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

Latest NewsWellbeingOccupational Health

Sicknote alternative pilot schemes fail to make an impact

by Nic Paton 14 Nov 2006
by Nic Paton 14 Nov 2006

The government’s pilots on alternatives to GP sicknote certification have failed miserably due to a combination of union resistance, employee suspicion and lack of business buy-in.

The pilots, which ran from February last year, could not even conclude whether GP workloads had been cut – one of the main reasons they were run in the first place.

The government had been under pressure from both employers and GPs to change the existing sicknote system, but the failure of the pilot schemes means questions remain as to whether any reform will now go ahead.

Where it had been intended to run three pilots – a remote call-centre occupational health (OH) advice service, a remote service for employers, and one using in-house OH advisers – resistance from unions meant only the first two actually took place.

While 72 employers initially expressed an interest in the trials, just 10 carried it through to the end, according to professor Jeremy Dale, director of the Centre of Primary Health Care Studies at Warwick Medical School, which evaluated the project.

Many firms blamed the tight timescale, changing priorities, logistical problems and a lack of resources. Workers were also deeply unhappy with the idea of being signed off work by OH advisers rather than their GP, mistrusting their motives and worried about confidentiality, the pilots concluded.

“Employees were asking: ‘Why is our organisation doing this?’ This led to a climate of suspicion,” Dale said.

Of 544 incidences of more than seven days’ sickness absence recorded, 356 went through the call centre and 188 through the advice service. Of these, 212 staff returned questionnaires, with 58% expressing satisfaction.

The pilots were also met with apathy from GPs. Just 18 staff gave researchers permission to contact their GP, and only 10 GPs bothered to reply.

Med 3 makeover aims to boost its usefulness

The government is to redesign the official sicknote (Med 3) in an effort to encourage GPs and employers to communicate more about how they get sick staff back to work.

“It is very much at the planning stage, but it is something we are thinking about quite widely now,” Cathy Harrison, occupational health (OH) adviser at both the Department of Health and the Department for Work and Pensions, told the In Health and In Work conference in Nottingham last week.

Ministers want the certificate to go further than just saying someone is unable to work, perhaps by including what could be done to help them return to work, she added.

Dame Carol Black, the government’s OH tsar, also revealed she is to have a meeting with the Treasury to discuss the issue of tax breaks or other financial incentives for companies that invest in workplace health.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

 

Nic Paton

Nic Paton is consultant editor at Personnel Today. One of the country's foremost workplace health journalists, Nic has written for Personnel Today and Occupational Health & Wellbeing since 2001, and edited the magazine from 2018.

previous post
Carers charity urges employers to extend flexible working rights to all staff
next post
BMA warns of danger to patient care from health authorities’ cuts to medical training to offset NHS deficits

You may also like

Number of police working second jobs doubles

15 Jul 2025

Mansion House speech: will employers’ pension contributions rise?

15 Jul 2025

University staff to strike over hybrid working curbs

15 Jul 2025

Employees voting with feet as return-to-office pressure increases...

15 Jul 2025

Businesses warned against reducing recruitment in favour of...

15 Jul 2025

Postmasters could take ownership of Post Office

14 Jul 2025

Ethnicity and disability pay gaps: Ready to report?...

14 Jul 2025

Manager dismissed after covert recording with HR wins...

14 Jul 2025

Food sector warned it is facing a workforce...

14 Jul 2025

Gregg Wallace investigation: 45 allegations upheld

14 Jul 2025

  • Empower and engage for the future: A revolution in talent development (webinar) WEBINAR | As organisations strive...Read more
  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today