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News
David Woods, 04 Jan 2012
The introduction of Fit Notes was designed to end long-term sickness absence, but a new study has revealed time off has doubled.
According to the study conducted by management firm Firstcare, workers who went to their GP for a Fit Note were absent from work for 48 days on average, compared to 20 days for those who didn't apply for one.
Analysis of 22,086 employee records found that the majority of doctors are still locked into old habits and sign off employees for lengthy periods of time.
FirstCare said that GPs should be thinking about how a worker could return to the office earlier if their job is adapted or they are allowed to work fewer hours.
The government's new Fit Note system, which replaced the contentious sick note last April, was supposed to help reduce the £13bn sickness related benefits bill each year, but the figures appear to contradict the aims.
Speaking about the Fit Note system, James Arquette, a director at Firstcare, said it is "causing employees to be off work for longer without reducing the likelihood of repeated absence".
1 comment on this article |
Peter Marno 04 Jan 2012
It would have been a very optimistic employer who thought that the introduction of Fit Notes was going to help them manage their sickness absence! It will be very rare for a GP to have enough information about a patient's employment to help return the individual to work earlier than might otherwise have been the case. In any event, the GP is the patient's advocate and not a service for the employer. The key to good sickness absence management is to know early on in an absence what is going on - and that might cost a comparatively small amount for an OH assessment - and then make the right health management decisions in line with their employment contracts. Employers who manage sickness absence well have the right health management 'tools' and have trained their managers to use them.
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