21st September 2007
Unum calls for change to the current protocol in issuing sick notes
Unum, the UK’s leading disability insurer, has today welcomed Lord McKenzie's comments, made during a speech to the BMA conference on work and wellbeing, highlighting the importance of work to a person’s social, physical and mental wellbeing. It is also calling for a change to the current GP protocol in issuing sick notes.
Research has previously shown that work is good for you. However, there has long been concern in the UK about the ease with which sick notes can be issued. There is also concern that little attention is sometimes paid to the wishes of people who want to return to work quickly following an illness, but are not given adequate encouragement to do so. For example, people with mental health issues often have the highest rates of desire to return to work but unfortunately often lack the necessary support.
In line with this, the Unum Chief Medical Officer's 2007 report Mind Over Matter, published in September 2007, highlights a number of concerns with the way in which some GPs issue sick notes. The report argued that by changing their approach to sickness absence management GPs could prevent a high number of unnecessary absences from work, which can easily develop into a far longer period of absence than either the patient or the GP envisaged, and thus prevent a considerable amount of distress in the long and short-term.
Unum Chief Medical Officer, Professor Michael O'Donnell, comments:
It is important that proper care and attention is given to the issue of sick notes. Often, more proactive management of sickness and absence, rather than simply signing off sick notes, could result in real benefits for the individual, the employer and wider society in the long-term. The link between work and wellbeing is well established and we need to do all we can to keep people in work wherever possible.
Unum believes that many GPs currently lack understanding of the relative impact and number of sick notes issued and the resultant length of time away from work. The insurer is therefore calling for increased transparency and comparability between GPs to ensure that they have a clear understanding of appropriate benchmarks in issuing sick notes.
Professor O’Donnell continues:
The GP's office is still too often a gateway onto benefit rather than the solution to returning to work. The Government's ambitious targets in welfare reform could be helped with simple changes to the current protocol in issuing sick notes, as many people who are able to do so would be encouraged to return more swiftly to work.
Unum has also welcomed calls from the CBI this week to make GP services more responsive and flexible. Professor O’Donnell commented:
We share the aspiration of a more patient-centred model, with the whole return to work solution around care, skills and employment being built around the needs of the individual.
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