‘Masking the symptoms’: doctor’s union slams government idea to boost economy by tightening fist on sick notes

The British Medical Association has slammed a new government plan, which could see doctors encourage sick patients to keep working rather than signing them off, as dangerous and “ridiculous”.

The government is set to reveal its spring Budget on 15 March, as the International Monetary Fund warned the UK was expected to be the only major global economy to shrink this year. In a recent Treasury speech, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt signalled tackling “economic inactivity” by helping more people into work and filling vacancies in the jobs market was a priority.

He also outlined ambitions to help more disabled people and those with mental illnesses into work, and a pensions system that encouraged continued workforce participation.

The Telegraph reports one idea being mooted by government for the new Budget is to encourage GPs to ditch the sick notes, instead focusing on recommending ways people living with long-term illnesses could continue to work with support.

The plan, which has not yet been confirmed, would mean a new approach on how they decide whether a patient was too sick to work, in an effort to stop people dropping out of the labour market.

A government source told The Telegraph: “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.”

Official figures showed the number of Britons signed off work with long-term health conditions has been on the rise, with 2.32 million people last summer up from 1.95 million before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019, the Independent reports.

The British Medical Association (BMA) and its General Practitioners Committee (GPC) have lambasted the plan, saying it undermines GP expertise and puts patients at risk.

Dr Kieran Sharrock, acting chair of the GPC, said implementing government economic policy was not the responsibility of general practice staff. “Our responsibility is to look after our patients,” he said.

Dr Sharrock said GPs and their teams already undertook a thorough assessment of a patient, before deciding if a fit to work note was required. “Any suggestion that GPs and their teams should limit fit notes undermines their expertise as doctors and puts patients and the wider community at risk.”

“People will be left with no option but to go to work when they are unwell – potentially worsening their own health and putting those around them at risk of infection,” he said.

Dr Sharrock said it was “ridiculous” for ministers to believe practice staff should instead recommend ways that sick patients could continue to work with support. “This will merely increase the workload for already over-stretched teams, as well as creating undue stress and possible longer periods of poor health for a patient.”

He suggested the government looks “closer to home” for the root cause of the increase in long-term sicknesses that required people to take time off work. “The cost of living crisis is heaping mental and physical misery on millions as well as the ever growing waiting lists for treatment and surgery,” he said.

A prevention was better than a cure, Dr Sharrock said, “so instead of masking the symptoms through writing fewer fit notes, the government should seek to address why many of these notes are needed in the first place and how its own failings have contributed to this situation”.

“It is only by addressing these systemic issues that the Government can hope to improve the health of the population, which is essential for a thriving economy.”