Britons will soon be able to use an app to log themselves out of work, under government plans to overhaul the sick note system.
The move, part of a wider plan to tackle Britain’s ‘sick note culture’, would see people with common infections such as flu automatically given time off after reporting their own symptoms.
It would also eliminate the need to consult a doctor.
Britons struggling with more complex or longer-lasting illnesses would receive more intensive support, plans put forward by ministers suggest.
It comes as Rishi Sunak last week vowed to strip GPs of the power to dismiss Britons from work.
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The move, part of a wider plan to tackle Britain’s ‘sick note culture’, would see people with common infections such as flu automatically given time off after reporting their own symptoms. Rishi Sunak promised last week that he would strip GPs of the power to fire Britons from work
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The change would see the letters – known in the NHS as ‘fit notes’ – instead become the responsibility of teams of ‘specialist work and health professionals’, he said.
Under the new system, a ‘triage service’ would “support people seeking fit training into a pathway that best suits their individual health and employment needs”, according to a government-published call for evidence.
However, automatic sick notes are likely to be limited to one-off illnesses to prevent Brits from abusing the system. The times reported.
The system would also first be tested as a pilot.
“If I have the flu and have to take seven days off work and then I’m back, do I really need to see a doctor about it,” said a government source.
Another source added that the algorithm was just one of several ideas tested to ‘find ways to make triage more efficient in a way that protects GP time’, comparing it with the existing NHS 111 symptom checker.
The Prime Minister claimed last week that benefits have become a “lifestyle choice” for some, creating a “spiraling” social bill.
The latest figures show that 2.8 million Britons are ‘economically inactive’ due to poor health. About half suffer from depression, anxiety and bad nerves.
Official forecasts also show that spending on ill health through the Personal Independence Payments (PIP) program will reach £33 billion by 2029 – up from just under £19 billion last year.
Mr Sunak argued that ‘part of the problem is that it may not be reasonable to ask GPs, who are very busy at the moment, to assess whether their own patients are fit for work.’
He added: ‘It too often puts them in an impossible situation where they know that refusing to sign someone out will damage the precious relationship with their patient.’
Experts last week criticized two online companies selling same-day sick notes for as little as £25, saying they offer a service that ‘threatens to put the whole system in the spotlight’. Home2Lab, one of the companies – apparently based in North London – is offering a workplace medical certificate for just £44 for a ‘regular request’
Home2Lab claimed the medics are all registered with the General Medical Council – the body responsible for overseeing doctors. The regulator’s professional standards require doctors to always provide accurate information that is not false or misleading. This means that ‘reasonable steps are taken’ to ensure that information is never deliberately omitted and that the risk of harm is not minimized or downplayed.
MailOnline also discovered Updoc UK, which was advertising ‘sick notes for work’ from just £24.95. The letter, ‘accepted by both small and large employers’, provides ‘official confirmation of your illness, granting you sick leave’
Labor criticized the plan, arguing that the government had ‘run out of ideas’. Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer also accused Sunak of “blaming people who are sick.”
However, some GPs welcomed the change, with some claiming that doctors are ‘often too scared to refuse to sign patients out because they fear they will become angry’.
It comes after experts last week criticized two online companies selling same-day sick notes for as little as £25, saying they offer a service that ‘threatens to game the whole system’.
MailOnline found the letters, which allowed customers to be signed off by UK-regulated medics, had been promised without the need for an appointment.
Customers just have to fill out a form, but some ask people to submit a 30-second video describing their illness.
This newspaper also put their services to the test: one reporter was able to purchase a sick note from both companies in less than two hours.
With a rubber stamp from a doctor and a pharmacist respectively, they both banned him from working for a month without speaking to a medical professional once.
