Should We Strip GPs of the Right to Sign People Off Sick from Work?

now the Prime Minister will say today that we need to end what he calls Our Sick note culture with more of a focus on getting people back to work yes part of it will be to take the responsibility for issuing sick notes away from doctors but is that right Dr emica okacha says only GP should decide if someone is fit to work he's fit to work he's just come off a an overnight shift by the way and char and Charlie Mullins says it's too easy to sign people off and it's bad for British business come to you first Charlie you run this everyone knows it's huge Plumbing business so obviously you're in the heart of it employ a lot of Staff do you agree more so than anytime in the past that we've got this sick note culture around at the moment yeah well the figures have jumped tremendously and uh you know I think one time you'd go to the doctors and they'd have to convince you you've got a mental health problem but now you go there and you're convincing them and they're just signing you off and uh and the real problem is there's no long-term sort of help for them because they can't get more appointments to get reassessed so I think what rich is coming up with is getting someone to reassess them further down the line and and about getting them back into the workplace so I think what he's doing is is a good thing but obviously you got all the Busy Bodies will be saying no it's so terrible thing what's happening but then do you accept though with think people have Financial worries or postco you know people are more aware of their mental health there there's definitely issues around you not accept that perhaps this is just a result of people's own health and well-being not being looked after course them problems are there but them problems have always been there haven't they we've always had issues with money and people you know with with worries and concerns um the fact the fact is that you know we have become a very much a lazy culture and by staying at home not working it's not making things better so you know it's not necessarily going the right direction we can't afford for it to be carried on and it's so simple to just to say I'm I'm well I'm not going to work Dr EMA you've just done how long a shift overnight um you've lost me about 10 hours wow yeah so you thank you so much for coming in you obviously feel very passionate about this I am I I am very passionate about this and I think just to GRE you I don't think it should be only GPS who should be judging whether or not people are fit enough to work but health professionals as a whole but I think GPS are the best people place to do it and that's because they've usually developed a rapport with the patient so they know not only the disease or mental health illness that the patient may be suffering with and the diagnosis but also knowing that person individually because it's usually that somebody they've seen before so if you've seen somebody before and you know their Baseline and you know they've been struggling with whatever maybe previously they've mentioned in a consultation you think actually this is becoming an issue for you and you're not able to complete your work and I think we're on the same side where we do want to get people into work as we can but I don't want this culture or stigmatism where people don't want to come forward with mental health conditionings they they've been suffering with and then put other people at risk for example myself if I'm suffering with a severe condition and I know we jumped all the way to mental health however any sort of condition where I didn't think I could fulfill my duties properly on my job people's lives and their health is at risk and I'd expect my GP to be able to assess me and see that and say it doesn't look like you're able to fulfill your job actually I don't think it's safe for you to work at the moment and I think this is why we need to issue a fit note if it's under 7 days and I feel okay maybe it's a temporary self-limited illness I can go for seven days and tell uh my employer listen I'll was self-certified I wasn't very well this week this is what happened but if for example it's chronic which most mental health illnesses are and there something going on and on and on your GP should know I suppose one of the reasons why mental health has been included is because there's been a big jump in those um not able to work for mental health of course there could be many reasons better diagnosis maybe you know challenges with access to support with that and I think one of the things that people are concerned about is this idea that you know there are serious mental health concerns which really affect people to work what U Mel stride and indeed the Prime Minister talking about is not medicalizing what they term as normal worries you know normal life worries which in the past this is the this is the argument people would have worked through and got on with it now are enough to sign people off work is that your experience see now that's where we fall into the gray area and that's become dangerous because whose job is it is to find what's Normal and abnormal so we are trained with criteria and set um set criteria where we assess and evaluate people to see actually this isn't just normal anxiety just generalized anxiety disorder this isn't just you feeling upset or sad about bement this is actual a depression or this is a bipolar so we we are taught be able to evaluate and diagnose this yeah okay have you ever had somebody that that hasn't been able to work because of of ill health that you felt could have worked in your experience all the time I mean maybe you could answer where does this Monday and Friday illness come from comes every Monday and Friday people don't know what it is but it comes on them days what you're saying for the people that definitely need mental health and I've got mental health issues of course they need all the help they can but there's a lot of people out there that are just playing that card and then and they know how simple is to to go to the dots or the GP and get signed off from work this idea is's coming up with is actually going to help more people back into the workplace because once you've had an appointment with a GP you can't get back there within seven days it can be months and then you and then long term you're off can I just say this if you're off work for six for 50% of the people that are off work for six months never go back to work so we should be showing them a way of there to get back into but Charlie what what does it say about the work environment though because imagine you know think okay well they should want to come into work maybe they maybe they're not happy with a work environment maybe they're not happy with the job the job situation that don't give them right to be off sick though does if they're not unhappy with the job but should should employers be doing more to create a happier of course they should work environment yeah I mean we we we of course they should and and you know i' like to think as an employer that's what we do and I'm sure many other employers do but you can't say I'm sick because I don't like working with Mary or I don't want to be in that working environment it's look it's too easy and this guy's in the business so he must know how easy is how many people are wasting gp's time with a with a tu B A or you know I don't want to go work today is it's all I mean are doctors any good at diagnosing laziness um so it's it's difficult I wouldn't actually cast it as laziness but I do get where you're coming from I think it's then changes because then it's not a fit note you might need but you might need a private medical certificate because if you're off for less than seven days and it happens to be the same sort days every week and it's a chronic thing that's when your employer might ask GP you'd like to be involved so that I like it needs to be a patient centered discussion between the employer the GP and the patient to discuss what is the problem and how can we get around it does this mean maybe amending the different hours you work maybe you're shuffling with some there you can't do night any reason you want not to go to work I we should be finding a way of we can get them to work not worrying about Charlie very good point I think and also I think we need to let you go and get some sleep you need a a shift as well don't be so lazy don't be so lazy come on get another shift put oh great to speak to both of you thank you guys

Channel: Good Morning Britain

Views: 23,792

Keywords: good morning britain, breakfast show, news, morning news, gmb, good morning britain interview, itv, susanna reid, Talk Shows - Topic, sick notes, doctors notes, rishi sunak, sick note culture

Id: hKVJvKodwXQ

Length: 7min 58sec (478 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 19 2024