The government is piloting a major shake-up of the fit note system in a bid to reduce economic inactivity and get more people back into employment. A pilot scheme launching soon will remove GPs from the sick note process in certain circumstances, instead directing patients to alternatives to being signed off work. The trial will begin across four areas, including Birmingham and Solihull, Coventry and Warwickshire, Cornwall and the Isle of Scilly, and Lancashire and South Cumbria. A second phase is also planned. Launching in November, it will transfer patients from doctors to fitness coaches for evaluation.
The initiative is backed by significant investment
The WorkWell Primary Care Innovation Fund, supported by £1.5 million across 15 regions, aims to combat the practice of immediately writing people off with a fit note and instead find ways to help them to get back into employment. The scale of the problem is clear. Of the 11 million fit notes issued electronically in primary care across England last year, 93 per cent simply declared people ‘not fit for work,’ offering no constructive alternative or support pathway.
To help understand the issues, mental health training courses Newport can highlight and educate, and you can find out more at specialists like www.tidaltraining.co.uk/mental-health-training-courses/newport. Mental health issues are rife in young people in Scotland and this will be the subject of a documentary.
The plans are not without controversy
Critics argue that seriously ill people being forced to undergo job coaching and exercise programmes risks pushing them into even more severe states.