Financial Times: NHS to trial GPs no longer handing out ‘sick notes’

[Felis Catus]

[This is not ME/CFS specific but it will affect pwME/CFS who are still employed. Mods, please move if there's a better place for it and feel free to edit tags.]

https://archive.ph/2026.05.20-053704/https://www.ft.com/content/90776c6f-5c74-4222-9424-dc3da6487540#selection-1599.0-1599.51

Some excerpts:

GPs in England will no longer issue “sick notes” as part of NHS trials designed to reduce the number of people signed off work because of health problems.

Sick workers will instead be sent to occupational therapists and “social prescribers” who recommend job coaching and therapy such as exercise or gardening in the hope that a personalised plan can help them stay in work, according to several people familiar with the government’s plan.

Four alternative approaches will now be tested across four NHS integrated care boards. Two of these will see patients bypass GPs entirely when requesting fit notes and be sent either for treatment focused on staying in work or social support such as job advice and lifestyle coaching, according to people familiar with the plans. The other two will see GPs issue the initial fit note and send employees on to the other services if extensions are requested.

These services will be charged with helping employees stay in work or get back to work quickly. An existing scheme that gives people with health problems work coaching and advice on workplace adjustments, known as WorkWell, will be used to issue fit notes in some of the pilots. Other clinical and non-clinical support will also be tested, with plans for these services to issue about 100,000 fit notes during the trial period.

So the way to reduce sick leave and "Get Britain Working" is to pretend that people are not sick and just need a bit of coaching and gardening.

Sounds like Get Britain More Sick...

 

[Yann04]

Oh my this sounds absolutely dreadful. I hope a lot of noise is going to be made politically against this.

Have they forgotten the concept of rest??

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

We can only hope that change in political personnel may lead to a change of tack.

 

[V.R.T.]

Well this guarantees people with new onset MECFS and MECFS type long covid will have worse outcomes and worse levels of disablity.

Never forget that PACE was sold as a way of getting people off benefits and back to work.

This is all so sinister.

The way everything is going it's like a breakthrough is the only thing can save us from a hostile state, a state that has been actively obstructing research that could lead to said breakthrough. It's enough to make one despair.

 

[V.R.T.]

Have they forgotten the concept of rest??

The idea of rest as being beneficial is being memory holed, along with ideas like 'people should be able to afford to feed their kids' and 'catching COVID-19 is something you should probably avoid'.

 

[Eleanor]

Not to mention the danger to the public when sick people are forced to go on working in any job with an element of risk (driving, operating machinery, food preparation, looking after children...)

 

[BrightCandle]

This seems to be a continuation of the pandemic policy that its good to be sick, you need to get sick to avoid getting sick...

There is a war on people being ill and resting at the moment, the situation is just getting worse. As we know that results in more Long Covid and more ME/CFS and then they are annoyed that so many are on PIP and LCWRA so they are seeking to reduced or even abolish both. I am really beginning to fear for our surivival in the UK.

 

[Lou B Lou]

Twitter - GP Dr Steve Taylor says the pilots are optional and that he "was in the discussions and forming of the pilots"





Dr Steve Taylor
"I have been in the discussions & forming of the pilotsIf those who are unable to work are forced to, I wouldn’t support it. Conversely this will help those who continue to work & shouldn’t work as there will be an option to use this to negotiate better conditions potentially"





"The pilots are optional. If you are unable to work you won’t work. If you need to be signed off in the pilots you still will. If you think it’s possible to do some work the scheme will liaise with your employer about options. The idea is to get better options & support"







"The pilot is looking at better options to help people to stay in work if possible. It is NOT about getting people to work who cannot work. The Pilots will see if it would work with people & employers. It’s NOT long term sick but aimed at preventing this"



There is a lot of worry about these proposals and the pilots. I can only repost here what Dr Taylor tweeted. I don't know how it will work out in practice.

.

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

The pilot is looking at better options to help people to stay in work if possible.

If that is social prescribing it is a straightforward con. There seems to be a delusion that you can 'prevent' long term sickness.

Ironically, it may be that OTs are even less keen then GPs to confront people who say they cannot work with 'why not?' and sign off more people, to go dancing or whatever. And very likely the pilot will 'fail'.