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All GP appointments and other requests will have to be submitted via the ‘contact us online’ link and banner. Your request will be triaged to the right clinician or service. This aims to reduce waiting times and improve your experience.

Sick/Fit Note

Get a Sick/Fit Note

If you’ve been off sick for more than 7 days.

To request a sick/fit note:

  • fill out a sick/fit note request form

For more information regarding sick leave, please visit the official government website: Taking Sick Leave

Complete an online request form

Information about Sick/Fit Notes

  • we can only issue notes for patients who are registered with the practice
  • you are able to self certify for an illness for the first 7 days off work
  • fit notes can only be issued in respect of a medical condition that the practice is aware of
  • fit notes cannot be issued in advance, for example to be after a surgical operation in the future
  • fit notes can be issued retrospectively if required by the employer and we have a record of the illness
  • fit notes may take up to 5 working days (7 calendar days) to be completed. They will not be completed by the emergency doctor, or during an emergency appointment
  • requests for fit notes for any hospital activity are to be directed to the relevant hospital team and can be issued for the full duration you are advised to be off work, have amended duties, or altered hours
  • indefinite fit notes can only be issued by a Department of Work and Pensions Medical Assessor and cannot be given by your GP.

Non-urgent advice: Who can Sign a Sick/Fit Note?

Fit notes can be certified and issued by nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists and physiotherapists, as well as doctors, and no longer require to be signed. Sick notes can only be issued when they are due, although they can be back dated they cannot be future dated. Please do not request emergency appointments for a Sick/Fit Note.

For more information regarding sick leave, please visit the official government website: Taking Sick Leave

If you have been sick for more than four days in a row, but less than seven, you can self–certify your illness using a SC2 form. You can obtain this form from your employer or the HMRC website. If you are unwell for more than four days you are advised to contact the surgery to assess your fitness to work.

If you’re off work sick for more than seven days your employer will normally ask for a Fit Note (or Statement of Fitness for Work) from your GP or Hospital Doctor.

When you work out the number of days that you’ve been sick, you need to count all the days in a row you’ve been sick, including days you don’t normally work such as weekends and bank holidays.

The Doctor will provide you with a Statement of Fitness for Work (‘Fit Note’) if you are still not well enough to work. Your employer will most likely request this statement as evidence to support payment of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP).

Further information is available at the Direct.Gov website.

When your child is off school or nursery with a sickness it can be extremely confusing knowing how long to keep your child off for.

The Health Protection Agency has produced guidelines to help you know when it is safe for you to let your child go back to school or nursery.

Guidance notes on infection control in schools and other childcare settings

Examinations and sickness certificates

It should be noted that GPs do not provide sick notes for school children. When children are absent from school owing to illness, schools may request a letter from a parent or guardian, and this is no different during an exam period. However, children who have missed exams due to illness are frequently told by schools that a note from a doctor is required; but this cannot be provided by a GP.

Aside from the fact that parents/guardians are responsible for excusing their children from school, GPs cannot provide retrospective sickness certification.

When a child suffers from a long-term condition, any certification will be provided by the responsible specialist. General Practitioners Committee (GPC) has sought and received confirmation from the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator that Awarding Organisations make no requirement for pupils to obtain a medical certificate in support of their application for special consideration.

Students are asked for information in support of their application, but this may take the form of a statement by the school. The Joint Council for Qualifications has confirmed that as far as they are concerned, if a student was absent from an examination as a result of illness and has the support of the school or centre to be absent, special consideration will be granted on that basis. Awarding organisations do not insist that medical proof is provided.
 

The NHS Information website provides further details about Sick or Fit Notes.

If you or your employer require further information concerning your period(s) of illness , then your Doctor may require to issue you with a letter. Please note that a charge may apply for this service. Please check with our Reception Desk.