Not Fit for Purpose - An Appraisal of the ‘Fit Note’ and

In doing so, we examine the link between rising levels of multiple and long-term health conditions, pressures upon key public services and the rise in demand for health-related benefits by asking the question: how far is the current approach a causal factor in driving rising levels of sickness absence and ultimately, the growing number of individuals in receipt of health-related benefits? The Stat. [...] A Government-commissioned review, published in August 2020, highlights the current issues which range from “time constraints in primary care to limitations of the fit note itself”.47 In the mid 2000s, the British Medical Association suggested that patients ought to be able to self-certify for a longer period and were highly critical of recent suggestions to seek for GPs to reduce the number of fit. [...] a diagnosis for the purposes of the fit note, which is desired by employers.54 • GPs have long cited a lack of training in the ‘occupational’ nature of their work – or specifically in occupational medicine in both undergraduate and postgraduate curricula as a limiting factor in the ability to provide effective advise on adjustments or return to work.55 In one study, 63% of GPs stated they had 52. [...] A causal link between welfare and inactivity might arise due to changes in some combination of the generosity of support (relative to unemployment benefits), their degrees of conditionality, the functioning of the assessment regimes, and the extent of back-to-work support provided to people on health-related benefits.”68 68. [...] In March 2023 the government published a health and disability White Paper, which proposed a range of reforms to health-related, including the phasing-out of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) and its replacement with the current approach taken to the other health-related benefit not yet mentioned, the Personal Independence Payment (PIP).77 77.