Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
I had nine days off recently with COVID, so have been asked by my employer to provide a fit note for two days as I can only self-certify for seven.
I have asked my GP three times for this and they have refused each time for two reasons.
1. They claim that because I took seven working days off (nine including days off), those seven days count as my self-certifying period.
This is clearly not true. The rules are clear on this: you can self-certify for the first seven consecutive days of illness, whether those are work days or not After that you need a fit note.
If you only counted your working days as sickd days, you could have a situation where someone who works for one day a week could go on the sick for weeks.
2. They also claim that they would not be able to issue a fit note anyway, because I did not inform the GP on the first instance of a positive test. This is the first time I’ve heard this from anyone. I was poorly and feverish and absolutely exhausted, preoccupied with recovering quick, but having horrible irrationaal anxiety that I might feel this tired forever and that I may develop long COVID. I only informed the GP after I had returned to work.
I have looked online and the only thing I can find that mentions this is a letter sent out to clinically vulnerable people in July 2023 telling them they no longer had to report test results on the NHS websitex but if they tested positive, they must inform the NHS immediately. I can’t find anything saying this is true for those who are not vulnerable.
They told me that ‘we‘are not legally allowed to issue sick notes for conditions that have not been diagnosed by or confirmed by a doctor’
If that’s true, my GP practice has broken the law previously as that’s exactly what they did the last time I had it, which was the same time last year (post-festival COVID innit). It will be in my records.
I’ve had to make a routine appointment to speak to a GP, and will have to wait to next month to get it sorted. If I can’t get a fit note, I’ll have two days’ leave docked, through no fault of my own, for having COVID.
It doesn’t seem right or fair, especially since trying to sort this out is taking all of my energy, but also made me doubt my own understanding, as I’m still feeling the effects of a bout of COVID which keeps surprising me with sudden spells of crushing fatigue and short fits of stupidity in which I fail to get a grip on simple tasks at work.
I am in a bit of a tizzy about it at the moment. Part of me wants to just accept it meekly, cos I no longer have the spoons to deal with it but another part is wanting to pull an actual sickie on the bank holiday weekend at an inconvenient time of year just to claw back the stolen hours.
Anyone got advice?
I have asked my GP three times for this and they have refused each time for two reasons.
1. They claim that because I took seven working days off (nine including days off), those seven days count as my self-certifying period.
This is clearly not true. The rules are clear on this: you can self-certify for the first seven consecutive days of illness, whether those are work days or not After that you need a fit note.
If you only counted your working days as sickd days, you could have a situation where someone who works for one day a week could go on the sick for weeks.
2. They also claim that they would not be able to issue a fit note anyway, because I did not inform the GP on the first instance of a positive test. This is the first time I’ve heard this from anyone. I was poorly and feverish and absolutely exhausted, preoccupied with recovering quick, but having horrible irrationaal anxiety that I might feel this tired forever and that I may develop long COVID. I only informed the GP after I had returned to work.
I have looked online and the only thing I can find that mentions this is a letter sent out to clinically vulnerable people in July 2023 telling them they no longer had to report test results on the NHS websitex but if they tested positive, they must inform the NHS immediately. I can’t find anything saying this is true for those who are not vulnerable.
They told me that ‘we‘are not legally allowed to issue sick notes for conditions that have not been diagnosed by or confirmed by a doctor’
If that’s true, my GP practice has broken the law previously as that’s exactly what they did the last time I had it, which was the same time last year (post-festival COVID innit). It will be in my records.
I’ve had to make a routine appointment to speak to a GP, and will have to wait to next month to get it sorted. If I can’t get a fit note, I’ll have two days’ leave docked, through no fault of my own, for having COVID.
It doesn’t seem right or fair, especially since trying to sort this out is taking all of my energy, but also made me doubt my own understanding, as I’m still feeling the effects of a bout of COVID which keeps surprising me with sudden spells of crushing fatigue and short fits of stupidity in which I fail to get a grip on simple tasks at work.
I am in a bit of a tizzy about it at the moment. Part of me wants to just accept it meekly, cos I no longer have the spoons to deal with it but another part is wanting to pull an actual sickie on the bank holiday weekend at an inconvenient time of year just to claw back the stolen hours.
Anyone got advice?
