Sick/Fit Note Certificates

Requesting an additional Sick/Fit Note

If you have already had a Sick Note (Fit Note) for an illness from your Doctor, you may not need another appointment to have an additional sick note; please contact reception to submit your request.

If you have never been seen or assessed for a problem, you will need to arrange an appointment – sick notes will not be issued for conditions that we are unaware of.

Receiving your note

We would prefer to send you an electronic sick note via SMS direct to your phone. If you would prefer to pick up a printed copy from reception, please let us know.

If you have had an inpatient stay, procedure, or under the care of a specialist as an outpatient

IMPORTANT: The practice will not issue sick notes on behalf of others.

If you have recently had an inpatient stay, procedure/test/examination, or under the care of a specialist, it is their responsibility to issue sick notes; this is because they would be in a better position to know about your condition and how long you will need to stay off work.

This is consistant with Government guidelines for hospitals: www.gov.uk/government/publications/fit-note-guidance-for-hospital-doctors

Your should contact the responsible Consultant and ask them to send you one. Failing that, contact the PALS team at the relevant hospital.

It is not the GP’s job to issue sick notes for other healthcare professionals.

Children - absences from school

GPs do not have a statutory duty to provide informal sick notes for children. Your relationship with the school should be such that any concerns over a child’s absence can be resolved without the need for you or the school to ask your GP to provide any supporting evidence.

The school may ask you to provide a written note explaining your child’s absence from school. In most cases, this should be sufficient evidence for the school to authorise the absence. In some cases the school may request supportive evidence. In these cases, schools nationally have been asked to accept a prescription or an appointment card as evidence rather than a GP letter.

If you need to obtain a record of your GP appointment from the surgery, please ask our receptionist who will be able to provide evidence of the appointment time, with our surgery stamp. There is no charge for this service.

Occasionally, a school may feel that further evidence is required. Before our surgery is engaged, there is an expectation that you and the school will meet face to face beforehand in order to discuss and hopefully resolve the concern without the need for the surgery to be involved.

GP letters relating to school absence cannot be provided free of charge on the NHS and will incur a private letter charge.