I see:
>>>
Skivers beware - company doctors might soon be signing your
sick note instead of a sympathetic local GP. The British Medical
Association has struck a deal with the Government allowing
GPs to give up signing sick notes from April 2006.
But no decision has been made about who should take over
the job and pilot schemes begin in April to assess whether company
doctors can take the strain.
Workers who fall ill are normally given a week's grace, a process
known as selfcertification, before they have to see their doctor.
But GPs want to give up what they see as a burden, while employers
suspect the system allows malingerers to skive off with few questions asked.
>>>
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/news/index.asp?id=107840&D=2&M=2&Y=2004
Do we really want to give this up?
I had not realized this was on the agenda.
I forsee and awful lot more visits to the GP to "prove" the illness
so that GPs can write an awful lot more reports to company Drs
I sounds like yet another nail in the coffin of General Practice to me.
David Jobson
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