I think you are ... devil in the detail, as usual a bright idea with
some pitfalls

from their own examples :

>you might advise that a person with lower back pain “cannot sit for long periods of time”

and you will immediately be asked by the employer how long is too long?

>or that a person with travelrelated anxiety might benefit from “avoiding travel in peak hours”

who could argue with that, we all might benefit from avoiding rush
hour, but does it actually improve symptoms/prognosis in travel
related anxiety (whatever that is)?

>you might advise that your patient “has been referred for physiotherapy which may require time off to attend”.

as opposed to being able to receive treatment at work presumably?

Given that the advice GP's will give will have a real world impact on
cash and employment, for both employer and employee, and that the GP
will almost never have seen the workplace, and almost never have had
any training/currency/expertise in occupational health.

To my mind its an attempt to tempt untrained and inexperienced GPs
into the role of unpaid occ health physicians.

If you are going to give a professional opinion on the "may benefit
from a) phased return to work, b) amended duties, c) altered hours d)
workplace adaptations" bit of the form, I would have thought the
minimum information one would need would be a) an understanding of
what "phasing" options are possible and appropriate for the patients
condition and be able to justify that this with some stab at evidence
b) an understanding of what their current duties entail, c) what the
current hours and shift pattern is, d) an assessment of the current
workplace.

One might have to hear these things from more than just the patient
(because the version you hear is not always entirely correct) and you
might also need to be confident that you received a reasonable initial
training in occ health, and ongoing CPD in the area to maintain
currency otherwise it might be hard to answer the question

"Dr, my client is claiming that as a result of following your
professional opinion stated on his sick note, that he suffered
financial and physical harm. What qualifies you to form that opinion?"

>We have done our best to make sure that the information in this leaflet is correct as of February 2010. It is possible that some of the information is oversimplified,

too bloody right!

On 1 March 2010 02:27, Julian Bradley <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I must be missing something because this looked as though it might be an
> improvement?
>
> http://www.dwp.gov.uk/healthcare-professional/news/statement-of-fitness-for-work.shtml
>
> JB
>