Hello All
I believe the Med 3 is advice for a GP to the employee to refrain from work. Therefore whether the person goes on holiday is irrelevant the advice remains the same. I can understand why the GP is unhappy(but not why the patient should be removed from their list). If I was asked as an OHA to state in my opinion someone was fit for work simply to accommodate Company absence policy and then again a week or fortnight later they were unfit, I would be hacked off. It is a professional opinion.
Some companies make it clear contractually that employees will not be paid sick pay during holidays- I think if the time was covered by a med 3 they might still be required to pay SSP but not the company sick pay that makes it up to full wage (what do you think Greta?)
I agree with Lucy -this is an HR issue and they should be reminding the employee of their contractual obligations/issues , not OH. Otherwise you may find yourself trying to defend their policies and are more likely to be perceived as a management tool.
I also think it would be very difficult to define what a holiday is, If one goes to Brighton for a week to take the sun, is this different from going to Brighton to visit a sick relative? Even with travelling abroad ,as has been said before, it might be therapeutic. I dealt with a case by remote management where the employee had travelled to India for several months to seek treatment over there from traditional medicine practitioners. if the gP is willing to issue med 3 for several months at a time this becomes possible.
All the best
Diane
Be one of the first to try Windows Live Mail.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please remove this footer before replying.
For list archives and documents, go to
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/occ-health.html
FORTHCOMING CONFERENCES AND EVENTS:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/filearea.cgi?LMGT1=OCC-HEALTH
For Occupational Health jobs, go to http://OHJobs.drmaze.net
Find out about Occupational Health Nursing Education in UK at
http://home.wlv.ac.uk/~in6232/aohne/
