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Hi Lindsay Personally I believe your point is very valid and I did raise a very similar concern regarding the Tool with the person manning The Council Stand yesterday at the NEC. I was advised to email my concern and given the address on the back of the leaflet freely available advertising the Tool as follows: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> (hence feel I can share this as you might want to do the same). While I applaud that there is a lot of work going on to enhance health and wellbeing in the workplace, and the Tool may be helpful to some….. I suspect time constraints and motivation will put yet more unnecessary pressure on the poor GP….. I also believe there could be significant dangers and come back if the wrong advice is given based on 20 second OH assessment by an unqualified GP using a medical model within their 7 minute consultation to diagnose and treat their patient. I have therefore sent in my concerns as follows…… ( cut from email sent) My main question is Why, if we are trying to encourage organisations to look at Wellbeing (and Occupational Health) does the Guide not simply suggest that the GP write on the fit note “ Management are advised to make contact with their Occupational health & wellbeing service for best advice in this case” ?........ That then becomes the businesses issues not the GP’s… but gets a firm message across. The reason I ask is that GP’s have on average 7-minutes with their patient to get a history, make a diagnosis and decide a course of treatment….. are they really in that time frame also going to have time to go through this toolkit? I think not. It is hard to get many to simply tick a box asking for a phased return and to fully appreciate the current options on the fit note, even all these years on. I agree some are better than others, however time constraints are significant and work issues are not their priority. GP’s frequently have not worked within a business or engaged with Human Resources or Senior Managers and frequently have little or no OH experience / let alone a qualification. Now we expect the GP to be the employee advocate as well as patient advocate. This seems rather inappropriate when there are so many workplace specialists now out there (as evidenced at the recent NEC conference). I spend 45 minutes plus getting a full Bio/ Psycho/ Social history when I am conducting and OH assessment. That I believe allows me to more fully appreciate the issues from the employee perspective ( often including workplace issues that they have not addressed with their GP). I can then provide a useful report based on 16 years’ experience in OH in various settings and with understanding of their business and what support might be appropriate for the particular case. IF ALL GP’s simply wrote on a fit note ( when they are signing people off after 2 – 4 weeks) Please seek appropriate OH advice, this will take about 30 seconds of the GP’s valuable time and start to prompt Managers and HR persons in smaller businesses( as well as large) to look at the options and start to get workplace health and OH higher up their agenda. Just wanted to share my thoughts. Maybe this statement can be added at the top of the checklist. …. I wonder if I will get some response, we will see Anita Churchouse (Independent OHA) [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> From: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Lindsey Hall Sent: 05 March 2019 12:18 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] Being launched today Hi all Am I missing something or does the checklist not say anything about: 1. Asking if the patient has an occupational health service? 2. If they do, suggesting they get a referral or seek the involvement of this service? I admit I have only read the checklist but that is probably the limit of what most others will read. We know a lot don’t have access to OH but a lot do and surely the first answer to the question “How can I best help my patients with work issues given that I am not trained in occupational health?” is “Do you have an Occupational Health Service and if you do, go and talk to them or get your manager to talk to them? Thanks Lindsey From: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> > On Behalf Of Nick Pahl Sent: 05 March 2019 09:34 To: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> Subject: [OCC-HEALTH] Being launched today “Talking Work: A guide for Doctors discussing work and work modifications with patients” see: <https://www.councilforworkandhealth.org.uk/work-modifications/> https://www.councilforworkandhealth.org.uk/work-modifications/ Nick Pahl | CEO Society of Occupational Medicine | 20 Little Britain | London | EC1A 7DH Tel: 0203 478 1047 ******************************** Please remove this footer before replying. OCC-HEALTH ARCHIVES: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/occ-health.html CONFERENCES AND STUDY DAYS: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/filearea.cgi?LMGT1=OCC-HEALTH ******************************** Please remove this footer before replying. OCC-HEALTH ARCHIVES: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/occ-health.html CONFERENCES AND STUDY DAYS: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/filearea.cgi?LMGT1=OCC-HEALTH ******************************** Please remove this footer before replying. OCC-HEALTH ARCHIVES: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/occ-health.html CONFERENCES AND STUDY DAYS: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/filearea.cgi?LMGT1=OCC-HEALTH