> Are we able to issue a Med3 on the basis of a telephone consultation
> by us - again something that I do.
This is something I do as well Paul - a consultation is a consultation,
surely, whether it's face to face or on the phone??
If telephone consultations can't be used for this sort of thing what use are
they?
On the med3 form you state that you've examined the patient, but there's no
detail about what that examination involved.
You can examine someone with questions without laying a hand on them.
For example, if someone has a very good story for a bad case of
gastroenteritis which they've self-certified for for a week and they say
they've still got diarrhoea and they work, say, as a chef, I'd take their
word for it - I wouldn't necessarily "examine" them - I might send off a
stool sample.
And, would it be reasonable to do a med3 rather than a med5 if I "see" the
patient in reception when they come to request a follow on sick note? -
that's less of a consultation than a phone consultation, but I've officially
"seen" the patient on the day of signing and "examined" them, well sort of,
anyway in a cursory sort of way, from a distance. But then, how much do we
"examine" patients each time they come in to get a sicknote, anyway. It
varies from case to case.
Margaret
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