NHS
Certificates of Unfitness to Work
(or “sick notes”)
Do you need a doctor's
certificate in the first seven days
of an illness?
Certificates signed by a doctor in
the first seven days of an illness
are not usually necessary. In
general, doctors and the Benefits
Agency do not consider it necessary
for patients to attend a doctor for
sickness certification only.
Illnesses which last less than one
week are usually minor and self
limiting and often do not require a
visit to a doctor.
What do you need?
For the FIRST FOUR DAYS of
any illness you do not require any
form of certification. (It is for
you to decide if you are fit to
work).
For the NEXT THREE DAYS
(including Saturdays and Sundays)
you should complete a
'self-certificate'. The SC1 form is
for the unemployed or self-employed
which is sent to the Benefits
Agency. The SC2 form is for those in
employment; it is passed to and is
available from your employer.
Only after the FIRST WORKING
SEVEN DAYS do you need a
doctor's certificate. Please request
to see a doctor to get a Benefits
Agency sick note (either a 'Med 3'
or 'Med 5')
What are private sick notes
and do you need one?
Some employers or insurance schemes
demand you to provide a 'sick note'.
The doctors will charge either the
employer or you a fee to
examine and provide you with this
private certificate. It is legally
unnecessary and takes up medical
time. If your employer pressurises
you for written evidence, we
understand your predicament. Please
inform your employer to make their
request in writing to Fortrose
Medical Practice.
Advocacy/Chaperones/Interpreter
Patients are welcome to attend any
appointment accompanied by a friend
or relative, if they find this
helpful. Patients attending on their
own may also ask for a chaperone to
be provided during a consultation
with the doctor or nurse.
If required an interpreter can be
organised to accompany the patient
to see the doctor but we will
require prior knowledge of this so
that we have time to make the
necessary arrangements.
We can also arrange support for
communicating with deaf patients or
with deafblind patients. This
includes British Sign Language, Lip
speaking service, note-taking
service and deafblind interpreters
and communicators. Please note that
we will require prior warning of the
need for such services so that the
necessary arrangements can be made.
Teaching
at the practice
From time to time we teach medical
students and other doctors.
This will not be done without your
consent. You will be asked before
going in to see the doctor whether
or not you agree to being videoed or
to having another clinician present
during the consultation.
Violence
and Abuse
A zero-tolerance policy towards
violent, threatening and abusive
behaviour is now in place throughout
the NHS. The staff in Fortrose
Medical Practice have the right to
do their work in an environment free
from violent, threatening and
abusive behaviour and everything
will be done to protect that right.
At no time will any violent,
threatening or abusive behaviour be
tolerated in this practice. If you
do not respect the rights of our
staff we may choose to inform the
police and make arrangements for you
to be removed from our medical list.
Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002
This Act came into force on 1st
January 2005 and enables any person
requesting information from a public
body to receive that information,
subject to certain exemptions. This
is to encourage public authorities
to be more open and accountable and
organise their information in an
efficient and accessible way.
This excludes personal data.
The Practice has a Freedom of
Information Policy, which is
available on request from the
Practice Management.
Data
Protection Act 1998
You are entitled to access your
clinical records held by the
Practice. This should be done in
writing stating exactly what
information you require. A charge
may apply for this request of
between £10 - £50 maximum.
Confidentiality of Records
In order to provide care for you we
are obliged to keep records. This is
increasingly done using computers.
We are obliged to comply with the
Data Protection Act 1998 and other
guidance on privacy and data
confidentiality, and we take this
very seriously.
In order to manage services and
improve the quality of care we
provide we share some information on
practice activity – e.g. with
Community Health Partnerships, NHS
Boards, the Scottish Executive and
the Common Services Agency. Whenever
possible this information is
anonymised – i.e. names and other
identifying details are removed.
Information is not shared
with any third party outside the
Health Service (e.g. Insurance
Companies, employers, solicitors)
without your explicit signed consent
and agreement.
We are obliged by law to provide
certain information – e.g.
notification of certain infectious
diseases.
Practices undergo regular visits by
external assessors, whose purpose is
to verify the process of the
practice’s quality of care to the
patient; therefore they may need to
view the records of a random number
of individual patients. The visiting
team adheres to a strict code of
confidentiality.
If you do not wish your records to
be inspected, then please inform the
Business Manager.
We help to provide statistics for
medical research and to allow
planning ahead for treatments,
patient numbers etc. This
information is anonymised and does
not contain any personal details of
our patients.
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