If you are not happy with a GP’s assessment of your employee’s condition, you should, with the employee’s consent, obtain a second opinion from a company-appointed medical advisor, such as a specialist or occupational therapist. If the employee is unwilling to give consent to a second opinion you are usually required to accept his GP’s assessment unless you are aware of evidence to the contrary, which clearly casts doubt over the extent of the employee’s actual illness.

A government initiative recently examined the inadequacies of current sick note procedures in the UK, prompted by concerns that employee sickness is not always properly assessed or managed. Following consultation with medical and occupational practitioners from various fields, several recommendations have been made to improve the effectiveness of the system.

As a result, new proposals to extend the responsibility for issuing sick notes to include non-medical professionals such as physiotherapists, nurses and chiropodists, were announced in a report by the Department of Work and Pensions earlier this year and are expected to come into force in April 2006.

Responsibility for dispensing sick notes has always been reserved for GPs, but it’s now widely recognised that time pressures and limited occupational health expertise mean some patients are missing out on advice to help them get back to work. Further evidence suggests GPs face pressure to provide sick notes for fear that they could face a charge of negligence if they don’t.

This means your fears may be founded and it’s possible your employee is either not receiving appropriate advice, or is taking advantage of their GP’s inability to dedicate adequate time and expertise to the problem. Either way, the government has recognised that businesses are suffering from this loophole in sick note procedures and finally seems to be taking positive steps to resolve the problem.

The new proposals work on the theory that a physiotherapist or osteopath is likely to be in a better position to give an accurate diagnosis of his or her patient than a GP with no prior relationship with that person other than a request for a sick note. As a result, the new rules are expected to make it harder for those who feign illness or injury to deceive their medical advisers into providing a sick note. It is also hoped

they will help reduce the length of time employees take off sick, by involving specialist advisers in their recovery and rehabilitation, to prepare employees for their return to work.

This is good news for employers who want to make sure that a specialist, with the time and expertise to carry out an accurate examination, has properly assessed an employee’s condition.

If the proposals do come into force, their impact on working practices is expected to be minimal. As an employer, you will however have the right to request evidence of this or any other employee’s inability to work from a medical adviser specialising in their condition.

You will also be required to amend your sickness policies to recognise certificates from a range of medical advisers.

Employment lawyers have welcomed the proposals as a sensible development in sickness procedures and a way for employers not only to clamp down on unnecessary absences from work, but to better understand the health and

well-being of their staff.

Contributor: Russell Brown, employment law specialist, Glaisyers