Long term sickness absence: General practitioners have crucial role but need political support

doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7499.1087-c

BMJ 2005;330:1087 (7 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7499.1087-c

Letter

Long term sickness absence

General practitioners have crucial role but need political support

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—I believe that general practitioners, with theirrecords and knowledge of these common conditions, are in thebest position to make decisions on absence from work.¹ However,the system needs to change to reflect the greyness of most ofthese decisions. In some conditions there are no issues aboutabsence—for example, severe angina. However, in many conditionsprompting a review of the fitness to work, the clarity of theneed to refrain can vary from reasonable to dubious/not indicated.These descriptions would change depending on how long the patienthas been off work already.

Is there some way the general practitioner could indicate thatstatus which would allow the employer or the benefits agencyto add their opinion and even make the decision? The generalpractitioner can give an opinion that it is not clear whetherthe patient should work and whether working is unlikely to seriouslyimpair . . . [Full text of this article]

Graeme M Mackenzie, general practitioner

Whitehaven, Cumbria CA28 7RG graeme.mackenzie@gp-a82041.nhs.uk