From 20th March 2020, NHS 111 now have the facility for patients to obtain an official isolation note to give to their employers instead of a sick note (MED3). If you need an isolation note, please follow the link below and also read the letter from the practice regrading sick notes. This can also be given to employers if necessary.

Download the document and print to provide to your employer

Mandatory Face Covering Exemptions

Download the face covering exemptions letter

Re: Coronavirus and Requests for Doctor’s Notes (Med3)

Dear Patient and/or Employer,

The Government’s rules around issuing a sick note (Med3) are that a medical professional can only issue a Med3 when an individual has had more than seven continuous calendar days off sick due to an illness (including weekends).

For any period of illness less than seven days, you are able to complete a selfcertification certificate and provide this to your employer. A SC2 form can be downloaded from the internet. In the unlikely event that your employer does not accept a self-certification then your doctor may be able to issue a private sick note for which you may get charged.

Below is the address where this form can be downloaded:

www.gov.uk

In light of the current Coronavirus situation, it is inevitable that a number of employees may be required to quarantine themselves at home, for example due to the nature of recent travel, or because other members of the household are showing symptoms even in the absence of any symptoms of an illness in the employee. In these cases, GPs will not be abIe to issue a sick note as the time off work is not due to an illness, and isn’t affecting your ability to work, but rather is a precaution to avoid transmission of any illness that is yet to produce symptoms.

We therefore expect your employer to be sympathetic if you are required to selfisolate for 14 days and to understand that the reason for this is to protect the welfare of your work colleagues and the wider community. You can now go line using the link below in order to obtain an isolation note from the NHS 111 website:
111.nhs.uk/isolation-note/

ACAS have also published guidance for employees and employers which can be referred to below:

www.acas.org.uk/coronavirus

Whilst we appreciate this may cause some difficulties between you and your employer, equally GPs have a responsibility to prioritise the assessment and management of the healthcare needs of patients who are acutely unwell, rather than spending time dealing with requests for sick notes, particularly when they aren’t in a position to issue one.

This briefing has been written for and on behalf of Colchester Medical Practice, so please accept this as a reply to any request for a sick note/letter from the surgery.