From July 2022, fit notes can be certified and issued by nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists and physiotherapists, as well as doctors, and no longer require to be signed.
Sick notes can only be issued when they are due. Although they can be back-dated, they cannot be future-dated. Please do not request an emergency consultation for a Sick/Fit Note.
Do not use this form to ask about medical problems. If you want to seek advice about a medical problem, please submit an online request for help or call us.
Sick/Fit Note request form
Please complete this form to tell us about your illness and we will direct you to the most appropriate form or service.
Further Information about Sick/Fit notes
Hospital discharges
If you have been discharged from the hospital, your hospital team will issue any fit notes for the entire period of your recovery. Please contact the ward staff (even after discharge) if this has not been done. To quote from the government’s own website regarding this:
Fit notes can be issued in any relevant setting where an assessment of patients’ fitness for work is made. It is important that the healthcare professional responsible for the episode of care is the one who issues the fit note if it is within their ability. It is critical that patients are not signposted to other healthcare professionals purely for the purposes of certifying a fit note where this is avoidable, such as part of hospital discharges.
Self-Certificate
If you have been sick for more than three days in a row, but less than seven, you can self–certify your illness using an SC2 form. This is to allow the payment of statutory sick pay. You can obtain this form below, from your employer or fill one in electronically on the government’s website. Your employer may have another form they use for short periods of absence because of sickness.
More than seven days off sick
If you’re off work sick for more than seven days your employer will normally ask for a Fit Note (or Statement of Fitness for Work) from your Practice or Hospital Doctor.
How to count sick days
When you work out the number of days that you’ve been sick, you need to count all the days in a row you’ve been sick, including days you don’t normally work such as weekends and bank holidays.
Statement of Fitness for Work
An appropriate clinician will provide you with a Statement of Fitness for Work (‘Fit Note’) if you are still not well enough to work. Your employer will most likely request this statement as evidence to support the payment of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). Further information is available at the Direct.Gov website.
Doctors and other clinicians can only issue notes that they can justify with medical evidence. So, when requesting your note, give us enough information to support your request. We may contact you, normally by telephone, if we feel we need more information from you or are not in a position to write you a note.
Consider whether you are still capable of some work
Sick notes should only be issued for people that are incapable of all work. If you feel that you are capable of some work but not your usual duties, you could consider this with your employer and they may be able to accommodate changes to your work or role to keep you working. When you consult us about a medical problem that affects your fitness to work we may consider this option with you. We can request your employer make some adjustments in a ‘May be fit for work’ note. This may allow you to get back to work sooner and support your recovery. If your employer cannot support the changes we request to keep you at work, they can just treat the note as a ‘sick note’ to allow you to be off work and support the payment of statutory sick pay.
When do I need a Fit Note?
The NHS Information website provides further details about Sick or Fit Notes.
Private Certificates
If you or your employer require further information concerning your period(s) of illness, then your Doctor may require to issue you with a letter. Please note that a charge may apply for this service. Please check with our Reception Desk.