Submit a request for a fit / sick note using Rapid Health here
When do I need a fit / sick note?
7 days off sick or less
If you're off work sick for 7 days or less, your employer should not ask for medical evidence that you've been ill. Instead they can ask you to confirm that you've been ill. You can do this by filling in a form yourself when you return to work. This is called self-certification. Visit the following link for information and the form for self-certification
More than 7 days off sick
If you're off work sick for more than 7 days, your employer will usually ask for a fit / sick note (or Statement of Fitness for Work) from a GP or hospital doctor. Fit / sick notes are sometimes referred to as medical statements or a doctor's note.
For more information please visit;
When do I need a fit /sick note? (NHS information)
The fit / sick note: guidance for patients and employees (GOV.uk)
Fit notes following or during hospital treatment, surgery or fracture
If you are likely to need a fit note (otherwise known as a sick note or MED 3) when you come out of hospital or following outpatient attendance, please ask the doctor treating you in hospital to provide you with one before you leave. This is because the decision on how long you need off work is made by the clinician who has assessed and treated you. If you have forgotten to do this, please contact the hospital and ask for a Fit note to be posted or texted to you.
Unfortunately, the process for providing Fit notes isn’t always well-understood by our hospital colleagues and we often hear our patients have been told things by our colleagues that aren’t always true. Here some myths and facts about this issue.
- “Consultants and junior doctors don’t write fit notes. Fit notes are a GP’s job” – FALSE.
- “The hospital just don’t have any fit note pads” – FALSE.
- “The hospital can only issue notes for one or two weeks at the very most” – FALSE.
- “The hospital can’t issue you with a fit note if you’ve only been to outpatients” – FALSE.
- “The hospital won’t be able to message me with my fit note or send it to me in the post” – FALSE.
- “The doctor who is treating you at the time has a statutory obligation to provide you with a fit note if you need one. This includes all hospital doctors” – TRUE.
- “The doctor who is treating you should sign you off for the appropriate time period according to the condition you have been treated for” – TRUE.
- “Both private and NHS doctors can issue fit notes” – TRUE.
- “It is part of the hospital’s contractual duty to issue a note. Failure to do so is breach of contract” – TRUE.
This is an extract from the guidance from the Department of Work and Pensions about fit notes (also known as doctors’ statements or Med 3s in this text):
Thousands of appointments and telephone calls with GPs are taken up each year by patients requesting fit notes when they could have been issued by hospital doctors providing treatment at the time. Please help us to keep our appointments free for patients who need our input, rather than for administrative paperwork that could have been dealt with by others at the end of your hospital visit.
If you have trouble getting a fit note from the hospital, please contact PALS (Patient Advice Liaison Service) team:
Contact: 02476 865550
Email: PALS@geh.nhs.uk
Website: https://www.geh.nhs.uk/contact-us/feedback-and-complaints/patient-advice-and-liaison-service