The role of GPs in signing people off work will be reduced or removed in several parts of England under new pilot schemes – as the Government looks to overhaul the fit note system.
It comes after The i Paper reported in March that ministers were considering moving responsibility for fit notes away from doctors.
At the time, employment minister Dame Diana Johnson said that the system was not “working in the way we want” and that non-clinicians could play a greater role in getting people back to work.
Shorts
The pilots will test four different models – some removing GPs from the process entirely – before the Government brings forward legislation to overhaul the system.
