Sick Notes

Becles

My friend works full time for an employer. Last Wednesday she had an accident at work. She fell down a flight of steps, and as well as the usual bumps and bruises, she injured her back. Work sent her home, and she thought it was just jarred and would heal in a couple of days.

However it was still really painful yesterday, and due to heavy lifting involved in her job, she is worried about going back too soon in case she aggrivates the injury.

She called into work last week to fill in the accident book and a self certificate which covers her till tomorrow. She has a GP appointment for Tuesday 27th, which was the earliest appointment she could get.

How does she cover her absence between tomorrow and seeing the GP? Does she need to demand an emergency appointment just to get a sick note, or will the doctor back date it next week to cover this week?

Help appreciated.

balgobin

Just a sugestion, can she ask for a telephone converstaion with her GP, and ask him/her for a sick note to cover this period. I know some GP's offer this service. Hope your freimd gets it sorted.

hjb123

They should be able to backdate the sick notes - was she unable to get an emergency appointment? That seems a long time not to see a doctor about an injury like that! My doctors practice has appointments through the day that are for emergencies only

Sumostar

Hi

If the GP can see that the condition has been there some time e.g. bruising, then (s)he will probably certify from the end of the self cert.

*Sparkle*_3

yeah i would imagen that the doc will back date it to when the ingury occured although if shes in a lot of pain i would suggest that she gets an emergency appointment.

Best wishes to your friend

ohreally

As a point of interest this would appear to be a RIDDOR reportable incident.

http://www.riddor.gov.uk/infocontent.html#whendoineedtoact
http://rweb1.nbapp.com/hse/riddor.nsf/F2508?OpenFrameSet

Becles

hjb123 wrote:

was she unable to get an emergency appointment?

The doctors receptionist said it wasn't an emergency, so she would have to wait.

I thought it was a long time too. Our doctors have a triage system where you can speak to a nurse who'll direct you to the right person if it's urgent, but her doctors doesn't work like that.

iwanttosave_2

My OH was off for two weeks last week and couldnt get an appointment till the sencond week and the doctor said he was unable to backdate the sick note, but I am not sure if this is just that doctors or if its a national thing. We were very annyed because he had no wages for that week.

hjb123

Sounds pretty barmy does that, if they wont give you an appointment they should surely backdate the sick note - maybe if you tell them you need to see a doctor as work require you to as you are absent!

jobbingmusician

Why doesn't she ring the HR department and ask their advice? It's quite clear that she has done all you can to get the earliest appointment possible, and it will be only too clear to them that she is not making this illness up (they are probably panicking, and yes, she should probably sue them if she feels that their negligence contributed in any way to her accident!)

So you know where I am coming from, I was an employer when a member of staff slipped on a floor which was being washed without any warning signs being up. (She broke her arm). The employee sued us and I felt this was right and proper - no hard feelings.