How can a company sell sick notes?

Bath_cube

I heard that their is a company on the net who can send you a sick note ( form med3) for a small fee?. They will even print it out with your name and address or other persons details if your buying it for someone else. I don't understand how someone could pull this off. Surely an employer or a HR manager etc could call the practice or hospital to confirm it. Say if someone wanted the whole of December off and faked a hospital note. The procedure at the company I work for is that you obtain a med3 if you are off for more than five days and you have to post the form to payroll. Payroll take a copy then forward the original to HR..I'm certain HR if they think it's justified can contact the person who supplied the form to confirm. I recall someone a good few years back being sacked for altering a form to get another fortnight off.

xapprenticex

Sounds like you're thinking about doing it yourself but you want us to say you have a good chance of getting away with it. Just saying...

Bath_cube

No I am not thinking about it at all. If I wanted to I could tell my GP I'm depressed and I would get a form quite easily. I qualify for 10 months on full pay because I have been there for 15 years. I would not pay for a form I could get for free and risk my HR calling the surgery. I don't understand why someone would pay when you can just go to a surgery or hospital. I also respect my GP and his staff enough not to buy a stupid fake form and have him dragged into it. The person who was sacked pleaded they hadn't done it. I don't think they did tbh, they only had to ring HR and say although I have a note saying I'm coming back I have had a relapse and I will contact my doctor to get another form. A few of us thought the employee had been fitted up.

Guest101

My understanding is that the information that they could obtain would be limited to - yes this person is a patient of mine / this practice

Bath_cube

Guest 1o1 if that was true then how did the HR at my company get to sack the person they accused?. They posted a med4 return to work note. Some how in the process the note got messed with. I remember it well 6 years on. The employee was told the form had been written out in blue ink by the employees GP then when payroll received it the GP's handwriting had been traced over with a different coloured ink and the return to work date altered so the employee could get another fortnight off. Why would someone trace over writing with a different colour. They would just get a pen of the same colour and amend the date if they wanted to. Our union rep advised us all to not post sick notes to payroll or HR but to hand them to our line manager in person . If we couldn't come in to do so then get a relative or friend to take a copy then hand it in on our behalf. If that wasn't possible then we should contact the union office and post the form to his secretary. Even our rep knew the employee was innocent but HR got the final say.

TELLIT01

Most GP surgeries won't give any information over the phone. It became a pain when I was working on ESA. In the early days, if there was a problem with the med cert we could phone and the surgery would clarify things. Laterly we had to get the patient to call the GP to let them know we were going to call. I do understand why the change happened. If we had an issue with a med cert we had to send it back to the surgery and they would then discuss it.
I suspect in the situation Bath cube is referring to, the company HR department called the GP for confirmation of what was on the med cert, and were told that wasn't what was on the original. That would be gross misconduct and immediate dismissal in most companies.
It was not that uncommon for med certs to be altered very badly by people trying to get money they weren't entitled to. The type of feeble attempt described was seen by us on more than one occasion. The claimant would swear blind that they hadn't changed it.

IAmWales

Online GP services are becoming more common now, you can have a consultation via Skype and they'll then issue a prescription/ referral/ sick note. These are mainly private but the NHS is going in this direction too (and no doubt paying ATOS or similar a ridiculous amount for IT services). It's seen as more efficient.

sangie595

There is such a site. This is their disclaimer: Disclaimer: Although our products look extremely authentic, they are for educational/entertainment use only. We are not responsible for misuse of our products. Please use our products with caution and care. ........do not encourage illegal use of doctor's excuse notes and this in not intended to substitute the advice of legal council. The products mentioned on this site did not require medical council evaluation or approval and there is no guarantee as to the outcome of their use. We do not condone intentional false absence from work or school.

In other words - when sacked don't phone us because you will deserve it.

Undervalued

sangie595 wrote: »

There is such a site. This is their disclaimer: Disclaimer: Although our products look extremely authentic, they are for educational/entertainment use only. We are not responsible for misuse of our products. Please use our products with caution and care. ........do not encourage illegal use of doctor's excuse notes and this in not intended to substitute the advice of legal council. The products mentioned on this site did not require medical council evaluation or approval and there is no guarantee as to the outcome of their use. We do not condone intentional false absence from work or school.

In other words - when sacked don't phone us because you will deserve it.

I suspect this is like quite a lot of things. Not illegal to buy, sell or own but obviously it is illegal to use to defraud your employer or the DWP as that would be fraud.

Undervalued

IAmWales wrote: »

Online GP services are becoming more common now, you can have a consultation via Skype and they'll then issue a prescription/ referral/ sick note. These are mainly private but the NHS is going in this direction too (and no doubt paying ATOS or similar a ridiculous amount for IT services). It's seen as more efficient.

That is quite different. You are paying for the professional services of a doctor and it is up to him / her to their job properly and only provide a certificate if it is medically justified.

In some circumstances they can do that by Skype or telephone but again it remains their responsibility to properly care for their patient.

IAmWales

Undervalued wrote: »

That is quite different. You are paying for the professional services of a doctor and it is up to him / her to their job properly and only provide a certificate if it is medically justified.

In some circumstances they can do that by Skype or telephone but again it remains their responsibility to properly care for their patient.

The OP doesn't tell us exactly what the service is that she is referring to. They seem to think it is something fraudulent, but equally it could be a "legitimate" service. I use the term loosely as some sale very close to the wind, and will largely provide whatever you ask for as long as you're willing to pay.

How much care do you think is offered in a fifteen minute consultation, no access to previous notes, and no follow up?