‘The number of people out of work due to health conditions is bad for patients, bad for the NHS and bad for the economy.’
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The number of sick notes handed out across the country has been revealed – and thousands are in Yorkshire.
After seven days of sickness absence, GPs can provide fit notes to patients, confirming their inability to work.
According to latest figures from NHS England, there were 127,440 fit notes handed out by GPs in the NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board area in the three months to June. This represents a three per cent decrease from the 131,413 issued during the same quarter the previous year.
Meanwhile GPs in the NHS South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board area handed out 74,248 of these notes in the same period. This was down 2.9 per cent from the 76,476 issued in the same quarter last year.
And in the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board area there were 69,763 notes issued – down 1.5 per cent from 70,804 the year before.
The King’s Fund acknowledged the positive long-term trends but emphasised that workplaces should be more accommodating for those with physical and mental health conditions.
Across England, the number of notes issued fell by 1.3 per cent during the same period, from 2.66 to 2.63 million.
Sarah Arnold, senior policy lead at the King’s Fund think tank, stated that the figures align with other data suggesting a gradual decrease in the number of long-term economically inactive people, which is beneficial for the Government’s ongoing economic growth agenda. She said: “It is definitely something the Government is keen to do something about.
“They’re trying to bring down the waiting lists, and talking about putting employment advisors in GP surgeries, to help people, where appropriate, get back into work.”
However, she also cautioned against hastily pushing individuals with medical conditions back into work without suitable support. “Not all work is necessarily good for your health, some work can be terrible for mental and physical health,” she said. “You have to look at the potential workforce, to focus on improving their health, but also work with employers to create or adapt jobs so that they do not make your health worse.
“Some of the main reasons people are off sick are for mental health, or muscular-skeletal reasons, potentially meaning they can’t just go back into work, so focusing on those areas is particularly important.”
The figures also reveal substantial variations across the nation. Lancashire and South Cumbria recorded the highest rate of fit notes issued, with 3,163 notes per 100,000 people in June.
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This was more than double that of Surrey Heartlands, which recorded the lowest rate at just 1,509 per 100,000.
West Yorkshire saw 2,567 fit notes per 100,000 people. In North Yorkshire and the Humber there were 2,200 fit notes per 100,000 people while South Yorkshire saw 2,698 fit notes per 100,000 people.
Nuffield Trust researcher Lucina Rolewicz warned that long-term sickness places additional strain on the NHS. “The health service itself is faced with a sickness absence rate that’s lingered above the public sector average for well over a decade now,” she said. “High sickness absence within the NHS is bad for staff, bad for providers of health care in terms of costs and disruption to patient care, and expensive for the taxpayer.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This drop is a welcome move in the right direction – but we know there is more to do.
“The number of people out of work due to health conditions is bad for patients, bad for the NHS and bad for the economy. That’s why we are working to turn this around by moving from a system that manages sickness and writes people off, to one that promotes health, work and prosperity.
“Through our innovative WorkWell and Connect to Work programmes we are helping people get the support they need and to find suitable work, so they can have fulfilling and rewarding careers.”
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