E-politix reports this morning that Civil Service sick pay cost the tax payer in Northern Ireland over £25 million last year, with the Department of Social Development [akin to Englands DWP] topping the days-off-work chart at a staggering average of 18.7 per employee!
Some people do end up in bed with a nasty bug, and not just a cockroach. However, any GP in the land will tell you that every day they are put in the invidious position of being gatekeepers to Benefits by the current sick note system. Considering the cost to the UK tax payer of incapacity benefit was £12.5Bn in 2006-7, it's astonishing that occupational health is not being taken more seriously. Alan Johnson is still in delivering letters mode, and thinks that GPs can simply hand out 'well notes' instead of sick ones. This is no better. The GP should remain the health advocate of the patient and an occupational health advisor should be the one who decides about capability for work. Dr George Moncrieff puts the case well in this weeks British Medical Journal.