Doctor: End the sick note sham

A TOP doctor has blasted the sick note culture as a “grave error” which has equated illness with unfitness to work.

Dr Adrian Massey instead wants doctors to be left out of the system so employers can work out “tailored solutions” with their unwell employees.

In a blistering diagnosis of the “sham system”, Dr Massey says the principle of medical intervention requiring doctors to certify sickness is a folly.

He adds: “This is an anachronistic sham we can ill-afford at a time when doctors already lack sufficient time for their core purpose – treating ill people.”

It is estimated firms spent £14billion on sickness payments in 2013 and the state bill for incapacity benefits stood at £15billion for 2016.

A doctor for 20 years, he has served as a special adviser on governmental consultations and worked on a “sick note review” for the Department for Work and Pensions.

In his forthcoming book SickNote Britain, Dr Massey argues disabled people who clearly cannot work should not be tested and those who believe they are incapable of work because of stress should be encouraged to stay in work and find a solution with their employer without involving a GP or the Government.

He writes: “There are very few people who would be wholly unable to work if their lives depended on it. Do we expect someone with arthritis to crawl into work on their hands and knees if necessary, or someone who is severely depressed to huddle in a ball once they get there? Hopefully not, but if not where should the bar be set?”

If sickness benefits were scrapped Dr Massey says the main losers would be firms doing work capability assessments for the DWP, costing more than £180million a year.

He adds: “The irony of sickness in post-industrial societies is that the principal reasons people fall out of work, common mental health problems, back pain, arm pain, are all generally exacerbated, rather than helped, by being inactive.

“Maintaining normal life as far as possible, including the routine, distraction and sociability of work, is often the best medicine. The waxing and waning of these epidemics [eg stress] should be no surprise. “They are further proof that sickness is predominantly a sociological phenomenon. It is driven by people’s attitudes, beliefs and economic circumstances, much more so than by biology or injury rate.

“Measures which have been successful in treating serious diseases and avoiding serious accidents have had little impact on sickness levels.”

Sick-Note Britain, by Adrian Massey, is published on February 4, priced £20.