More fit notes issued by GPs in Bedfordshire despite numbers falling across England
GPs wrote more 'fit notes' for people too ill to work in the county in the three months to June, new figures show – despite numbers falling across England.
The King's Fund said the long-term trends are positive but added work should be made more accommodating for those with physical and mental health conditions.
GPs can issue fit notes to patients after seven days of sickness absence, to confirm they are unfit to work.
New NHS England figures show there were 43,537 of these notes issued in the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board area in the three months to June.
This was up 4.3% from the 41,735 issued in the same quarter last year.
Across England, the number of notes issued fell by 1.3% across the same period, from 2.66 to 2.63 million.
Sarah Arnold, senior policy lead at the King’s Fund think-tank, said the figures are in line with other statistics suggesting the number of long-term economically inactive people is slowly coming down, which is good news 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 warned against rushing people with medical conditions back into work without appropriate 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 data also highlights significant disparities across the country.
The highest rate of fit notes issued was in Lancashire and South Cumbria, where there were 3,163 notes per 100,000 people in June.
This was more than twice that of the Surrey Heartlands, which had the lowest rate at just 1,509 per 100,000.
In Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes there were 2,095 fit notes per 100,000 people.
Nuffield Trust researcher Lucina Rolewicz said long-term sickness adds pressure 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: "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."