It was announced from the 1st of July Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Pharmacists, and Physiotherapists will all be able to legally certify fit notes. The changes, brought in by the Department of Work and Pensions, expands the number of professions that can certify whether a patient is fit for work or not – see guidance.
Coventry and Warwickshire Training Hub are delighted to confirm that we will be offering training which has been devised and delivered by Dr Hussain Alzubaidi who is a GP and clinical educator in Warwickshire.
Dr Alzubaidi will go through MED3s with you to help ensure everyone feels confident and is aware of the rules.
Our clinical system EMIS is currently releasing (9.16) which enables the issue of Med3s with no signature required. This massively improves the process to create and send a completed sick note. This is currently live in some practices. The future release (9.18) – which currently has no confirmed date – possibly late July to early September – will contain the function for allied staff to issue Med3s. Please note, until this later edition is released you will be unable to physically complete an electronic sick note.
This training will be run in late August – September (dates will be sent via email shortly – please note you will only need to attend one date) to ensure both these releases have been completed and that you will be set to start issuing MED3s in your clinical practice.
What will the session contain?
Duration: 1 hour
Via: MS Teams
Session structure
- Introduce the new rule change (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-fit-note-a-guide-for-patients-and-employees/the-fit-note-guidance-for-patients-and-employees)
- How to assess fitness for work including the rules/time period restrictions (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/271466/fitnote-gps-guidance-jan-14.pdf)
- Example cases (Interactive Sli.do)
- Case 1
- Case 2
- Case 3
- EMIS MED3 walkthrough (including how to securely send it to the patient electronically)
- How to access IT/clinical support going forward
- Take home messages
- Q&A
What do I need to do before the session?
- Ensure you have a smartcard which you use to access Emis (rather than logging in with your username & password). If you need to unlock your card because you have forgotten the passcode then request your practice/IT manager to do so before the session.
- Review the document/website linked above
- There is NO LONGER a need to have bullzip/Microsoft PDF printer now emis does not require a manual electronic signature to be applied.
