An ‘alarming’ increase in mental health sick notes

Published 19th September 2017

The NHS has said that one in three sick notes are issued by General Practitioners for mental health problems. Sick notes, also known as fit notes, are issued by GPs in instances where an employee seeks more than seven days off work due to illness.

The new statistics show that one in five of the signed off mental health problems were for at least three months signed off leave. The report covered sick notes over a 28 month period, noting the number of employees going off sick with anxiety and stress-related conditions increasing significantly from 573,000 cases in 2016/17 compared to 503,000 cases reported in the previous year. The figures also indicate that Knowley, in Merseyside, had the highest number of sick notes compared to its working age population, while Richmond in South West London had the lowest number of sick notes.

Dr Jed Boardman, from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, has said that these “statistics are alarming”. He further urged that employers should put in place effective solutions in the workplace to assist employees suffering from ill mental health to return to work. A spokesman for the Confederation of British Industry emphasised that the “the health and well-being of employees is a key priority for employers. Businesses have a duty of care to their employees that considers mental and physical health as well as safety.” Most larger businesses will usually have policies in place to help support their employees. For example, some companies have adopted a Workplace Mental Wellbeing Policy which covers the following aspects of mental health and well-being: the overall promotion of mental wellbeing, management skills for managers and supervisors, mechanisms to provide support in the workplace environment, and employment mechanism to assist in the retention and recruitment practises.

Furthermore, Dr Jed Boardman notably pointed out that “almost half of benefits claimants of Employment and Support Allowance in England are receiving payments as the result of mental and behavioural disorders”.

A spokeswoman from the Department for Work and Pensions said that they are assisting thousands of individuals to remain or return to work after a period of ill- health.

Even so, the statistics not only offer guidance on why people are off sick in different areas of the country, but they in aid in providing supporting people with mental-health conditions as top priority. In July this year, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt launched a plan to expand the mental health workforce by implementing measures that would tackle the pre-existing imbalance in the workplace and to focus on the improvement of mental health services. In addition, the Government has committed to spending £1.3 billion on transforming mental health services.

By 2020 to 2021 the goal created by the Government is that local areas will need to create 21,000 new posts in priority growth areas to deliver the improvements in services and support set out in the NHS’s Five Year Forward View for Mental Health. This plan will hopefully create a community based approach that can be easily be accessible to workplace environments and to other national London based communities.

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