If you’ve been off sick for more than 7 days
To request a sick note: use our online form. Please note that sick certificates CANNOT be post dated and if we have not seen you about your condition an appointment may be needed before we agree to issue.
If you’ve been off sick for 7 days or less
If you’re off work sick for 7 days or less, your employer should not ask for medical evidence that you’ve been ill. Instead, they can ask you to confirm that you’ve been ill. You can do this by filling in a form yourself when you return to work. We call this self-certification.
Fit notes following/during hospital treatment or surgery.
If you are likely to need a fit note when you come out of hospital or following an outpatient appointment, please ask the doctor treating you, at the hospital, to provide you with one before you leave. The decision on how long you need off work is made by the clinician who has assessed and treated you. If you have forgotten to do this, please contact the hospital and follow this up.
Unfortunately, the process for providing Fit notes isn’t always understood correctly. Private and NHS Doctors can issue fit notes, as can junior doctors and consultants. There is no restriction on the duration for which they can issue medical certificates for, but like us they cant post date these. They can give them to you before leave or send them on in the post or via email. We will not issue them because you did not wish to wait for this to be completed before you left the hospital.
If you have trouble getting a fit note from the hospital you have visited, please contact the hospitals PALS (Patient Advice Liaison Service) team.
Find out more about sick notes on the NHS website.