Can anyone point me in the direction of the legislation or guidance that allows GPs to give backdated sick notes for IB(Y) and ESA(Y), one of our local GPs has (apparently) told a client that it would be illegal to provide such a med cert.

The issue may in fact be more than this, the GP may simply be not willing to say the client is too ill to be looking for work but I would like to have the legal situation re backdating clear before I contact him.

Thanks

i found this on a web site using google. (General Practice notebook) Hope it helps.

MED 5:
A Med 5 statement is a special statement for use in exceptional circumstances. In general, the medical practitioner with responsibility for clinical management should issue any medical statement required. However occasionally this is not possible, or the period on a statement has expired before the patient is due to see the treating doctor again. In such cases any medical practitioner can issue a special statement based on a recent report from the treating doctor.

General points about Med 5:

a Med 3 statement requires the doctor to have seen the patient on the day of issue or the previous day. There may be occasions when a doctor wishes to supply evidence of incapacity for work for an earlier period. In these circumstances a Med 5 may be appropriate.
if a Med 5 is issued then the Med 5 statement must:
be based your advice on your examination of the patient on a previous occasion
the doctor must be sure that s/he would have advised the patient to refrain from work from the date of examination for the entire period of the certificate
the only exception is where the certifying doctor has a report from another doctor and this is the basis of evidence for use of the Med 5 statement. In this situation:
the other doctor's report must have been issued less than one month previously
the Med 5 statement that is issued cannot cover a forward period of more than one month
therefore if you (as the issuing doctor) did not examine at the start of the backdated period then you cannot issue a Med 5 unless
the patient was seen by another doctor and the report by the other doctor was issued less than one month ago

Notes:

certifying doctors can only advise a patient that they would have been medically incapable of work for a past period in circumstances where it would have been appropriate to give such advice prospectively. Unless there is clear evidence available to the doctor to support the advice, for example clinical notes based on a previous examination of the patient, it is unlikely that the doctor will be in a position to provide such advice. The period of incapacity advised by the doctor should be fully in keeping with the clinical findings at the onset of the period of incapacity
where you have a report from another doctor you may use this evidence to support an opinion that your patient is incapable of work providing the report was made/issued less than one month previously
the definition of report can include:
a reasonably completed hospital discharge summary
a hospital letter
your partner's contemporaneous notes from an earlier consultation
the issuing doctor needs to be sure that s/he would have advised the patient to refrain from work from the date of examination for the entire period of the certificate
issuing if you have not previously examined the patient
in this situation you should see and examine the patient and issue a Med 3 for an appropriate forward period in keeping with your clinical findings from the date of your current examination. If necessary, you can make comments in the 'remarks' section of the statement such as: 'patient tells me he/she has been unfit since...'

see also info on the dwp site re Med 5s @

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/healthcare-professional/guidance

... in particular docs headed 'Advising patients of working age' and 'Patients, their employment and their health' ... and the IB204 – A Guide for Medical Practitioners @

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/ib204.pdf

... which states 'There may be occasions when a doctor wishes to supply evidence of incapacity for work for an earlier period. In these circumstances a Med 5 may be appropriate ....'

Hi I just had a case where a GP refused to write a statement of my clients depression. He has acknowledged that clients with depression usually dont seek medical advice or any other proffesional advice until their problem gets even more complicated.
I have asked the doctor to put this in writting but he refused even though there is a recent suicadal attemp from my client due to his Mental Health and the rent arrears and debts he is in.

Some GP's are much more understanding, this is the first time I had a negative responce to request well hope this never happens again.

Regards,
Antonina

i'd be inclined to put a complaint in about that

what's his reason, does he have one?

He said that my client visited them in December 08 but never mentioned anything abot depression, but at the time N was working and did not realised what was happening with him until made redundant. The fact on the other hand is that he is a care leaver and had a vert traumatic upbringing therefore not been able to discuss or open to anyone.
When the depression hit him he just did not speak to anyone and was not engaging with his social woker or other proffesionals.
The doctor is still arguing that as he was not seeing him until September 2009 he can not confirm it in writting. Which for me honestly is rubbish
Dont know have never had this problem before.
Is there anything which I can quote to make him change his mind ????

Thanks