What happens if you can't provide a sick note?

[crazyshrew]

So, my specific situation

I've been ill for a week, suffering with the bloody awful flu thing that's going round (several tests have confirmed not covid) and still feel like I'm going to be suffering for a few days yet

Phoned the docs this morning for a sick note, and receptionist said no, its not an emergency and that I'm welcome to try again next week.
This is pretty standard for my practice and many others across the country right now.

I've written off the weekend but hoping that I'll be back at work on Monday. If I am back I'm not going to be able to spend forever hitting redial then half an hour on hold trying to get through to get a backdated fit note.
This will mean that I'll have 4 days (3 working days) not covered by a self cert or docs note.

Is it likely that I'll lose some pay, face some sort of conduct case for failing to provide one?

With the pressure on GP practices at the moment I can't be the only person in this position

[ted_e_bear]

You'll have to try again at the surgery, presumably you phoned and said you required a sicknote and got fobbed off, you'll have to be firmer as obviously losing pay isn't an option you want to take.

Hopefully you'll be recovered for next week.

[Haditup]

Explain to the receptionist that you require a sick note to cover for x amount of days and they will pass it onto the Dr would should provide one.
Hopefully, you will be ok for Monday and just self certify.
That bloody flu/ cold that’s going around wipes you out for a few days and is very Covid like,I was taking a flow test twice daily.

[crazyshrew]

That bloody flu/ cold that’s going around wipes you out for a few days and is very Covid like,I was taking a flow test twice daily.

You're not wrong, never been so ill in my life, went to bed a couple of times with a little bit of me thinking I might not wake up in the morning

Have decided b*llocks to it, will be going back tomorrow and if I lose some pay, I lose some pay. Not worth the effort of trying to get through to (not uncommon here for it to take 200 goes of getting the engaged tone then on hold for a minimum of 30 minutes) and then deal with the drs receptionist

[Zicomurphy]

That bloody flu/ cold that’s going around wipes you out for a few days and is very Covid like,I was taking a flow test twice daily.

You're not wrong, never been so ill in my life, went to bed a couple of times with a little bit of me thinking I might not wake up in the morning

Have decided b*llocks to it, will be going back tomorrow and if I lose some pay, I lose some pay. Not worth the effort of trying to get through to (not uncommon here for it to take 200 goes of getting the engaged tone then on hold for a minimum of 30 minutes) and then deal with the drs receptionist

Doesn’t your surgery use the online econsult system? It works really well for stuff like this where you need something from your GP but don’t actually have to see them. I used it myself last week to request a prescription. Filled in the form at 8am and got a call at 5.30pm the same day saying the prescription had been sent to my nominated pharmacy. I know the same system can also be used to request sick notes. Might be worth googling your surgery and seeing if it has a website that uses the same system.

[crazyshrew]

Annoyingly it does not. I can request my repeat prescriptions through the NHS app but that's as technical as they get here. They did for a couple of years allow you to make appointments online but stopped that when covid hit, and it doesn't look like it's going to be coming back.
I live in a typical seaside town where the majority are retirees who think computers and the internet are the devil's work, so there's little incentive for the local services to find their way in to the 21st century.

If only you could pick and choose Drs like you can dentists or opticians, there are some cracking surgeries within a 20 minute drive but I'm not in their catchment area