New legislation to allow a wider range of healthcare professionals to certify fit notes.

chiarieds

From July 1st some registered nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists & physiotherapists will also be able to legally certify fit notes in England, Scotland & Wales (no change in N. Ireland).

https://www.hcpc-uk.org/news-and-events/news/2022/new-legislation-expands-the-number-of-professions-able-to-issue-fit-notes/

racyguy

chiarieds said:

From July 1st some registered nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists & physiotherapists will also be able to legally certify fit notes in England, Scotland & Wales (no change in N. Ireland).

https://www.hcpc-uk.org/news-and-events/news/2022/new-legislation-expands-the-number-of-professions-able-to-issue-fit-notes/

God help us then!

The pharmacy that I go to for my drugs is about as useful as a chocolate teapot! Nearly every month they make a complete shambles of my prescriptions.
Once I was waiting for my ensure drinks but week after week was being told that the prescription was not there.
Then about 6 weeks after I went in for another repeat lot only to be asked why I had not come in for the ensure drinks - they have been here for 5+ weeks. I tried to explain that I had - many times but they were having none of it.

poppy123456

@chiarieds thank you. I had heard this and think it can only be a good thing, at least it will take the pressure off GP's.

Sandy_123

@chiarieds that sounds fab, don't know how it will plan out with pharmacies tho. But physio, nurses etc will be better then trying to get one off drs

Cartini

This, in my eyes, is just a watering down of the medical world.

We have the same watering down of the police with Special Constables & Police Community Support Officers and also watering down the fire brigade with retained firefighters.

I`m not criticising Specials, PCSOs or retained firefighters, but I am the government bodies that prefer to provide services "on the cheap".

bg844

@Biblioklept
My local pharmacy is a high street name too (Well). For them it takes 4 days from the prescription being approved from your GP to having a text ready to collect it. In December 2021 they had a major staffing shortage where it was taking 2-3 weeks for medication to be processed because they had no pharmacist in the store, this led me and many others in my community to select a different pharmacy because my local Well was getting worse and had been doing since COVID. Eventually I chose a small little chemist 2 miles away and the service I have received is fab, they deliver the same day my prescription is approved up until 9pm, they call you a day before it’s due to remind you to re-order and if they don’t have the item in stock they return the next day to drop it off for you.

It may be worth checking around, big names have more customers which mean more delays.

janer1967

Personally I think it's good certain professionals can issue like 0hysio and nurses etc but not too sure I agree with pharmacists they don't have the time to consult rather there to dispense and advise on meds 

chiarieds

I'm in agreement with several of you. Overall I hope more people will find it helpful, but I'm uncertain about pharmacists being included.

Tori_Scope

Thanks for sharing @wendy41 Have you used that function yourself?

Tori_Scope

Do you find it easy to use @wendy41?