Clinical: Practice dilemma - Emotional blackmail for a sickness certificate.

The Dilemma - A man comes to see you in clinic requesting a sick note for swine flu. He states he had the illness two weeks ago and has since recovered. Mr Jones says he did not contact the surgery as he did not want to bother you and that if he does not get the certificate he will be fired and would then be unable to support his young family. How do you manage the situation?

A GP's response - Dr Louise Warburton is a GP in Telford, Shropshire

The issue of medical certificates for swine flu has caused problems in the area where I work. GPs were overloaded with requests for sick notes from patients with flu.Patients are currently able to self-certify if they are absent from work for less than seven days, to reduce GP workload.

In such …