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Indicator - FL Memo Ltd
Tel: (01233) 653500. Fax: (01233) 647100
customer.services@indicator-flm.co.uk
www.indicator-flm.co.uk
Calgarth House
39-41 Bank Street
Ashford, Kent TN23 1DQ
VAT GB 726 598 394
Registered in England
Company Registration No. 3599719
Fake, yet convincing, statements of fitness for work (fit notes) can be bought on the internet for under £11. If you have doubts about the authenticity of such a document, write to the healthcare professional who supposedly issued it. As you aren't requesting medical information, you don't need the employee's prior written consent. Our letter asks for confirmation in this situation.
Fakes for sale!
Fake - yet convincing - fit notes are readily available on the internet for as little as £10.99 (although the website owners say that they are for entertainment purposes only).
If you're ever unsure of the authenticity of such documentation, there's no reason why you can't write to the healthcare professional who is supposed to have issued it. As you're not requesting any medical information about your employee - rather you're asking the healthcare professional to simply confirm that they issued the document - you don't need their prior written consent under the Access to Medical Reports Act 1988 as it’s not a request for a medical report.
Our Letter Seeking Authenticity of Statement of Fitness for Work asks the healthcare professional to:
Check it out
If the healthcare professional denies any involvement in issuing the fit note, you can take this up with the employee concerned. Should your investigation reveal that it is (or likely to be) a fake, you can take disciplinary action. Arguably, this would amount to gross misconduct because the employee has: