Lincolnshire Interface Collaborative aims to enhance understanding, strengthen relationships, and, from a GP perspective, prevent the inappropriate transfer of workload from secondary to primary care.

This collaborative includes:

• Lincolnshire ICB
• United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust
• Lincolnshire Community Health Services
• Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust
• Lincolnshire LMC

The first agreed policy is the Fit Note Pathway. If you encounter instances where this pathway is not being followed, please report them using the LMC Ardens breach template letters.  This will allow us to create a feedback loop and help our hospital colleagues become more familiar with the policy, preventing further issues.

Contractual Requirements and Agreed Approach for Lincolnshire

• On discharge from hospital, A&E, or clinic, provider clinicians must issue fit notes to appropriate patients.
• Fit notes should cover a suitable period, ensuring patients are covered until they are expected to be fit for work (e.g., following surgery) or until a further clinic review is scheduled.
• Where necessary, fit notes should include relevant recommendations on workplace adjustments to facilitate a patient's return to work, helping to reduce unnecessary GP appointments.
• Doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists, and physiotherapists can all provide fitness-for-work advice and issue fit notes. This may be based on a written report from another healthcare professional, including those not eligible to certify fit notes.