Title: Time for the single researcher impact factor
Abstract:advocate, so when patients say they do not feel well enough to work, the GP is expected to support them.A fine principle perhaps, but clearly much abused.GPs say that advising on fitness to work is an...advocate, so when patients say they do not feel well enough to work, the GP is expected to support them.A fine principle perhaps, but clearly much abused.GPs say that advising on fitness to work is an area they are untrained for.Often, however, the issue is not a challenging medical decision; the patient has long since recovered (if there ever was any disease process), and they now have nothing medically important wrong with them.The argument therefore hinges on "ethics" and the distinction between giving patients what they want, or giving them what they and society need.For ethics to create such a conflict at a suggested cost to society of several billion pounds a year suggests a profound ethical muddle.As the General Medical Council holds the key responsibility for medical ethics in the United Kingdom, this suggests that it holds a trump card for the solution to a substantial percentage of sickness absence in the country.This was not made clear in the Black report, 2 but it is an area worth exploring further.Read More