The regulations on sick pay are as follows:

• On the first day that you are ill and incapable of work, you should inform your employer.
• If you are still incapable of work after the third day, you will need to obtain a self-certification form, available from your employer or DSS Office. A self-certified sick note covers your absence from work for the first seven days of your sickness (including bank holidays and weekends). If you think you may need to be off work for more than one week, please book a routine appointment at this time too, for about the day your self-certification will expire. If you recover and return to work, please telephone us as soon as you know this so we can offer your appointment to another patient.
• You are only entitled to an NHS Med 3 certificate (sick note) if the doctor concludes that you are sufficiently incapacitated by your symptoms: that will be a medical decision based on the facts. Sick notes will NOT be back-dated unless you have seen or spoken to a doctor in this practice who has advised you at an earlier date that one will be issued, or there is written evidence that a hospital doctor has advised you that you cannot work, but failed to issue you with an appropriate sick note at the time you were in hospital.