In the UK a doctor's medical certificate (Med 3 - fit for work) is ONLY issued after a period of 7 consecutive days of absence due to illness. If you are going to be off more than 7 days, please make an appointment to see your GP who may need to examine you before issuing your certificate. Please note these are valid from the day on which they are signed and cannot be backdated. 

If you have received a sick-note from one of our GPs which has expired and you are simply looking to extend it, please call us on 0131 260 9227 to request an extension. It is not always necessary to attend an appointment to extend a sick-line. GPs are usually happy to issue you with an extension; however, please clearly state how long you would like to extend the line for. In some cases, the GP will prefer to discuss the extension request with you by telephone. Once you have put in your request for an extension, you should expect the sick-line to be ready to collect the following day.

If your employer insists on a medical certificate for sick leave which has been less than 7 days, you may be charged for a private sick note.

If you are absent from work for less than 7 days, your employer should issue you with a "Self-Certificate" (SC2) to fill out stating how long you were off, and why.

On occasions we are asked to issue a backdated sick note for longer periods of absence from work. We can only do this if the patient concerned has had previous contact with another doctor/specialist, with documented notes regarding the condition concerned, and where it would have been reasonable to advise the patient to be off work from the date given.