Sick-Note Britain

How Social Problems Became Medical Issues

By: Adrian Massey

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eText | 1 March 2019

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Dr Adrian Massey has worked at the intersection of medicine and society for decades. He argues compellingly that our hyper-medicalized society has falsely equated sickness with illness, and sickness with unfitness to work--whereas sickness is primarily a social problem requiring social, not medical, solutions. Sick-Note Britain lays bare Britain's gross error: when doctors cannot 'fix' anxiety or chronic pain, workplace attendance is still treated as a matter for arbitration by our strained primary care service. What is needed is a tailored, employer-employee contractual solution, but obstacles block this approach: excessively complex employment law constraining both sides; an outdated benefits system that overburdens doctors and traumatizes the vulnerable; and a workplace culture that is too inflexible to keep sick employees in work. This is a blistering condemnation of a sham system that works for nobody, and an urgent call to rethink how we manage sickness--for the sake of our economy, our wellbeing, and our health service.