Important: Enable your NHS App notifications

We increasingly use the NHS App to send important information such as updates about your care or treatment, appointment information and reminders, and responses to queries or advice requests.

The NHS App is designed to notify you when a new message arrives, but you will only receive these alerts if notifications are enabled on your device. For instructions on how enable these, please click here.

Without notifications switched on, you may not realise that a message has been sent to you unless you open the app and check manually.

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Sick (fit) notes

If you’ve been off sick for more than 7 days

To request a first sick note for your illness:

To request an additional sick note for your illness:

If you’ve been off sick for 7 days or less

If you’re off work sick for 7 days or less, your employer should not ask for medical evidence that you’ve been ill. Instead, they can ask you to confirm that you’ve been ill. You can do this by filling in a form yourself when you return to work. We call this self-certification.

Find out more about sick notes on the NHS website.

Page published: 9 May 2023
Last updated: 22 December 2023