Fit Notes Issued by GP Practices
NHS England eMED3 · latest data March 2026
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Fit notes advise either “not fit for work” (NFW) or “may be fit for work” (MFW) subject to workplace adjustments. September 2021 onwards includes practices on all major GP system suppliers.
Who issues fit notes — vs England
| Profession | This area | England |
|---|
Duration is the period covered by the fit note as written; “Indefinite” and unknown durations are shown as reported. Since 2022 nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists can also sign fit notes (occupational therapists are not separately identified in this dataset).
Diagnosis is the ICD-10 chapter recorded on the fit note. A large share are “Not Provided” — diagnosis recording is optional on the eMED3.
An episode groups consecutive fit notes for the same patient (a gap of 8 weeks or more starts a new episode). Episode counts are shown by the month the episode started.
| Area | Fit notes | Per 100,000 patients | 5+ weeks % | Not fit for work % |
|---|
Click a row to drill into that area. Rate uses registered list sizes (NHS Digital “Patients Registered at a GP Practice”); months before June 2025 use the June 2025 list size, so older rates are approximate.
Your area vs England from your chosen start point — the two lines answer “are we shifting faster than the national trend?”
Since baseline — all measures (3-month averages)
| Measure | Baseline | Latest | Change | England change | vs England |
|---|
Baseline and Latest are 3-month averages (the quarter from your chosen start month, and the most recent 3 months) to damp monthly noise. Volumes are raw counts, not population-adjusted — list-size drift over a tracking window is typically <1%.
Interpretation: divergence from England shows association, not causation — local case-mix, coding and service changes all move these lines. Published data is sub-ICB level; a neighbourhood- or PCN-sized initiative will be diluted at this scale, so treat this as context alongside your own practice-level measures. Data updates quarterly, ~4 months after the period ends.
Source: NHS England, Fit Notes Issued by GP Practices (eMED3 electronic fit notes, quarterly, cumulative from April 2021). Handwritten fit notes and notes issued outside general practice (e.g. hospitals) are not included. Sub-ICB areas are mapped to current NHS geographies.