An employee has attended their local hospital following an incident at work, I visited the employee who stated they had a dislocated shoulder and the hospital had treated them, the hospital told her to refrain from work for 7 days, however they did not issue her with a sick note and told her to visit their GP, I asked if I could see the letter from the hospital to her GP and she informed me that the hospital did not issue letters. Could anyone tell me if this is normal practise.

As far as your question is concerned Ian has just about summed it up. 100%. I'd be more concerned with getting the "incident" fully investigated, entered in the accident record book and preventative measures in place to ensure it doesn't happen again. Notify the company insurers and wait now for the letter from employer's solicitor?

The hospital note if supplied would be madical and therefore confidential and would not have to be shown. Did you report under RIDDOR

Most hospitals now use the GP reporting system. The information is sent directly to the GPs surgery electronically.

all above correct report Incident / accident under RIDDOR Employee self certs 1st 7 days then go to doctors if neccessary & ask for sick note for additional period of absence.

Accident - unplanned event resulting in injury Incident - unplanned event resulting in no injury

Following on from the original Poster's question, what do you do if a GP refuses to issue a sick note, despite it being blindingly obvious that the person in question is unable to work (yeah, it was me) Some employers (like mine) only allow self certification for a short period of time before they insist on a sick note. I am fortunate in that my employer knows that I don't go sick unless it is physically impossible for me to get to work (or in case I spread something nasty around the office) and so after constant refusals from said GP, I am allowed to self certificate even after the time period has lapsed. Some are not so lucky, what do you do? Changing GP's is the obvious answer, but as this process can take up to three weeks, and most people only visit when they are sick, it means that by the time you need to change/get the note, it is too late. Advice and answers greatly appreciated, many thanks, The Aardvark.

We are going off topic slightly, but it is easier to reply here than create two new topics etc: Accident/Incident - neither are legally enforceable as deffinitions and often vary between companies and acedemic referencies. Don't see why anyone would get het-up about the interchangable use. Regarding GP refusal to issue 'sick note' I would suggest you discuss with your HR Dept before assuming you are on safe ground, because some companies regard unauthorised absence (i.e. contrary to the company absence policy) as gross misconduct. You do have the option of calling your NHS trust for advice regarding a second opinion.