eMED3 - Widen access to the embedded eMED3 form

Owned by Kayley Merrick (Unlicensed)
Last updated: 01-07-2022 by Claire McCready (Unlicensed)
4 min read
ID

RM120

Version1.2.2
TypeRoadmap Item


Title

eMED3 - Widen access to the embedded eMED3 form

Description

Provide access to the embedded eMED3 form to Authorised Health or Care Professionals

Date Added

 

Standards and Capabilities

eMED3 (Fit Notes), Recording Consultations - GP

Change Route

Managed Capacity - Minor/Patch uplifts

Change Type

Uplift

Status

Closed

Publication Date

 

Effective Date

 

Incentives / FundingNo
Incentive Dates

N/A


Background

The 'Social Security (Medical Evidence) and Statutory Sick Pay (Medical Evidence) (Amendment) Regulations 2010' are to be amended in April 2022 to allow for digital certification of eMED3 forms and are to be further amended to allow specified other Health or Care Professionals to issue eMED3 (fit note) certificates. Currently only Registered Medical Practitioners are allowed to issue eMED3 fit notes and there are system controls in place to ensure that others cannot access the template.

In addition to doctors, the Health or Care Professions in scope for the extension are nurses; physiotherapists; occupational therapists and pharmacists. No other professions are to be included and system access must continue to be restricted to those ineligible. Non-statutory guidance and training will apply to practitioners from the specified professions whose role and scope of practice identify them locally as suitable for the role extension.  

Please note that the change is subject to legislative process. 



Outline Plan

Changes cannot be fully implemented until the legislation is successfully laid in Parliament. Suppliers are required to satisfy the assurance processes in advance of this date and be ready to go live for all system users on the date the changes become law.

  • Roadmap item to be published in Draft format  
  • Suppliers should provide any feedback by  
  • Final version of the roadmap item to be published in January 2022
  • Implementation to occur February to April 2022
  • Assurance process to be completed by  
  • All Solutions to be compliant with the standard by the effective date of  (date subject to legislative process)
  • Changes to be deployed to all instances of the Solution on or before  


Summary of Change

A planned change in legislation means that in addition to doctors, others from specific professions will also be able to issue an eMED3 fit note. The professions in scope are nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and pharmacists. 

Solutions will therefore need to widen access to the eMED3 fit note to allow these professionals in scope to issue fit notes whilst continuing to restrict access to all other professions.

Access will be opened to the entire profession with the expectation that Health or Care Professionals in scope will only issue eMED3 fit notes if they are authorised to do so. In order to verify issued fit notes, Solutions will need to continue to provide an audit of issued eMED3 notes within the local system in line with the Information Governance Standard as now. 


Potential Amendments to eMED3 (Fit Notes):

SectionRequirement IDTextLevel
Description - Paragraph 2N/A

The Statement of Fitness for Work (known as eMED3 form or ‘fit note’) is used throughout Great Britain. Fit notes are issued by doctors, usually GPs, doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and pharmacists for Statutory Sick Pay or Social Security purposes. As a part of a medical consultation, a doctor, nurse, physiotherapist, occupational therapists and pharmacist may assess a patient’s medical condition to determine its impact on their fitness for work. The fit note provides return to work advice for the patient and their employer and can also be used to support a claim to health related benefits.

N/A
Description - Paragraph 3N/A

The roll out of the computer generated fit note project ‘eMed3’ which was completed in 2014 provided GPs a simple tool for the provision of fit note forms, reducing effort, retaining details and allowing the extraction of fit note data which has been published quarterly since August 2017. Access to the eMED3 has been restricted to doctors but is extended to nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and pharmacists.

N/A
RequirementseMED3-17

Solution to ensure that only GPs doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and pharmacists can capture and edit New eMED3 data and forms (i.e. forms that are not recorded as Issued by hand or Duplicate).

MUST
RequirementseMED3-18Creation and printing of Duplicate and Issued by hand eMED3 forms to be possible by both GP and Non-GP Practice Users doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and pharmacists as well as GP Practice admin users.MUST


Potential Amendments to eMED3 Data Entry:

Field #ColumnText
3Rule(s)This is the date the GP authorised professional (doctor, nurse, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, or pharmacist) assessed or examined the Patient, or the date he/she considered a report from another healthcare professional.
5Rule(s)

Tick box to be offered for the GP authorised professional (doctor, nurse, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, or pharmacist) to indicate the Patient is NOT fit for work (<NFWFlag>)

6Rule(s)

Tick box to be offered for the GP authorised professional (doctor, nurse, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, or pharmacist) to indicate the Patient MAY be fit for work (<MFWFlag>).

13, 14, 15, 16Rule(s)

If not confirmed, the Solution to allow the GP authorised professional (doctor, nurse, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, or pharmacist) to re-enter the date range subject to all the same rules defined for this field

17, 18 Rule(s)

If not confirmed, the Solution to allow the GP authorised professional (doctor, nurse, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, or pharmacist) to re-enter the date range subject to all the same rules defined for this field


Amendments to eMED3 Data Items Usage:

NameChange
<GP-ID>Replace <GP-ID> with <Health.or.Care.Professional-ID>
<Issuer's.Name>Add <Issuer's.Name>
<Issuer's.Profession.of.issuer>Add <Issuer's.Profession.of.issuer>


Full Specification

eMED3 (Fit Notes)


Assurance Approach

Suppliers to demonstrate to DWP that in addition to doctors, Health or Care Professionals who are nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists or pharmacists can issue eMED3 fit notes and the Solutions meet the requirements as set out in the roadmap item and that the form produced shows the issuers name, profession (e.g physiotherapist or nurse not ‘allied health professional’) and the practice address at which the patient was assessed.