Gerlach spoke out in an interview with the radio station Antenne Bayern. Only about one percent of sick notes are issued by phone, she said.
The leaders of the Union and SPD had agreed on stricter rules in view of high absenteeism. In addition to scrapping the telephone sick note, a medical certificate will have to be submitted from the first day of illness in the future – previously this only applied from the fourth day. Companies can agree on different arrangements.
Gerlach also criticized the requirement for a sick note from day one. What is needed is a concept ‘with measure and purpose’ that does not overwhelm practices. In the future, more will be demanded of family doctors anyway, and more people will need appointments. ‘Imposing a system that brings even more change to practices and even more patients is wrong, I think,’ she said. The medical profession had also heavily criticized the decision by the coalition leaders. They fear that doctors’ surgeries will be even more overloaded than before, or that sick people will drag themselves to work because they could not get an appointment for an examination.
Source: Stadt München
