The new regulation requiring sick notes from the first day is causing discontent among doctors. As reported by the FAZ, a columnist and family doctor fears that already overburdened practices will come under even more pressure. “We don’t have time to play babysitters for politicians,” he writes in his column “Der Landarzt.”
The background is a planned legislative change requiring employees to present a medical certificate on the very first day of incapacity for work. Politicians hope this will reduce sick leave and increase control. But the reality in practices looks different, according to the columnist.
Fewer and fewer family doctors have to care for more and more patients. Appointment books are already full within an hour in the morning. “Sometimes I think that politicians, especially those in Berlin, have very romantic ideas about what life as a family doctor is like,” the physician writes. Instead, he calls for a consistent primary care system and stronger support for telemedicine.
The columnist acknowledges that attitudes toward illness and work have changed. Doctors often hear sayings like “If you work, you only have yourself to blame.” But shifting all responsibility onto family doctors is the wrong approach. “The idea that family doctors alone can solve the problem is not a good one,” he emphasizes.
Source: www.faz.net
