Did you know: 1. Hospital doctors in A&E, clinics and wards can issue fit notes for work. These should cover the duration of expected illness and absence from work. 2. You should self-certify for the first 7 days of any illness. You do not need a fit note prior to this. 3. We cannot backdate a new sick note to cover a time when you did not consult with us or another NHS team. For example, if you have taken 10 days off sick with flu, but only contacted us on day 10. We can only issue the fit note from that 10th day. 4. Fit notes can also be issued “may be fit for work” if you are well enough to work but need a phased return, reduced hours or adaptions. 5. You can return before your fit note expires if you feel well enough. There is no requirement for a staff member to be “signed fit” to work by a doctor. 6. In 2022 guidance was updated - nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists and physiotherapists can legally certify and issue fit notes (according to their training and competency). Previously only GPs or hospital doctors could do this.
Latest news
Changes to prioryCARE form Oct 2025
Some changes to the prioryCARE form
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The prioryCARE online form will be available for patients seeking advice or care about a new or worsening problem, this includes urgent care - use the “new problem” tile 8am to 1pm Monday to Friday.
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You will be able to submit non-urgent routine queries across the day, within our "core" opening hours. This includes fit note/test result requests, nurse appointments (e.g. smear, routine asthma review) and our general enquiries tile e.g. to let us know about a blood pressure reading or a change in address.
What will stay the same:
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When submitting a query via the "new problem" tile, the Klinik system will continue to triage your symptoms. This will mean it will either be allocated as urgent or routine. Urgent cases will be reviewed by the clinical team within 1 working day. If your case is allocated as routine, you will be contacted within 1 working day about expected wait times
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The phone lines will be open 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday
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Surgery reception desks are open 8am to 12:15 pm and 1pm to 6pm Monday to Friday (Park View and Victoria way having some afternoon closures).
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We may refer you on to Pharmacy First if you have a minor illness that can be managed by the community pharmacy team.
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When we are full to capacity and unable to deal with your request, we will continue to signpost patients to NHS111 where appropriate.
- We will continue to offer a mix of urgent (same day) appointments and routine, pre-booked appointments across the working week. These may be telephone or face to face consultations.
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We continue to run some pre-booked routine weekday evening and Saturday morning clinics at Heworth Green or Priory Medical Centre.
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If we are experiencing extreme high demand, we may need to turn off the form earlier to ensure the safety of our staff and patients.
I think I need to speak to a clinician but the form is off, what can I do?
You can call us on 01904 404100 every weekday 8am to 6pm. If there is a long wait on the phone, choose the call back option and one of the team will call you back when you reach the front of the queue. You can also ask one of our surgery reception team to help, they will ask you a few questions about your symptoms of query.
Why can’t we book you in tomorrow if Urgent Care clinics are full today?
We need to make sure we have urgent/same day clinics available every day and forward booking would reduce capacity later in the week. Also, when going through your symptoms - the Klinik form has highlighted that there is an urgent problem, this is why we ask you to contact NHS111 or a pharmacy to get medical attention quickly.
Why can't you add more urgent clinics if there is high demand?
We always want to keep a safe balance between same day urgent care and routine care. Routine appointments are usually for patients with longer term problems or lower risk symptoms. If we offer more urgent care clinics, then we have to reduce the number of routine clinics our GPs have, this will mean every one will wait longer for a routine appointment.
