Health
General practitioners are calling for a return to sick leave by telephone
In view of the current corona summer wave, many general practitioners in Germany are in favor of making sick leave possible again by telephone. Photo: picture alliance
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The Corona summer wave is rolling, many people have also caught a cold. However, there is no longer a way to call sick leave – this causes trouble for parts of the medical profession.
Germany’s general practitioners are calling for a return to the possibility of taking sick notes by phone. In view of the numerous cases of colds and corona diseases, the chairman of the German Association of General Practitioners, Ulrich Weigeldt, called it “a real nuisance” that the possibility of determining incapacity for work (AU) by telephone had not been included in standard care. “The telephone AU would provide real relief,” said Weigeldt of the German Press Agency in Berlin.
Since June 1st, patients have had to go back to the practice or to a video consultation to get sick leave. In the case of minor diseases of the upper respiratory tract, during the corona pandemic until May 31st, this was possible for seven days even after only a telephone consultation.
Weigeldt said: “A personal consultation with the family doctor is not always absolutely necessary, for example in the case of a simple flu infection or a mild course of the corona virus.” In these cases, from the point of view of the head of the association, it would make sense if the general practitioners could write off sick leave for a few days after a telephone consultation.
Patients sick in practice
As a rule, both sides have known each other for a long time, said Weigeldt. Abuse is very rare. “Instead, the patients are now being forced to drag themselves to the doctor’s office when they are sick without it being medically absolutely necessary.”
According to the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), it is possible to return to the option of taking sick leave by telephone. The committee is the body with representatives of the medical profession, health insurance companies and hospitals that decides on the services of the statutory health insurance funds and rules such as sick leave.
In the spring of 2022, there was an intensive discussion in this committee “whether it is right to let the previous special regulations for telephone sick leave expire at the end of May 2022 for the time being,” said a spokeswoman for the dpa. All sponsors of the G-BA and thus also the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians as the representative of the medical profession agreed at the time that such special rules could be withdrawn because of the calmer pandemic situation at the time. This was done in line with everyday relaxation.
Activate special regulations again?
“Should the corona pandemic pick up speed again, the Federal Joint Committee can activate its special regulations (…) again,” said the spokeswoman. This can happen in certain regions or, if necessary, nationwide. For this purpose, among other things, an application would have to be submitted to the committee. According to the G-BA spokeswoman, this could come from the sponsors of the committee, such as the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians.
According to the Robert Koch Institute, a sharp increase in corona infections can currently be observed. It is dominated by the omicron subline BA.5. In addition, data and assessments from doctors and pharmacists show that there are unusually many respiratory infections in Germany for this time of year.