Over 86,000 sick notes issued in Sunderland

Data from NHS England show 86,022 notes were provided by GPs in the area during 2022 – an average of 7,169 a month.

This means there were 48,847 notes given out for every 100,000 patients – a far higher rate than England as a whole, which had 27,789 per 100,000 patients.

For the last decade, GPs have been able to provide patients with electronic 'fit notes' – which tell employers if a patient is too ill to work, or give other recommendations, such as reducing their working hours.

These figures are for the number of individual fit notes, rather than patients.

Nationally, 10.7 million fit notes were issued last year – up from 10.5 million the year before, and 10.2 million in 2019.

The majority of fit notes do not give a specific diagnosis, but more than a million were issued for mental and behavioural disorders in 2022 - including 12,462 in Sunderland.

John Appleby, director of research at the Nuffield Trust health charity said: “Aside from the impact on the labour market, tackling recent rises in long-term sickness will represent a challenge to health services as they grapple with the demands of post-pandemic recovery.”

Women were disproportionately likely to be the recipients of fit notes – receiving 57.9% of those issued last year.

Mr Appleby added: “There were some notable differences between men and women in the reasons they gave for not being in work between late 2020 and late 2022, with long-term sickness rising more for women than for men.

"While reductions in labour market participation are almost certainly in part associated with the impact and aftermath of the pandemic, for women the rise in long-term sickness as a reason for inactivity pre-dated Covid, starting at the beginning of 2019.”

Recent research by the Learning and Work Institute found people in lower paid occupations are more likely to leave the labour market due to ill health.

It recommended the Government and employers provide greater support to people with long-term health conditions to help them re-join the workforce.