Sick of sick notes: Doctors say scrapping paperwork would save time better spent on patients – CBC

Some provinces limiting ability of employers to demand sick notes to free up doctors’ time

Feb 27, 2025

With Canada currently in the depths of the cold and flu season and COVID continuing to spread year round, frustrated doctors say they don’t want to waste time writing notes to excuse people from school or work.

In fact, most doctors across the country want sick notes for minor illnesses eliminated altogether.

“Come on people, these are grown-ups,” said Dr. Rita McCracken, a family physician and primary care researcher based in Vancouver. “If they have a cold and they are spewing germs and they’re making a good call to stay home from work, they don’t need to bring those germs into my office to get a note so that you can feel better about them not coming to work.”

An estimated 6.5 million candidates don’t have access to primary care, and a separate report from Health Canada estimates the country needs 23,000 family doctors to fill the gap.

Doctors in Canada wrote about 12.5 million sick notes last year, according to Dr. Joss Reimer, president of the Canadian Medical Association. She says eliminating sick notes could allow the doctors we do have to care for more people and make their practices more efficient.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/the-cure-sick-notes-1.7468623