More than 100,000 fit notes were handed out to patients in Oxfordshire last year, new figures show.

New figures from NHS England show 102,419 fit notes were provided by GPs in the former NHS Oxfordshire CCG area in the year to June – an average of 8,535 notes a month.

A fit note, which excuses someone from work due to sickness, can be issued after seven days of sickness absence if a doctor decides a patient’s health impacts their ability to work.

The doctor can decide if the patient is 'unfit for work' or 'may be fit for work subject to the following advice', accompanied by recommendations to help them in the workplace.

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These figures include every individual note written by a GP, rather than the number of patients receiving a note.

The notes were given out as part of 43,353 fit note 'episodes' – a period of sickness with one or more sick notes.

Of these, 3,895 (nine per cent) were for cases where a patient was given five or more notes in succession.

William Roberts, chief executive of the Royal Society for Public Health, said: "Today’s data reinforces the message that we will only be able to solve our productivity problem if we can take decisive action to keep employees healthy and in work."

Mr Roberts also called on the Government to introduce a minimum health and work standard, setting out the basic support which every workplace should offer.

The figures show the number of fit notes issued across England dropped very slightly last year, with just under 11 million in the year to June.

Nearly three quarters of the notes did not include a reason why the patient was given one.

Despite this, mental and behavioural conditions were the most common reason among those that provided medical details – with more than one million issued in the year to June.

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In Oxfordshire, at least 15,982 notes were given for this reason over the same period.

Separate data from the Office for National Statistics shows some 2.8 million working age adults across the UK were out of work due to ill health between May and July of this year, 700,000 more than at the end of 2019.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: "We have seen record numbers of people excluded from the workforce due to long-term sickness and economic inactivity.

"The NHS and social care are a key part of economic growth - by cutting waiting lists and taking bold action on public health, we can get Britain back to health and back to work."