This spring, the province with the biggest shortage of doctors in Canada will eliminate sick notes for absences of a week or less, a huge win for access to care and a profession suffering from record burnout.

The change reflects a year-long advocacy campaign by Doctors Manitoba, which represents physicians and medical learners in the province. The organization estimates that employers request more than 600,000 sick notes in Manitoba every year, but one third of employees have no symptoms by the time they see their doctor — costing taxpayers more than $8 million annually in unnecessary medical appointments and reducing access for other patients.

Eliminating sick notes could free up 36,000 hours of physician time, the equivalent of more than 300,000 appointments per year.

With the help of funding from the Health Care Unburdened Grant program (HCUG) — an initiative supported by the Canadian Medical Association, MD Financial Management Inc. and Scotiabank — Doctors Manitoba was able to conduct research and initiate consultations with public and private employers, unions, doctors and human resources professionals to build consensus about eliminating sick notes, and successfully advocate for changes to Manitoba’s Employment Standards Code. Legislation is expected this spring to formalize the changes.

Doctors Manitoba developed a guide for employers and other organizations on transitioning away from sick notes to verify short-term illness and injury, outlining why sick notes aren’t an effective HR tool for absenteeism, the benefits of eliminating sick notes, and how companies can verify employee absences without them.

The association also created a comprehensive toolkit that includes sample sick leave policies and templates and forms for employees to confirm an illness, and is working towards standardized forms for other types of doctors’ notes, such as workplace accommodations and safe return-to-work, as well as electronic solutions.

To raise further awareness of the impact of sick notes, Doctors Manitoba launched the website SickOfSickNotes.ca.

Doctors Manitoba was one of 12 HCUG recipients, a $10 million program aimed at improving physicians’ well-being by reducing administrative burden through innovative solutions.