eMED3 - Enable the use of digital certification
- Kayley Merrick (Unlicensed)
- Jenna Bennett (Unlicensed)
Background
Current regulations stipulate that the eMED3 form has to be signed in ink which is known as a ‘wet-signature’. The Social Security (Medical Evidence) and Statutory Sick Pay (Medical Evidence) (Amendment) Regulations 2010 are planned to remove this and instead for the eMED3 form to be validated by the process of automatically capturing the details of the Health or Care Professional issuing it, with the audit trail within the system recording this and giving the assurance DWP and employers need. This then enables the form to be sent electronically by existing Solutions (e.g. SMS or email). It is important that the function to print the eMED3 form is retained for those who still require a hard copy.
Outline Plan
Changes cannot be fully implemented until the legislation is successfully laid in Parliament. Suppliers are required to satisfy the assurance processes in advance of this date and be ready to go live for all system users on the date the changes become law.
- Roadmap item to be published in Draft format
- Suppliers should provide any feedback by
- Final version of the roadmap item to be published on
- Implementation to occur between -
- Assurance process to be completed by
- All Solutions to be compliant with the standard by the effective date of (subject to legislative process)
- Changes to be deployed to all instances of the Solution on or before
Summary of Change
A planned change to the Social Security (Medical Evidence) and Statutory Sick Pay (Medical Evidence) (Amendment) Regulations 2010 means that Authorised Health or Care Professionals will no longer be required to sign the eMED3 form in ink. Instead, the form should automatically capture the name and profession of the Authorised Health or Care Professional issuing the form; these details combined with the Solution's existing integrated audit should enable identification of who issued the form.
It is important that the function to print the MED 3 form is retained - the printed form should be the eMED3 Template (2022) which includes the issuer's name and profession.
Amendments to eMED3 (Fit Notes):
| Section | Requirement ID | Text | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Description - Paragraph 1 | N/A | Supports the creation of eMED3 data, its integration into the Patient Record, printing or issuing of MED3 fit note certificates and extraction of data to NHS Digital. | N/A |
Additions to eMED3 (Fit Notes):
| Section | Requirement ID | Text | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Requirements | New | The Solution to automatically populate the Name and Profession of the Authorised Health or Care Professional issuing the form; data to be populated in the MED3 template 2022 in the two new data fields. | MUST |
Amendments to eMED3 Data Items Usage:
| Name | Change |
|---|---|
| <GP-ID> | Replace <GP-ID> with <Health.or.Care.Professional-ID> |
| <Issuer's.name> | Add <Issuer's.name> |
| <Issuer's.profession> | Add <Issuer's.profession> |
Full Specification
eMED3 (Fit Notes) Standard
Assurance Approach
Suppliers to demonstrate to DWP that the Health or Care Professional's details are automatically captured in the eMED3 form and the Solutions meet the requirements as set out in the roadmap item.