Keele Research Repository

Musculoskeletal conditions are believed to cost UK society approximately £7.4 billion per year, with 30 million working days lost each year due to musculoskeletal conditions. Currently, within the UK, sickness certification can be self-certified for a period of seven days after which time a General Practitioner is required to authorise any further period of absence from work for patients. In April 2010 the Sickness Certificate was replaced with the Fit Note. The existing literature has offered little ‘in-vivo’ insight into the primary care consultation in relation to the management of patient musculoskeletal work-related concerns since the introduction of the Fit Note, and there is a paucity of research exploring the patient experience of these consultations. The research questions in this thesis broadly ask: How are musculoskeletal work-related concerns discussed and managed within the primary care consultation? How do patients experience these consultations? Mixed qualitative methodology is used within this study. Interpretative methods are used to thematically analyse 100 video-recorded consultations and 19 semi-structured interviews to answer these research questions and provide insight into this area. Findings reveal that the management of musculoskeletal work-related concerns within the primary care consultation is sub-optimal. Accessing work-related support for these people is complicated and contingent upon how they come to identify themselves as candidates for work-related support. The theoretical framework of candidacy is offered as a useful device for understanding and conceptualising the patient experience of these consultations. Interactions with healthcare, in combination with sociocultural factors, mediate how people come to understand their candidacy to seek musculoskeletal work-related support. Directions for further research in this area are provided.