In Swedish“Time off sick for seamen a special case”
Monica Widell, doctor at the company healthcare Feelgood in Göteborg, is uncertain what the new recommendations for sickness times will mean for seafaring personnel.
Feelgood has several shipowners among its customers, and Monica Widell points out that time off for sickness with seafaring employees is a little special.
– We must take into consideration the work situation onboard and the fact that people must have the energy to work 12 or 13-hour days for long consecutive periods.
– Those at work must also fulfil the safety requirements for their position. It is information like this which must be included in doctors’ motivations to the National Insurance Office when it is not considered possible to follow the recommendations of the National Board of Health and Welfare.
Painful ailments can be problematic
What effect the recommendations have in practice will depend to a large extent on how the National Insurance Office chooses to interpret them, Monica Widell believes. Unquestioning compliance may mean that doctors’ opinions are not taken sufficiently seriously.
– I think there may be a problem with painful ailments that are difficult to assess, such as chronic back pain. In this area the recommendations are rather vaguely formulated.
– But the guidelines may also do some good. Time off for sickness varies a great deal at the moment and this is perhaps a good way of achieving more uniform assessments.
Linda Sundgren
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