Sick note for uni

[Proteinbananas]

Daughter appears to have flu (actual flu not a cold - she's got pretty much every symptom and is really unwell). Sod's law this has come at a busy time for her and she's supposed to do a presentation today. She's asked if she can postpone it but been told no, not without a sick note.
She'll contact the doctor's today of course but just wondering how likely she is to get it? If it were work she'd self certify for a week and you wouldn't normally see a doctor for flu.
Because this is Mumsnet I feel compelled to say I'm obviously letting her sort it herself, I know she's a grown up now etc etc
I just can't help worrying about her attempting to drag herself in to uni when she's not been able to get out of bed for 4 days or potentially getting in trouble for not dragging herself in!

DD got a sick note for uni last month when she had Proper Flu.

Yes, your daughter will need to apply for mitigating circumstances and will need evidence for this.

She could always tell the dr she’s missed a week of uni?? It’s not unusual to have flu for longer than a week. Alternatively if it’s considered a medically unnecessary sick note I guess she could pay for a letter. Dd had to pay her GP for letters explaining a health issue a few times at uni so she could have an extension. Was £30 a letter iirc and another way disabled students are penalised but hey ho.

Dr should listen and do a note for this reason

Thanks all. She is with a uni doctor and it's doing the rounds so I'm hoping that will help - sounds promising from the first post. I'll tell her we'll pay for it if that comes up - absolutely shit that your daughter is having to pay with a disability though Feegle.

If disabled your dc should have had reasonable adjustments which would have included additional time for essays and exams.

Exactly. I work at a uni and disabled students have an individual learning plan where they don’t need medical evidence for extensions. Trust me, we’re as lenient as we can be without just saying “hand it in when you feel like”. We allow self certification for extensions up to 3 days and about 45% of the cohort applies for one, apparently due to “illness”. It’s a total pisstake.

Just get her to tell the Dr she's been ill for a few days and now needs a sick note for Uni. They'll probably just assume she's missed some time already so I'm sure it will be fine and I hope she feels better soon

She did but the uni won’t allow an ongoing condition to have an extension without a letter saying there’s been a specific flare up.

It’s great that DD has registered with a GP near the university, OP. Many students do not, and her situation shows why it is important.

She should get the sick note, by all means! Sadly it may mean dragging herself to the GP whilst her symptoms are in their full glory, but it is important. Then either her presentation will be rescheduled or she will be told to submit the note with a Mitigating Circumstances form. Even though the Mit Circs outcomes won’t be formally known until later, if this is the pathway she should relax: a sick note for flu is virtually a guarantee that missed coursework will be excused.

Universities generally don't allow self certification because if they did, most people would be doing it. I worked in one for a year before my current role (learning and development in a private healthcare company) and at this time of year we had as many as 80% of students applying for mitigation every time an assignment was due, and if the presentation is a summative assignment it'll come under mitigation rules I'm guessing. Understandable in some ways that so many students get mitigation because of the season and bugs, etc. But it's crap as a member of staff because you plan your marking and no bugger does their assignments on time.

It sucks she has the flu, and hope she is better soon. But yes, she needs the sick note and a uni doctor will understand why she needs it and shouldn't quibble.

Ah okay. Ours is far more lenient.

It could be that it is a class/group presentation and due to the modules ending next week, this is a time critical presentation that will be a faff to rearrange. If she doesn't have the module next term, how can she present to her group and field questions etc.

If she is ill, she will need a doctors note the same way as she would if it was to miss an exam due to illness. It's unfortunate but it happens. It's not in this case the uni being arsey I don't think.

Oh absolutely - she's second year now so I know a lot of the work she's doing will count towards her final mark so it's similar to missing an A Level assessment I assume.

Not all universities give blanket extensions for students with a disability.

If she is with a uni Dr they will be used to this but will have to pay for the letter. f she doesn't know what the process is she should contact student support and they will talk her through it or direct her to the person that can. I wouldn't take advice off here as every university will have their own process and they can be fairly complex.

They should. It's part of reasonable adjustments.

What a shame some unis are disadvantaginh disabled students. If be calling that out.

Sod's law this has come at a busy time for her and she's supposed to do a presentation today. She's asked if she can postpone it but been told no, not without a sick note.

A presentation is treated as an exam at my place. Our general advice on exams is for students to either
a) sit the exam, but submit mitigation with documentation (eg medical certificate) to describe how their exam performance may have been affected
b) apply for deferral - but that means that the exam/presentation is deferred to the summer resit period.

And for a deferred presentation, we usually require an alternative assessment of equivalent length of written work. It is far preferable to do the presentation.

Not necessarily. An extension might not be a necessary adjustment. Reasonable adjustments are individual to each student's condition.

We don’t write med3’s (fitnote correctly) for university students as they are not appropriate. They are a legal document for work/benefits not education.
Although getting that through the mince chop brains of some university staff is like…..

I document what the student has told me and do a summary print out for free. If the university want anything more - usually a report it is charged for as a non nhs service/same for an employer.

Depends on the reason - student calls with obvious flu - easy. Student who says back was sore/has been sore for months but never sought any help from anyone, no medications even over the counter and examines perfectly normally - gets a ‘pt tells me, unremarkable exam, no past contact/medications, cannot add anything’ letter

Sorry, didn't realise there'd been more replies..uni came back with a form for her to fill out and an offer to record her presentation. Seemed like a fair offer to me. Even doing that much wiped her out but she's on the mend now.