Bosses have attacked the "sign off" culture which costs the UK £23 billion a year. A report published by the CBI criticises NHS failings that push up industry's costs of sickness at work to £11 billon.

"We have a bit of a sign-off culture in this country," said CBI deputy director, John Cridland.

GPs are taken to task for their "lack of expertise and the pressure form their case loads".

"Together these factors mean that GPs are either unwilling or unable to manage minor illnesses with a view to returning employees to work," says the CBI's report "Healthcare and business for the 21st century".

The CBI believes that NHS "inefficiency" is having a knock-on effect on business and calls on the government to utilise private sector know-how to tackle the crisis.

"There is an inefficient and inadequate priority within the public health system and a failure to use private health expertise," said Cridland. "Securing the benefits of a mix of service provision, including private and voluntary sectors, is crucial to achieving improvements".

During a week where the issue of NHS funding has topped the news agenda, the CBI is backing Tony Blair's call for European levels of health spending, noting that "the UK now has the highest rate of working age incapacity due to sickness in the EU".

Unlike Gordon Brown, the CBI warns that taxes rises alone are unlikely to meet the demands of an ageing population and medical innovation and urges the government to look at alternative funding strategies.

"Alternative funding mechanisms worthy of consideration include greater use of private medical insurance and more use of charging," said Cridland.

"We're not saying there should be any sort of wholesale private sector takeover of the health service. That wouldn't work and, anyway, business doesn't have all the answers. But securing the benefits of a mix of service provision, including private and voluntary sectors, is crucial to achieving improvements."