GPs will be told to stop signing sick letters and instead send patients to the gym or a job centre in a bid to tackle the sicknote epidemic.
Laying bare the scale of Britain's sicknote culture, Wes Streeting said: 'We simply cannot afford to keep writing people off.
'Some 2.8million people are out of work due to health conditions - this is bad for patients, bad for the NHS and bad for the economy.'
The Health Secretary has launched a government pilot aimed at getting people back to work with much of the red tape to be done by doctors.
Under the new scheme, GPs will be given funding to help patients access support, rather than just simply signing them off, after up to 1.6million sick notes were handed out without a patient having to see a GP in person last year.
In total, the NHS issued more than 11million 'fit notes' - which assess an individuals ability to work - with 93 per cent of these declaring patients 'not fit for work' without a plan to help them return to work of find a job in the future.
Currently, employees can self-certify absence due to illness for up to seven days, but for any longer than this they need a fit note to receive sick pay.
Now, family doctors will be taxed with working with employment coaches and occupational therapists when prescribing sick notes, with the hopes that this will help patients gain the skills necessary to return to work.
Patients will also be referred to gyms and gardening classes in a bid to tackle the ongoing obesity crisis that sees millions off work due to obesity-related illnesses.
Mr Streeting said: 'This pilot marks the end of a broken system that's been failing patients and holding back our economy for far too long.
'Right now, we're issuing 11million fit notes a year - that's not healthcare, that's a bureaucratic dead end.'
It is hoped that supplementing medical care with social prescribers and work coaches who can help navigate people back into employment, helping with the application process, will ease the 'eye-watering' load lumped on tax payers.
'This is all part of our Plan for Change to move from a system that manages sickness to one that promotes health work and prosperity' the health secretary added.
According to a damning Government study propelling the new WorkWell primary care scheme, more than a third of people reported it is easy to get a sick note, 'even when not really needed'.
Health workers added it was less time consuming to approve an application with patient complaints creating hours of unnecessary work, putting pressure on already stretched services.
Some health workers said they thought most 'inappropriate' fit notes likely related to people claiming mental health issues.
This rise in sick note culture has been blamed for stifling the economy, enabling people to claim sick pay and even welfare payments even when fit enough to work.
The new scheme, which will distribute £100,000 across 15 regions, will see GP surgeries provide dedicated teams to help patients find a job.
This is part of a wider £64million WorkWell scheme, which aims to bring together tailored support such as counselling and personal training for people out of work or at risk of leaving.
Under this new scheme, a patient with an ankle injury would be referred to a physio-therapist and be given a membership to a local gym, rather than simply signed off with a rubber stamp.
Ministers say the new programme will support up to 56,000 disabled people and people with health conditions into work by spring 2026.
Claire Murdoch, the NHS national mental health director, told The Times that the NHS wants to support people find and keep work.
She said: 'The NHS can, should and does think of itself as a contributor to economic growth.'
There are now nearly 11million economically inactive - those not in work and not looking for a job - working age adults in Britain, highlighting the scale of the nation's sicknote culture.
Of this figure, a record 2.8million have been declared unfit to work due to long-term illness, half of whom have mental health issues including anxiety or depression.
