Occupational health employee information

Occupational Health is mainly concerned with ensuring that individuals are fit and healthy at work and that their health is not adversely affected by their job or vice versa. Occupational Health Professionals will be working with employees, managers and other stakeholders in the business to improve the health and well-being of staff at work. This will be achieved through a combination of measures, including: 

• Improving the work organisation and working environment,
• Promoting active participation of employees in health & wellbeing activities,
• Encouraging personal development in health terms,
• Assessing of fitness for work in-line with the company’s attendance management policy,
• Return to work programmes designed to assist employees to return to their normal duties.

What is a management referral?

You may have been referred to occupational health by your manager or HR as they feel they need specialist advice in order to assist them in supporting your attendance at work or more information regarding the duration of your absence, and how best to support a return to work for you.
The full nature of this referral should have been discussed between you and your manager, and if not, you should seek to discuss this before your scheduled appointment.

Your occupational health assessment

The occupational health consultation will usually take form of an interview, either face to face or over the telephone. This will be either with an occupational health nurse or physician. Fusion’s clinical team will decide the most appropriate consultation method.

During the consultation, the clinician will need to know details about your role, your current state of heath, and how you feel this impacts upon your role. They will also detail any treatment or medication that you have had or that may be planned.

The clinician will not normally undertake any intimate examinations that require the removal of any clothing except a coat.

What if I can’t make my appointment?

If you cannot make the appointment offered, you should contact occupational health immediately and an alternative appointment time and date will be arranged for you.

Where you are working, we will try to arrange appointments around those aspects of your work life that may need accommodating. If you are currently absent through ill health, we would only expect to rearrange an appointment if it clashed with an existing medical appointment, you had already booked with your GP or specialist.

The primary function of the consultation may be to explore ways in which you may return to full working capacity, so it is worthwhile giving this some thought prior to the consultation. Due to the specialist knowledge, Occupational Health has it may be able to return you to work in an adapted role prior to the completion of a GP medical certificate.

Attending the occupational health appointment

It is normally expected by your employer that you will attend your occupational health appointment, if reasonably requested to do so. Occupational health will endeavour to consult with you in the most convenient manner with regards to your current condition.

If a telephone call is booked for you, please ensure you are in a quiet, private, and safe area to take the call.

Should you have any concerns about attending an occupational health consultation, you should discuss these with your manager in advance of the scheduled appointment date and time.

What to expect when you visit us

At your appointment you should expect:

• a warm, friendly, professional welcome, offering respect and confidentiality,
• a full explanation of the consultation process,
• details of any report that will be provided to your manager or human resources,
• an opportunity for you to ask questions.

Depending on your condition and length of absence, the occupational health clinician may advise a phased return to work plan. These are generally a temporary plan to ease and build up your physical or mental strength. They may advise on an initial reduction of hours, activities, or both, which gradually increase to normal working. These plans vary in terms of length of time, but generally can be between 2 to 6 weeks.

These plans are flexible, and any reductions or extensions will be dependent on how you are coping being back in work. Your manager should meet with you on a regular basis to gauge your progress and agree on any adjustments to the plan with you as necessary.

The phased return to work plan is a guide only for managers to consider, depending on what the business can accommodate.

Your occupational health report

Following the consultation, the occupational health clinician will compile a report to your employer giving their opinion as to your ability to work, advising of any adaptations your manager may wish to consider assisting in your return to work. Your manager is not bound by this advice and needs to consider it in balance with other business needs.

The occupational health clinician will inform you of the content of the report and consent will be gained from you prior to the report being released to your employer. Following receipt of the consent the report will normally be issued to your employer within 24 hours.

What about the confidentiality

Medical information held and known by the occupational health professional is privileged and confidential. When information is to be supplied to your managers your consent will always be obtained. An exception to this rule will only arise if the occupational health professional believed that keeping the information confidential would pose serious risk to other people, but this intention would be discussed with you at the time of consultation.

How Fusion OH stores your records

Medical information held and known by the occupational health professional is privileged and confidential and will be processed and managed in accordance with legislation and professional code of conduct. Your occupational health records will be stored electronically and held for the duration of your employment, plus 6 years from notification that you have left your employment.

Once the above timeframes have been reached, your records will be destroyed securely, in line with current methods for destruction of medical records. Access to your medical information is restricted and can only be accessed by Fusion Occupational Health personnel. You are entitled to a copy of your records, and you can obtain this by submitting your request in writing to:

Reports from the GP and other specialists

It is not always necessary for occupational health to request information from other healthcare providers to help inform the decisions. Where it is required, we will inform you of the reason, and you will be asked to provide written consent.

If you consent to a report being sought, it is vital that you fully engage in the process and assist occupational health in obtaining such report. If after a reasonable period occupational health have not received the required reports, they are still able to make recommendations, but this will be based on the information they already have.

For more information, get in touch!

Making an occupational health referral

When making a referral for an employee, it is important to consider the following:

1. The information you give MUST only contain facts about an employee’s health and not your opinion.
2. Do you have any background information which may be useful to know? Has the employee had this condition before? How long ago? Previous sickness absence due to the same reason?
3. Include details of the range of duties the employee would be expected to undertake. Outline specific tasks.
4. Outline whether any adjustments or modifications to work practice have been made before this referral. Were they successful, if not, what further difficulties were the employee experiencing?
5. Outline what adjustments, modifications, and flexibility you could reasonably support and for how long to facilitate a return to work.
6. It’s useful to include sickness absence history, risk assessments, and any other relevant information.

The better the referral, the better the resulting report, recommendations, and advice.

The importance of making an early referral

Making early referrals to Occupational Health is essential. This can avoid absences or allow employees to return to work sooner with the support or recommended adjustments. It also ensures the employees are receiving the correct care and can safely complete their work as well as allowing managers to plan and manage work effectively.

Our online management referral system, eOPAS allows managers/HR to quickly refer an employee to occupational health who will assess them and provide the manager with an assessment and recommendations (if needed). If you need to make a referral, get in touch.

Occupational health referrals – the employee

Here are a few points to consider when referring an employee:

1. You MUST get the consent of the Employee before you can make a referral.
2. The full nature and content of the referral MUST always be discussed between you and the Employee before a referral is made.
3. If they’re at work when their appointment is due, ensure you give them the time and appropriate place to take the consultation call.
4. It’s your responsibility to ensure all this happens.

What to do after the report has come back

• Make time with your employee to talk through the report and recommendations as soon as you have it to agree on the next steps.
• Keep in regular contact with your employee if they are out of work.
• Remember, if you have any questions, you can always call our managers’ helpline on – 0333 241 3082.
• Our Clinical team is available and can advise you on several issues.

What is occupational health?

Occupational Health is mainly concerned with ensuring that individuals are fit and healthy at work and that their health is not adversely affected by their job or vice versa. Occupational Health Professionals will be working with employees, managers and other stakeholders in the business to improve the health and wellbeing of staff at work. This will be achieved through a combination of measures, including:

• Improving the work organisation and working environment,
• Promoting active participation of employees in health & wellbeing activities,
• Encouraging personal development in health terms,
• Assessing of fitness for work in-line with the company’s attendance management policy,
• Return to work programmes designed to assist employees to return to their normal duties.

There are four key areas when looking at occupational health within the workplace:

• Health Surveillance,
• Management referrals,
• Absence Management,
• New starter assessment.

What is health surveillance?

Health surveillance is a regular workplace assessment that is needed when an employee is exposed to hazards that could affect their health. For example, noise, dust, chemicals and/or vibrations. This is a legal requirement for employees exposed to hazards.

Once completed, the results are analysed and will help an employer see whether the control measures they have in place are effective. Over time, they give an overview of the workers’ health and the ability to spot trends.

Health surveillance takes place on site by a Fusion occupational health technician and may include: 

• Audiometry 
• Spirometry 
• Skin checks 
• Hand arm vibration checks (HAVs)