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, Meddbase 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.

Meddbase@Fusion training

Hi my name is Louise, I’m going to be going through a demonstration of our new case management system.

So this is through Meddbase, so when you come on to the login page this is what you will be able to see. So to register an account you would just need to click here and we will issue out registration documents as previously on eOPAS. You’ll have a login code and then you will be able to complete your registration. So, we will have two factor authentication in place for extra security. So, if you can ensure that your mobile number is correct this will be vital for you to be able to get into the portal and also access reports as well.

So I’m just going to log in. So, when you first log in this is the referral main screen. It will show you any notifications in regards to any of the cases that you have open. Also, on the right hand side here you have a statistics wheel so I’ll just give you a brief overview. So currently I’ve got 26 referrals in progress, six questionnaires required, so this is where I’ve started a referral but haven’t submitted it. I’ll go through that there with you shortly. Discharged, so previously this was ‘case closed’ in eOPAS but in Meddbase shows as discharged. And then documents required so is where I’ve submitted a referral but I haven’t uploaded the documents.

So on the left hand side here we’ve got our menu with all the different options available to us. First of all employee management. So when you come into the system if you wanted to make a referral you could go into employee overview just to see if the employee you want to refer um is already the system.

So we’ve got where you can search up here by the name or department or division. So if I put in ‘Test’ and you can see then all employees in the system with the surname Test. So the person that I need to add is not in the list, so to add an employee if you come back to employee management and create new employee. This is the information that we need to add to create the employee so I’m just going to fill these out. So the ones with the red asterisks are the mandatory ones. As we do now use two factor authentication so it’s just an extra security step then for when the employee has the report. So then you can pick the department/division so these will be in system already for you. I’m just going to update these.

I’m just going through now and completing these and then I click create new employee. Oh just bear with me, I put too many digits in. So that’s good so I’ve just demonstrated obviously we need a correct mobile numbering system so I did try to put too many digits in that one. So now that is set up, so we can see Mandy now has an account in the system.

So before I go to make a referral I just want to highlight now this section here which is user management. So this will be available for HR teams where they will be able to view all of their team who have access to the system and then what rights within those sections then that they can see within the system.

So an upgrade from eOPAS is you were never able to see this previously so it’s really good for you to manage the users that you have in the system because if you have someone that has joined the team and you would like to add them to the system you now have the option to do that. So same as adding a new employee you would just create new user under user management.

So I go back to employee overview so I’m going to find Mandy and I’d like to refer her now. So as you can see so this is all Mandy’s details that we’ve had added previously. So all you would do at the top bar then is click refer, you check all the details if any are out to date you can update these here and then you click continue. And then this is the management referral section so previously in eOPAS you would have chosen management referral to Fusion and then within that then you would have chosen your reason for referral but following feedback from clients, quite a few of them knew that they wanted to specifically refer for a certain reason. So, what we’ve done is we’ve pulled these out so you’ve got these different options here from counselling to physio, menopause referral, so instead of completing a full management referral if you  just wanted to go straight for the scan referral you could go in, complete that form and then that appointment then will be made for you.

But, if you’d like the team to review and advise on the best appointment we would go to management referral to Fusion. So it will then bring up the referral form. So, previously in eOPAS it was very clunky and there was a lot of  next page, but with Meddbase it’s a lot easier. The referral form is just all in one place and you can just scroll up and down. So it’s a lot quicker to make your referral. So again, only the ones with the red asteris are mandatory, but as we’ve said previously the more information we have in the referral the better the report that we can give you at the end. So then I’m going to add now that my employee has been off since last year and then you can just complete the and then as previously. You can then pick your reason for referral, we have updated these from the referral form that was in eOPAS because some of the options didn’t really fit in and wasn’t providing the triage team with the right information to process that for you. So we’ve changed these now, so we’ve got changes in behaviour, performance, neurodiverse issues, if someone’s on short-term sickness you can choose as many of those as you need if there’s different reasons. And then we just complete the footer and then as previously. Then so with the report you can ask an additional three questions – any more will require a double appointment, but I just want to also highlight this area as well so if the referrals is for more than one medical addition this will automatically be charged as an extended appointment to allow enough time for the nurse to discuss those.

So I’ve asked my questions oh, I actually didn’t choose an option there we go so I’ve chosen my option, so what I want to highlight here as well is something else that we couldn’t do in eOPAS is in this section here so if a manager was completing the referral but HR needed to review it before it was submitted you can click save for later and then HR could review it and then they could submit to them once they’re happy with all the information. But if you’re happy just to send the referrals through you just click finish. And then so this section now is where you can upload the documents that would go with your referral so you can find these so as previously: Excel, jpeg, PDF, word, all these can be added to the system. So you choose from your list, click attach documents and any documents you upload then will show here.

So I’m happy, I’ve done everything now, so I can click ‘send referral’ and that will come through then for the triage team to review so what we can do now so under the case management section here on the left so if I go to all referrals, so as you can see so this is Mandy that I’ve referred just now. So we can see referral made, so this is another upgrade then from eOPAS where on here now you’ll be able to see straight away if it’s been booked, attended, and completed and also then if the SLAs that we have in place have been met. So on the right hand side the status so it will show you if the employee attended, if the referral was closed, if the report is overdue/waiting for referral form. So you can go in here and you’ll have a full overview of all your reports and it’s good that the traffic light system then will highlight then any issues for you.

So you can also this information if you needed it for internal purposes you can generate a CSV file and pull all this information out of the system which again previously you were unable to do. So if I’m just going to go in now another upgrade from eOPAS, we’re bringing you so many new ones I’m really excited for this system.

So if I look for – here we go – original test, so within this section now so I’m on original test main account so we can see all the details here but then as you go down then you’ll be able to see any questionnaires that have been issued, all the referrals that they’ve had with the status. You can view the documents and then also any documents that have been shared so this will include the new starter fitness certificate if your business uses our health surveillance service, you will be able to access these here as well.

So this is another upgrade from eOPAS where you get a full overview of everything that the employee has in the system and also at the bottom then any appointment that they’ve had and who they were with. So then also then for HR members they will be able to reallocate referrals, so this is another new option that we have – so previously you would have to email in to Fusion and then the team would go in and do these for you, but you can now manage these yourself. So if you’ve got an employee who works in HR and has moved to a different department you can click reallocate referral and move that then to the new HR person. So now I’m on this account I’m going to send a new starter questionnaire, so previously in eOPAS it was very clunky. I just want to show you how easy it is to do it in Meddbase so you choose your employee, send questionnaire, so you would pick then the relevant form, so if I say clinical, and then all you need to do is click send and that’s it, which is so much easier.

So I’m just going to scroll down so we are also then right at the bottom. We have also an information library, so these are where we will upload the employee leaflet, GDPR notice, there’ll be quick guides that you can access if you do get stuck within the system. And then another new addition is MI reporting. So within Meddbase you have these management information tools at the tip of your fingers, so if you wanted to report on all your DNAs you can just click, choose the date range, and it will bring all the information up here. And again you’ll be able to download this information if you need to use it internally. And then again so you’ve got the different lists that you will be able to pull from the system, there will also be then your standard monthly/quarterly report that you will be able to access through the portal as well.

Welcome to Meddbase@Fusion

Welcome to Meddbase. Meddbase is Fusion’s case management system for occupational health in your business. You can use this to log management referrals, issue new starter assessment questionnaires, as well as track and report on the health and wellbeing of your employees.

We have produced a series of helpful guides on how to use Meddbase. These guides can be found here: https://www.fusionoh.com/meddbase-resources/.

This guide will talk you through some useful features of the Meddbase platform.

To sign in to your Case Management System for Fusion, please use this link: https://eu-portal.meddbase.com/foh/oh. The first screen will ask you to sign in. If you do not have a portal account set up, or you have been issued a registration code, please use the ‘Register here’ button. Once logged in, you will be greeted by your referral portal, which will show your reports and notifications.

The menu bar on the left-hand side will help you navigate the system and guide you to where you need to be. You can manage your employees and reports, check on progress, and create new employee profiles.

At the bottom of the menu bar you will find the information library. This is where you can find useful guides and information on how to use Meddbase and how to make the most out of your Fusion services.

There are two types of users on Meddbase:

• HR super user – they can oversee ALL employees’ health and wellbeing and can manage profiles of managers.
• Manager – can add employees and oversee requests from employees they have added

A HR super user can add new users (managers) by selecting the ‘create new user’ option on the menu bar. Fill in the relevant details and select their user rights, i.e., what level of access you want them to have to employee data. You can also reallocate cases from this view.

A HR super user can also amend manager details and access rights by selecting the user overview section on the menu bar, finding the employee whose details they want to amend, and making the changes. To finish, just click ‘save’.

A HR super user can also remove a manager’s access by selecting users overview in the menu bar, choosing the manager you want to remove, and selecting ‘Remove this user’.

A HR super user can reallocate employees to another manager, if needed. To do this you go to the employee you would like to reallocate and select ‘reallocate cases’ at the top.

To view your reports, click on the ‘MI reports’ option on the left hand menu bar. When you land on the page below, you will be shown a list of reports you can view about your referrals and new starter assessments.

You can also export some of your reports so you can use them for analysis – select the report then select ‘download CSV Export’.

If you have any further questions, please visit our webpage (https://www.fusionoh.com/meddbase-resources/) or send a request to our team (https://survey.zohopublic.eu/zs/SaDX8C), who will get back to you as soon as possible.

Submitting a management referral on Meddbase

To sign in to your Case Management System for Fusion, please use this link: https://eu-portal.meddbase.com/foh/oh. Your first screen will ask you to sign in. If you do not have a portal account set up, please use the ‘Register here’ button.

Once logged in, you will be greeted by your referral portal, which will show your reports and notifications.

The menu bar on the left-hand side will help you navigate the system and guide you to where you need to be. You can manage your employees and reports, create new referrals, check on the progress of your open referrals, and create new employee profiles.

To create a new referral, you will first need to create an employee on the system. You can first check if the employee is already on the system by looking at the ‘employee overview’ section on the left-hand side.

If they are not on the list, you can then select ‘create new employee’. Then begin to fill in the relevant information about the employee. (Please fill in as much information as possible in this section).

Once it is saved, you will be able to view your employee’s record. If needed, you can ‘edit details’ at the top.

Now you have created/selected your employee, you can raise a management referral for them. To do this, please select ‘create a new case’ on the left-hand toolbar. Then select the new employee that you have created.

Please check the information and press ‘Continue‘. On the next screen, select ‘A Management Referral to Fusion’. Then select a case title ‘Management Referral’.

Once selected please proceed to complete the information required in the form. In order to allow us to compile a comprehensive report for the employee, please ensure that all mandatory fields (marked by red stars) are completed fully. It’s important to remember that you must inform the employee you are referring them prior to completing the form.

Once you have added the employees details click ‘Finish’.

You will then have the option to upload more details and supporting documents. After you have attached the relevant documents you can then submit the referral by clicking the ‘Send referral’ button.

What happens next?

Once you have submitted your referral this will be sent to triage at Fusion Occupational Health. They will review the referral and schedule an appointment for the employee. The employee will then receive a text message and/or an email with their appointment time and date. They can then accept the appointment or reply with availability. After the appointment has taken place and the report has been accepted by the employee, you will get an email notification that the report is ready to view. This can be viewed on your Meddbase portal under the employee’s name.

Tracking a management referral

You can track all of your employee referrals by selecting the ‘all referrals’ option on the left-hand menu bar. This will then show you the full list of the referrals you have made and what stage in the process they are. This may include:

• Referral Made
• Awaiting referral form
• Awaiting the attachments of relevant documents
• Appointment booked

If you select the employee you need, you will see full patient records/messages/information so you can track the progress/history of the referral. Please note, any reports/relevant documents can also be found here.

In this section you can also message the Fusion customer care department in relation to the chosen employee and/or attach further supporting documents if required.

Sending a new starter assessment

To sign in to your Case Management System for Fusion, please use this link: https://eu-portal.meddbase.com/foh/oh. Your first screen will ask you to sign in. If you do not have a portal account set up, please use the ‘Register here’ button.

Once logged in, you will be greeted by your referral portal, which will show your reports and notifications.

The menu bar on the left-hand side will help you navigate the system and guide you to where you need to be. You can manage your employees and reports, check on progress, and create new employee profiles.

To create a new starter assessment, first you will need to create an employee on the system. You can first check if the employee is already on the system by looking at the ‘employee overview’ section on the left-hand side.

If they are not on the list, then you can select ‘create new employee’. Then begin to fill in the relevant information about the employee (please fill in as much information as possible in this section).

Once saved, you will be able to view your employee’s record. If needed, you can ‘edit details’ at the top.

Now you have created/selected your employee, the next step is to ‘Send questionnaire’. Please ‘select’ relevant questionnaire. Refer to table below with description.

New Starter Assessment – General or Office Based: All managing/admin or clerical type roles.

New Starter Assessment – On Site or Factory or Safety Critical: All managing/admin or clerical type roles.

New Starter Assessment – Clinical Role: For employees who may be at risk of contact with bodily fluids through their employment.

New Starter Assessment – Clinical MVA Role: Only used for employees, who may be at risk of contact with bodily fluids plus required to undertake managing violence aggression through their employment.

New Starter Assessment – Food Handlers

Client Specific Questionnaires

• CSG New Starter Assessment (Office Worker)
• CSG New Starter Assessment (Safety Critical)

If you are unsure, please call our managers, helpline at 0333 241 3082 (option 2).

Once you select the relevant questionnaire, click ‘Send’. You will be asked to confirm the questionnaire requested. Please check and press ‘Send’.

Lastly, you will get the confirmation screen that the questionnaire has been sent.

What happens next?

Once you have sent your new starter assessment to the employee, it will be emailed to them. Once they have completed and returned it to us, we will triage it. Triage will review the assessment and if no issues are identified, a health declaration will be uploaded to the Meddbase portal. If issues are highlighted, a call with the nurse will be required; once the consultation is complete the health declaration will be uploaded to the Meddbase portal, and you will receive an email to notify you.

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)