FAQ
What is Occupational Health?
Occupational Health is a specialist branch of medicine that focuses on the physical and mental wellbeing of employees in the workplace.
The aim of Occupational Health is to prevent work-related illness and injury by encouraging safe working practice, monitoring the health of the workforce and supporting the management of sickness absence.
An Occupational Health service might also include pre-employment health assessments, provide your employer with advice and guidance around making reasonable adjustments to your working conditions and support health promotion.
What does the Occupational Health professional do?
The Occupational Health and Wellbeing professional’s role is to look at the effect that work may be having on your health, and/or the effect that your health may be having on your work and provide you with immunisations to ensure you are adequately protected at work.
Who will I see?
The occupational health multidisciplinary team comprises of; OH Advisors, OH Physicians, Physiotherapists and Psychologists. Our OHA’s are qualified nurses who hold a post registration occupational health qualification. Our OH Physicians are Registered Doctors who also have a qualification in OH medicine. Our OH Physiotherapists are HCPC registered.
How long will the appointment last?
The appointment will last between 10 – 60 minutes dependent on the type of appointment.
What will happen during the appointment?
This will depend on the appointment reason. You may for example have a blood test, immunisation or undergo a health surveillance test such as a lung function or hearing test. Or you may have a consultation in relation to a health condition impacting on work (and vice versa) or a discussion regarding returning to work after a period of sickness absence. You may need to bring identification with you especially if you require blood screening for EPP work (examples: passport, driving licence or employment photo badge).
Is the appointment confidential?
Yes. The service provided by Occupational Health and Wellbeing is subject to medical confidentiality. All the staff at Occupational Health and Wellbeing understand their responsibilities to maintain confidentiality & clinical staff work within their professional codes of conduct.
Occupational health reports to managers concerning an individual’s fitness for work will be discussed and agreed with the individual concerned prior to sending the report. This advice should be treated by the recipient as sensitive personal data in respect of the General Data Protection Regulation. Confidential medical information may only be disclosed if:
- the individual consents
- there is an over-riding duty of care to a third party, or
- there is an order to disclose information by a court of law
What type of appointments do we offer?
We offer various types of consultation to suit you and your needs such as telephone, face to face or video.
Walk in clinics are also available for the provision of immunisations and blood test required for Pre-placement assessment screening required for some job roles.
How we store and use your health information and record
Staff Health and Wellbeing keep information about you and your care in various formats including in our electronic patient record system, paper and other computerised records. This includes your personal information:
- Name
- Address
- Date of Birth
- Contact Details
- Your G.P details
It also includes your clinical information, such as treatments and procedures in the service.
Your records are identified by a unique Occupational Health record number.
Will the Occupational Health Professional inform or write to my manager?
If your manager has referred you, then the Occupational Health professional will provide a report for them answering the questions asked on the referral form.
If you have been seen for pre-employment a certificate of fitness will be sent to your manager after your appointment and or any advice in relation to any restrictions or adaptations required (this will be discussed with you).
If you have been seen for health surveillance a report will be sent back to your manager in relation to any advice or actions required to keep you safe at work and whether a further review will be required.
You have attended for a blood test or immunisation you may request an immunisation report for your records. Information on your immunity may be provided to your manager to ensure compliance with mandatory screening requirements and to ensure immunity in the event of a potential infection exposure at work for example: TB, VZV, Shingles contact. You will have signed the consent for the release of this information on your immunisation and screening questionnaire that you submitted to Occupational Health as part of your recruitment process when you first started.