Close
Find out about your upcoming appointment with an occupational health clinician. This is following the receipt of a referral from your manager, HR People Partner or Employee Relations representative.
This page contains information for referred employees. Referring managers (e.g., line managers, HR People Partners or Employee Relations representatives), should read our Referring Manager's Guide.
Who we are at UCL Workplace Health
Workplace Health provides UCL’s occupational health services. Occupational health (OH) is a confidential advisory service that supports employees and managers in relation to health and work. The focus of OH is work-related health, not diagnosis or treatment.
OH aims to help:
- You stay well at work or return to work safely
- Employers understand how health may affect work
- Identify reasonable adjustments or support that may help you in your role
OH is independent and provides confidential, objective and impartial advice to the employee that has been referred, and to their referring manager.
Why have I been referred?
A management referral is usually made to seek advice about:
- Fitness for work
- Managing a health condition at work
- Sickness absence or return-to-work planning
- Workplace adjustments
- Support needed to help you remain in or return to work
Your referring manager should explain the reason for the referral and discuss the content of their referral letter with you.
The consultation
The clinician you will meet on the day will be part of our expert clinical team who are all either qualified doctors or nurses, with qualifications and years of experience in occupational health and medicine.
Your consultation will take place either remotely or in-person in our consulting rooms at Bidborough House with one of our clinical team. If you have arranged a remote consultation, please be available to take the call, and be in a space you can talk freely about sensitive and personal matters. The consultation itself will last around 30 minutes, and the clinician will ask you about all aspects of your health and wellbeing, both in and out of work.
We understand that some of topics we need to talk you about will be very sensitive and you might find things at times difficult or upsetting to talk about, however, please be assured that our team are all very experienced in having these conversations (the person who you will speak to about your health is a registered nurse or a doctor). You may feel that the questions you are asked are intrusive, but we need a holistic picture of your health and wellbeing to create the best advice we can. The team use the biopsychosocial model of health assessment.
During the consultation, the OH clinician may:
- Talk with you about your health and how it affects your work
- Discuss any treatment or support you are receiving
- Discuss your role and work activities
- Explore adjustments or support that may help at work
You can ask questions at any time, and you are encouraged to share any concerns you may have about your work and health.
OH consultations are not medical examinations for diagnosis or treatment and OH does not replace your GP or specialist. Our role is to provide advice, opinion and make recommendations based on the information presented to us.
Confidentiality
Everything you tell us will be treated in the strictest confidence. We are bound by the same professional standards as your GP. All our records are stored securely and no one has access to those records without your written consent.
Further information can be found here: UCL Workplace Health Privacy Notice.
The report
At the end of the appointment, we will discuss the content of a report to be sent to you, the referring manager, and the HR People Partner (or Employee Relations Manager) named on the referral. If you wish to have sight of the final report before it is sent, we will share this with you first, and we ask that you respond within two days. If there are factual errors in the report please raise these so they can be addressed, however please be aware that the clinician cannot alter their medical opinion (unless the opinion is based on factually incorrect information).
OH reports are focused on functional effects of a condition (what you can or cannot do), rather than detailed information about diagnoses. The report usually provides an opinion on fitness to work and advice on adjustments for work. Confidential details of employee's medical conditions and treatment are not disclosed without your consent.
Once you have consented, Workplace Health will release your report to the individuals named on the referral form (this is usually the manager who requested the referral, and the aligned HR People Partner). Workplace Health will not release your report directly to anyone else without your consent.
Once the report is released, Workplace Health are not in control of how the report is stored or shared by the recipients. There are some circumstances where the referrer may need to discuss or share the report to seek appropriate advice and support. This could be with their own manager, the HR People Partnering team, or the Employee Relations team. Also, if you have a change in line management, your new line manager may well be passed the report as part of a handover. You are free to share the report with anyone you wish to.
Your employer is required to ensure that access is limited to only those who have a genuine need to see the report in order to undertake their duties.
If you decline to give consent to release the report, please be aware that this means that your manager will have to make decisions without the benefit of occupational health advice.
Requesting further medical information
If further medical information is needed in order to provide accurate and appropriate occupational health advice, we may ask you for consent under the Access to Medical Reports Act 1988 to obtain a medical report from your treating doctor. This will be discussed with you in the consultation and your consent sought to make the request.
