The role of Occupational Health and what a good referral looks like

The prime role of Occupational Health (OH) is to provide professional medical advice and guidance to managers about:

· The impact of an employee’s health on their ability to undertake their role.

· The measures that can be put in place to assist an employee to meet the requirements of their role.

Karen McElligott, Operations Manager at Staff Care Services, explores OH further and what a good referral looks like.

The OH team work in collaboration with HR to offer a medical perspective on employment issues. They also advise individuals who have been referred about how to manage their health at work. Individuals cannot refer themselves for an assessment.

The OH Service relates to employment, it does not provide GP services such as conducting medical investigations, providing treatment for general medical conditions or to diagnose.

Your role as the manager is to make the referral using the online system. It is really important to go through the referral with them to ensure that your member of staff understands what is happening and why.

What does a good health referral look like?

When making a health referral to request specific advice from an OH specialist, please provide as much information as possible about the background and reasons why you are seeking a medical opinion, and refer to any aspects of the employee’s role that are significant to the referral.

Try and include:

·     Details of any changes that have happened to the employee’s role over the relevant period;

·     Attach an up to date job description/role profile or a list of the employee’s duties, plus details of hours worked, shift pattern etc. (it is also useful to have a copy of their sickness absence);

·     Highlight any aspects that are presenting particular health-related concerns and don’t forget to mention any workplace modifications or adjustments you have already tried.

In addition to the tick box questions, you can ask explicit questions (a maximum of 5) about the information you are seeking being as specific as possible. This will help OH provide you with practical and relevant advice that is specific to the particular circumstances of the employee.

We hope you find this article useful, if you have any questions or would like to speak to a member of our occupational health team, please contact occupational.health@staffcareservices.org.uk