FAQs

There are many facets to Occupational Health and Wellbeing, but essentially;

Occupational Health – is a specialist branch of medicine that looks at the effects of work on health, and that of health on work. Occupational Health seeks to promote and maintain the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of employees in all occupations, with the focus being the prevention of work-related ill-health.

Employee Wellbeing is at the core of individual wellbeing, and so this aspect is a vital component to Occupational Health. While wellbeing is more personal and subjective, it is also universally relevant. Wellbeing encompasses the employee’s views and beliefs, environmental factors that affect them, and considers the experiences individuals have had throughout their lives that in turn may influence human behaviour, and choices. Wellbeing strategies are about encompassing the individual, the work environment, the culture and interpersonal relationships.

The objective of Occupational Health and Wellbeing is to:

support employers in recruiting suitably fit individual’s and to advise on any reasonable adjustments that may support new employees in their role
support employers and employees on the prevention of work related ill-health
promote and support a healthy and safe working environment
advise on, and support the maintenance of an employee’s working ability, and their functional capacity (to include advice and guidance on any reasonable adjustments that may support existing employees in their role)
support employers in maintaining a healthy, happy and productive workforce
ensure that all appropriate health, safety, and wellbeing advice and guidance is provided to enable you to make effective business decisions

An important part of Occupational Health and Wellbeing is concerned with identifying how work tasks and the working environment can impact upon an employee’s health and wellbeing, from both a physical and psychological perspective. Occupational Health and Wellbeing also considers how an employee’s health may affect their ability to do their job safely and effectively.

Research shows that good health and wellbeing is good for business, and businesses that promote health and wellbeing at work and who adopt a culture and philosophy that values health tend to achieve more favourable financial results. Employees also feel more valued when they believe that their employer cares.

From a more formal perspective however, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) states employers are required by law to prevent physical and mental ill health in workers that may occur as a result of your business’ activities; and therefore having access to the right information and guidance at the right time makes good business sense to ensure that you are meeting not only your moral and ethical obligations towards your employees, but that of your legal obligations too.

An Occupational Health and Wellbeing strategy should encompass and embrace inclusivity, individuality, equality and diversity by taking into consideration the individual, the working environment, the culture, and interpersonal relationships.

By investing in Occupational Health and Wellbeing bespoke to your business, this ensures that:

“Occupational Health and Wellbeing” remains a high priority on your Business’ agenda which in turn will assist you in promoting a positive working culture
you are enabled to implement effective measures to reduce the prevalence of sickness absence and presenteeism
you are able to work towards reducing the costs to the business from a productivity and financial perspective due to work related ill-health, and presenteeism
your employees and your managers have access to bespoke and professional specialist advice to help protect, maintain and support employees with health issues in the workplace
as an employer, you are advised and guided accordingly which will assist you in remaining compliant with the relevant Health and Safety legislation, as well as the Equality Act (2010)
you will be kept updated regarding any matters pertaining to health and wellbeing at work and regarding any changes in legislation that may be relevant to your business

In using our services, and in working closely with us, you can be rest assured that you will be advised and guided accordingly to ensure that you are not only meeting your obligations towards your employees, but that you are seen as an employer of choice.

At TJM Occupational Health and Wellbeing, once an individual has been successful in their application for the role in which they have applied, we encourage ALL new employees to complete a CONFIDENTIAL New Starter Questionnaire (NSQ). You can find more information by visiting our New Starter Assessments page and our Night Worker Assessments page.

The question sets have been carefully designed to ensure that we are able to capture all relevant information in order to undertake a thorough assessment; in addition to considering the employees responses, the NSQ assessment will also involve analysing the job role, and any associated risks that it may involve, to include night working.

This will enable the Occupational Health Clinician to assess the physical and psychological capability of any successful applicant, and to determine whether any reasonable adjustments may need to be considered to support them in their new role.

Please note, our NSQ’s will also be appropriate for any existing employees moving into a different role within the business.

You can either complete our contact/ enquiry form where we will get in touch with you upon receipt, or you can contact us by telephone or email to discuss booking an appointment. You can also get in touch with us beforehand to talk through a case if you are unsure about the best way in which to manage the situation, and to identify whether or not a referral is required.

When booking your employee in for a case management referral, you will be sent a management referral form to complete. It is important that the employee is fully aware of the referral, the reason/s for, and of any questions that you wish Occupational Health to address; the employee will also need to give their informed consent to the process.

Ideally, the employee should be present when the Occupational Health referral is being completed, however we appreciate that there may be circumstances where this is not possible. In this instance, the employee should be provided with a copy of the referral document so that they are fully aware of the content, and of any questions that you want Occupational Health to address.

Once the completed referral has been received, we will contact the employee directly to arrange a mutually agreeable appointment. Once the details have been confirmed, we will inform you of the date and time of the appointment for your records.

Please be aware that if an employee expresses that they have not been made aware of the referral, and / or they are not aware of the reason/s for the referral etc., we may not be able to proceed with the assessment.

There are many different reasons why you may be referred for an Occupational Health assessment, however the overall reason for referring an employee to Occupational Health is so that your employer can gain a better understanding of how your health condition or your situation is impacting, or has the potential to impact upon you at work, and whether there are any work related factors that are contributing to, or exacerbating the health condition or situation. The referral also aims to offer your employer advice and guidance on your fitness for work, as well as advice and guidance on any reasonable adjustments that may need to be considered to support you in your role.

Your employer should have discussed the referral with you, however if you are unsure of why you have been referred to Occupational Health, it is important that you ask your employer for clarity.

The Occupational Health consultation assessment itself involves a 1-2-1 confidential discussion between a Specialist Occupational Health Clinician and you. The consultation assessment can be undertaken by telephone, by video call, or via a face to face arrangement (the latter depending on location).

You will have the opportunity to share information in a private and confidential setting, and to respectfully voice your views, to raise any health related concerns you may have, and to ask any questions that may arise during the process.

At the end of the consultation assessment, the Clinician will produce an Occupational Health report that outlines relevant aspects relating to your circumstances; the report will also address any questions your employer has asked, and will detail any advice and guidance on next steps, and on achieving the best outcome to the issue/s in hand.

You have the right to see the report before it is sent to your employer, and the report will not be sent to your employer without your informed consent.

Whilst we would never share information about you to your employer without your informed consent, there may be circumstances where as health professionals, we are duty bound to share information with other health professionals / agencies; it is therefore important that you understand our Duty of Care in respect of confidentiality – you are advised to view our confidentiality statement for further information.

A case management referral involves a 1-2-1 confidential discussion (consultation assessment) between a Specialist Occupational Health Clinician and the employee. The consultation assessment can be undertaken by telephone, by video call, or via a face to face arrangement (the latter depending on location).

Our Case Management approach is focused on a Biopsychosocial model where we take a holistic approach by looking at several factors, including within and outside of the workplace. We consider any interconnection between biological, psychological and socio-environmental / socio-cultural factors and how this may impact upon the employees’ health and wellbeing.

At the end of the consultation assessment, with employee informed consent, we produce and share a bespoke and comprehensive Occupational Health report to the referring business representative (this is usually the employee’s line manager or a HR representative). The report outlines relevant aspects to the case, and any advice and guidance on next steps, and on achieving the best outcome to the issue/s in hand.

Yes. The nature of any interaction between Occupational Health and the employee is strictly confidential. We will not share any information about the employee with any 3rd party unless we have obtained the employee’s informed consent.

It is however important to note that there may be circumstances that, as Registered Occupational Health Nurses, Doctors, and health professionals we may need to over-ride our duty of confidentiality, if it is deemed necessary to protect the best interests of the employee, and / or the best interests of the public. For example, if information disclosed by an employee suggests that they may be at risk of harm, or if the individual is posing a risk of causing harm to somebody else, the Occupational Health Clinician will have a statutory duty to consider whether this information may need to be shared with other professionals, or agencies.

Further information on confidentiality can be found Here.

The general content of the report will usually be discussed with you during the assessment; if you have opted to receive your copy of the report at the same time it is sent to your employer, the Clinician will always ensure that they are satisfied that you are aware of, and understanding of the content of the report. If there is any doubt, you will be encouraged to have prior viewing of the report; for whatever your reason, you can also request to have prior viewing of the report before it is released to your employer.

There may be occasions where time does not allow for the content of the report to be discussed, or where the Clinician needs to reflect on the information provided before formulating their report and in this instance, we will always encourage you to have prior viewing of the report before it is sent to your employer to ensure that you are fully aware of the content within.

Where prior viewing of the report has been agreed, or requested by you, it is important that you understand that while you do have a right to request that factual inaccuracies are amended, unless the Clinician’s opinion was formed from a factual inaccuracy, you do not have the right to request that the Clinician’s opinion is altered to that of your own, or that of others’ i.e., your own GP, or Physiotherapist for example.

If you have had prior viewing of the report and you disagree with the opinion of the Clinician, you are requested to contact us straightaway so that this can be discussed further. If after discussion the Clinician stands by their formed opinion based on the information available to them at the time of the consultation assessment, and you still remain in disagreement, you can request to add an addendum in which to accompany the report.

You also have the right to refuse consent to release the report to your employer. This is your rightful prerogative, however, in this instance, whilst this decision will always be respected, you should be aware of the following:

whilst we will not release any clinical information about you without the appropriate consent, we are entitled to inform your employer whether or not you are fit to undertake / continue to undertake your substantive / current role without your consent; this is especially relevant if you are subject to statutory health surveillance or monitoring, and / or where others may be at risk
in respect of your employer forming any fitness-for-work decisions, and / or any other work related decisions, your employer may have little choice but to base their decision/s on the information they have available to them at the time, and;
in the absence of an Occupational Health assessment report, any decisions formed will be without the benefit of impartial, clinical and vocational advice from Occupational Health.

No. Despite that the employee has provided their consent to engage with the Occupational Health referral and assessment process, if for whatever reason they are unhappy with the information contained within the Occupational Health report, or they simply do not wish for their employer to have access to the report, they have a right to refuse consent to release it to their employer.

The employee also has a right to withdraw their consent at any stage of the process. This means that where they have provided their initial informed consent to release the report, should they change their mind for whatever reason and before the report is released, under these circumstances we are duty bound to respect this withdrawal of consent and we would refrain from proceeding with the release of the report.

In these circumstances, the employee will be advised that while refusal to give consent is their rightful prerogative, and that their decision in this regard will be fully respected by Occupational Health, they should be aware of the following:

whilst we will not release any clinical information about the employee without the appropriate consent, we are entitled to inform the employer whether or not the employee is fit to undertake / continue to undertake their substantive or current role without their consent; this is especially relevant if the employee is subject to statutory health surveillance or monitoring, and / or where others may be at risk
in respect of the employer forming any fitness-for-work decisions, and / or any other work related decisions, the employer may have little choice but to base any decision/s on the information they have available to them at the time, and;
in the absence of an Occupational Health assessment report, any decisions formed will be without the benefit of impartial, clinical and vocational advice from Occupational Health.

There are several reasons why an employee may refuse consent to release health and personal information about them to their employer. It may be that they are still adjusting and coming to terms with a new diagnosis for example, or they may be fearful of being judged, or of losing their job; they may also be embarrassed, or they may simply prefer not to divulge personal information about their circumstances.

Whatever the reason, as Occupational Health professionals we have a duty under our regulatory bodies to respect employee confidentiality, and their consent preferences; therefore, despite that the management referral document will have likely shared health related and personal information about the employee, and it will have asked Occupational Health to address specific questions relating to the employee’s health and wellbeing and their circumstances, we will be unable to share any clinical / personal information that we have obtained during the consultation assessment without the appropriate consent.

We do however have an obligation and an entitlement to inform the employer of any known Health and Safety risks, and whether under the circumstances the employee is deemed as fit / unfit for their substantive / current role without consent; this is particularly important if the employee’s role requires them to engage in statutory health surveillance, and where there is a risk to others – this information will at least enable the employer to manage the situation to some extent.

Under these circumstances, we will also offer the most appropriate advice and guidance that will enable you to support your employee, and to manage the situation as effectively as possible without breaching the employee’s confidentiality.

It is always best to keep the lines of communication open between the employer and employee, and this can be achieved by:

the employer regularly monitoring and observing the working environment, and working practises to establish if and when an employee’s work has affected their health, or if and when their health presents a barrier in them being able to safely and effectively undertake their role
undertaking a stress management risk assessment with the employee to allow them the opportunity to express any areas of concern
implementing regular management 1-2-1 meetings with the employee – this encourages two way dialogue between the employer and the employee and increases the chances of the employee feeling able to comfortably share information
arranging a multi-disciplinary case conference meeting to include Occupational Health, HR, and the manager to discuss the situation should matters continue to be of concern – the employee should also be given the opportunity to attend, should they so wish.

No. Whilst we are able to offer advice, guidance and signposting regarding any health related matters, or queries, it is important to understand that Occupational Health is not an emergency, prescriptive, nor a diagnostic service. We will not be able to “see patients” in this capacity, and Occupational Health should not be viewed as a replacement or alternative provision for primary care services i.e., the employee’s GP.

If an employee is feeling unwell and they cannot secure an appointment with their GP, they are advised to contact 111 to seek further medical advice. The employee can also speak to a local pharmacist for more common health ailments, or if their issue is relating to any medication that they have been prescribed for example.

If the employee’s symptoms deteriorate, and they, or others are concerned about the severity of their symptoms, the employee should attend, or be taken to their nearest accident and emergency department, or alternatively, emergency services should be called.

Please note, if an employee is presenting with symptoms that may present a risk to others, i.e., vomiting and / or diarrhoea, or COVID related symptoms for example, they should not attend work until they have sought appropriate advise in respect of infection prevention and control.

If you are entitled to receive Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), your employer cannot pay you less than the set amount outlined by the Government.

To qualify for SSP, currently, you must earn on average no less than £123 per week (before tax), and you must have been off sick for at least 4 ‘qualifying days’ in a row – these are days when you are usually required to work. You must also inform your employer that you are sick within any deadline your employer has set, or within 7 days.

Your employer may pay you more than SSP set amount, and this is commonly known as ‘company’, ‘contractual’ or ‘occupational’ sick pay. SSP alone can be paid for up to 28 weeks; but the duration for which any additional payments from your employer will be made is at your employer’s discretion and will be in line with their own internal policies.

Occupational Health is not placed to offer you any advice, nor do we have any involvement in your sick pay arrangements / entitlements through your employer; therefore, should you have any queries relating to your pay and entitlements, you are advised to discuss this directly with your employer.

You can also access further information via https://www.acas.org.uk/checking-sick-pay/statutory-sick-pay-ssp.