Referring a member of staff for occupational review
When referring a member of staff to Occupational Health, a referral form must be completed by the Line Manager, (or referring manager). It is important that you provide full contact and address details on the referral form to ensure that reports are forwarded to the appropriate managers. As much information as possible needs to be provided in order to facilitate a meaningful and useful consultation. If no information is provided, the consultation may be led by the employee and the manager is unlikely to receive the information they require to assist with their management of the employee.
Useful information would be considered as: -
Relevant background to the workplace or domestic situation.
Measures already taken by the manager should be identified. These may include commencement of an investigatory process, consideration or implementation of redeployment, or adjustments already made within the workplace.
It is important not to include any information that has not previously been discussed with the employee such as suspected alcohol or drug abuse. If you would like these issues to be discussed by us, you need to make the employee aware of this before they attend the consultation. Concerns not previously identified by the manager to the employee will not be raised at an Occupational Health consultation. The referral form and any attached documents supplied by the manager must be shown to the employer prior to the referral in order to ensure the employee is aware of the reasons for referral. Before referring a member of staff please discuss this with your HR Adviser as they will require sight of the referral paperwork before it is passed to the Occupational Health Unit.
Please remember that you can refer members of staff for advice even though they may not have been off sick. If you are unsure please call Aileen Stewart on extension 8069 to discuss whether referral is appropriate and what questions to ask in order to ensure the most useful feedback.
The Occupational Health Unit will endeavour to see referred employees within a week of receiving the referral. Reports will generally be typed on the day of the appointment and are sent to the referring managers within 2-3 days, depending on the reviewing Occupational Health Adviser's working pattern.
The Occupational Health Review Form and the accompanying guidelines can be found on the Human Resources website. You may also find the OH referral guidance on completing the form helpful.