Occ Heatlh visit at request of work - what does it entail

lemontart

Hi,

My work have asked that a occ health person visits me to do assesment since I have been off work 12 months (not paid by them for over 6 months and was on ssp of 85 for 6 months prior) I had a nasty fall and simply did not improve just got worse. I only got the provisional diagnosis last week and now waiting to see the specialist in this feild to confirm if I have Me, Fibromyalgia or both.

Can any one advise me what to expect and what format these appts take.

Many thanks

Torry_Quine

It's for them to see how your health is and are you improving to get back to work possibly with changes to your conditions. They are on your side and not the employer and in my experience can be very helpful.

I would think after this long off work they may be looking to terminate your contract if you show no sign of getting back to work soon.

Are you getting ESA?

lemontart

yes went straight onto esa support with no medical and now have blue badge - I am guessing that it is extremely unlikely that I will be able to return in the short term at least, as for long term get the impression the medics cannot give prognosis on that. Not worried about loosing job to be honest as was stressfull with 12 hour shifts plus 2 1/2 hrs travel each day - my heatlh is more important.

What exactly is likely to happen - is it question and answer ? physical tests?

Torry_Quine

lemontart wrote: »

yes went straight onto esa support with no medical and now have blue badge - I am guessing that it is extremely unlikely that I will be able to return in the short term at least, as for long term get the impression the medics cannot give prognosis on that. Not worried about loosing job to be honest as was stressfull with 12 hour shifts plus 2 1/2 hrs travel each day - my heatlh is more important.

What exactly is likely to happen - is it question and answer ? physical tests?

It's more question and answer in my experience. They may ask permission to contact your GP.
.

dori2o

Are you actually seeing the Occ Health Advisor?

I've had 8 OH assessments over the past 3 years and as has been mentioned it is basically a Q&A session. The OHA will ask about your condition, how it affects you, what cay you do, what can't you do, what meds do you take etc etc.

It is likely that your employer will have asked specific questions that the OHA will look to get answers to. One of those questions may well be related to your ability to return to some form of work in either the short/long term. They may also ask the OHA for their opinion on Reasonable Adjustments that the employer can make in order to facilitate a full/part time return to work.

The OHA will write down notes based on what you discuss. They will then confiorm what they intend to say in their report and ask you to confirm that you agree with what has been said. You are entitled to receive a copy of the assessment.

Unfortunately for me, being a Civil Servant my employer outsources their OH assessments to ATOS. They do not do face to face appointments except in the most extreme cases where the employee is unable to communicate by telephone so all of my recent assessments have been by way of telephone interview.

lemontart

got told they would come out to see me at home, it will be a private company not the company I work for directly.

elsien

lemontart wrote: »

got told they would come out to see me at home, it will be a private company not the company I work for directly.

Outsourcing to a private company is quite common, most companies don't have the resources or expertise to do it themselves. They're still independent though and are not there just to rubber stamp what the employer says.
Looking at it from the employers side, when I've referred to OH, I've had to do a list of things the job involves (eg manual handling, standing for long periods, stress) plus any other factors I want them to check. In my case that's generally around the shift pattern plus specific factors to my workplace. OH then discuss these with the person, and come up with a report detailing the adjustments they might need to return to work, whether a phased return is needed, what support from the organisation, reduction in hours, whatever. Sometimes they need to get more info, if theyre not sure about a specific condition. Then it's up to the company to decide whether or not they can manage the adjustments, or whether to look at other options such as offering alternatives or terninating employment on capacity.
I've not had direct dealings - as a manager I don't speak to them, it all goes through hr, but my staff have said that they've always been happy with the OH company and didnt feel put on the spot or under pressure.

lindens

My partner has mental health issues but holds down a full time job without many issues. He did have a health issue last year which meant a few months off work and his workplace asked for him to see occ health before returning. He saw a private consultant in the field at his own practice and my Oh said he was the most helpful person he had ever seen regarding his condition. So to echo theabove poster, they are on your side rather than the employer's.

System

lindens wrote: »

My partner has mental health issues but holds down a full time job without many issues. He did have a health issue last year which meant a few months off work and his workplace asked for him to see occ health before returning. He saw a private consultant in the field at his own practice and my Oh said he was the most helpful person he had ever seen regarding his condition. So to echo theabove poster, they are on your side rather than the employer's.

Thanks for this post

Am having some minor issues with some of my shifts (namely the 6am starts, as the medication I take makes me very drowsy and lack of sleep contributes to mania/depression) and was contemplating asking for an occupied health referral to see if they can possibly adjust my shift pattern, am just very scared of rocking the boat and losing my job but am feeling a bit less scared after reading your post

I know others have had shift patterns changed to child are but wasn't sure if mental health would be seen a valid reason in the same sense

Torry_Quine

xXMessedUpXx wrote: »

Thanks for this post

Am having some minor issues with some of my shifts (namely the 6am starts, as the medication I take makes me very drowsy and lack of sleep contributes to mania/depression) and was contemplating asking for an occupied health referral to see if they can possibly adjust my shift pattern, am just very scared of rocking the boat and losing my job but am feeling a bit less scared after reading your post

I know others have had shift patterns changed to child are but wasn't sure if mental health would be seen a valid reason in the same sense

Definitely think that mental health issues are a valid reason and occupational health could be helpful here.

Mrs_Ryan

If it helps MU my OH has had his shift patterns permanently changed due to his mental health so definitely it's a valid reason.