Can employer call doctor?

dee123 · 1 January 2019 at 9:05PM

Hi,

Just been informed of a situation where a friend at work is being investigated over a doctors letter.

Unsure of the whole situation at the moment but wanted to ask, if asked by an employer to provide a GP's letter for an ongoing condition, is the employer allowed to call the GP and verify the letter was written by them ? I'm not sure if it's discussing any medical records as they could just ask if a letter was issued by the GP or are they allowed to fax the letter to the GP to ask if it's authentic?

And before anyone says it's I'm genuinely not trying to pull anything here but just interested to know as it's a grey area.

Thanks

littleredhen · 1 January 2019 at 9:10PM

they can check the authenticity of the letter but should not release any medical information without permission

nicechap · 1 January 2019 at 9:15PM

dee123 wrote: »

Hi,

Just been informed of a situation where a friend at work is being investigated over a doctors letter.

Unsure of the whole situation at the moment but wanted to ask, if asked by an employer to provide a GP's letter for an ongoing condition, is the employer allowed to call the GP and verify the letter was written by them ? I'm not sure if it's discussing any medical records as they could just ask if a letter was issued by the GP or are they allowed to fax the letter to the GP to ask if it's authentic?

And before anyone says it's I'm genuinely not trying to pull anything here but just interested to know as it's a grey area.

Thanks

Simple answer is yes, as could anyone.

I suspect the question you really want the answer to is will the GP reply? That would depend on the circumstances of the situation and what they’re asked. If it’s an unknown party randomly phoning a GP practice, then unlikely (mistakes do happen). If the employer has the employee’s permission (can’t see why they’d object if nothing to hide) and it’s written on company letterhead and any GP fee is paid, probably.

74jax · 1 January 2019 at 9:16PM

I have called to check letters. I ask if they can confirm they sent a letter to myself with reference xyz, dated xx/xx.

Most are happy to confirm over the phone, some request an email.

Nicki · 1 January 2019 at 9:16PM

It’s not grey in the slightest!

If the employee has consented to provide a medical letter to the employer, then the employer is entitled to verify that the letter which they have been provided with has been written by the doctor and has not been altered in any way. There are no data protection or privacy issues in play here because the employee consented to provide the letter in the first instance.

TELLIT01 · 1 January 2019 at 9:23PM

74jax wrote: »

I have called to check letters. I ask if they can confirm they sent a letter to myself with reference xyz, dated xx/xx.

Most are happy to confirm over the phone, some request an email.

When I worked at DWP, even we would more often then not be asked to put the request in writing. The GP wouldn't even accept an email request in such situations. Some surgeries would confirm that a medical certificate had been issued on a specified date but that would be about the limit by phone. The only exception I can recall was when I was pretty certain that a med cert had been altered. I told the surgery what the cert had and they did confirm that it must have been altered. For more information we still needed to write to them.
Surgeries do vary in what they will answer on the phone so they may answer the employer's question.

Les79 · 1 January 2019 at 10:09PM

dee123 wrote: »

And before anyone says it's I'm genuinely not trying to pull anything here but just interested to know as it's a grey area.

Don't worry about that..

It is your friend who is being investigated and so nobody thinks you are trying to pull anything here.

It is either your friend trying to pull something, or your friend being innocent. Truth will out.

Dox · 1 January 2019 at 11:16PM

Nothing grey about an employee giving consent to the employer for them to check - and why wouldn't the employee give permission if the letter is genuine? The fact your friend is concerned about whether doing so is 'allowed' gives a strong clue that all might not be as it should, or why would they worry?