If you would like to make a self referral of Occupational Health you should email ohenquiries@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk with the following information:
- Full Name
- Date of Birth
- Contact Number
- Address
A Member of the occupational health team will then contact you to discuss your self referral further and inform you of the next steps.
A Management Referral should be made if a staff member has been off either short or long term sick leave and required Occupational Health imput to support the manager and employee.
Occupational Health use Cohort to manage all data. This system allows all NHS Lothian Managers to refer staff directly into the system and allow communication with the Occupational Health service via a manager’s dashboard.
All referring managers must be registered on the system and have a username and unique password. If any referring manager requires access to Cohort to refer staff members to Occupational Health, then please email OHenquiries@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk to request a username and password.
General Criteria for Referrals –
- Urgent referrals for cases such as terminal illness or other serious illness.
- Consideration of ill health retirement or redeployment. Please ensure that you have discussed this with the employee and HR prior to referral. Ill health retirement is only applicable if the employee has been superannuated for a minimum of 2 years, they are permanently unfit for work, all options for reasonable adjustments have been considered, and they have exhausted all treatment options and are under their normal pension age.
- Long term absences – 29 days or more for advice on likely return to work and rehabilitation. It is important to note that not all long term absences require referral to Occupational Health at 29 days for example routine surgery where an expected recovery of 6+ weeks has been identified.
- In some (but not all) cases of frequent, short-term sickness absence where there are patterns of absence or there is an underlying health condition adversely affecting health or work is adversely affecting health.
- significant underlying health issues impacting on workplace health
- significant mental health issues e.g. severe anxiety, depression.
- To seek advice and support for employees who are on Stage 3 of the Attendance Policy
- Long Covid referrals where absence has reached 8 weeks
If your referral does not fall into the above criteria please see the guidance
Following a Self or Management Referral being made the following will happen:
Appointments
An appointment date and time will be sent to you. Every effort should be made to attend on the specific date and time. If you are unable to attend to attend the appointment you should contact occupational health and if it is a management referral let your manager know.
What will happen and how long will it take?
A Member of the occupational health team will see staff who have been been referred and your first appointment could last up to 40 minutes. During this appointment the OH staff member will take a medical and occupational history from you and on some occasions may require to carry out a limited examination. A report from you GP, or a specialist may be required but the OH staff memeber will explain to you who they are communicating with and why. Before a report is requested your consent is required according the the Access to Medical Reports Act 1988.
Report
Following your appointment a report will be sent to either yourself, your manager and if agreed HR. The confidntially of clinical details given to the OH staff memeber during your appointment is respected i.e HR will not be told any personal details consernign your medical history, domestic life, etc. The OH staff member will report on your ability to workand any saftey implications of your ill health. the OH staff memeber will discuss and agree the report with you. you may ask to see a draft of your report if it is being sent to your manager/HR. If you wish to have a copy of your report this can be arranged, your employer will be informed that you have been provided a copy where appropriate, your rights under the Equality Act 2010 will be respected.
Review appointment
Following your initial referral appointment, the OH staff member may wish to review your progress and you will receive an appointment date and time. if you are unable to attend an appointment please contact the occupational health department and if a management referral your manager as soon as possible.
