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sean  
#1 Posted : 05 November 2009 10:06:57(UTC)
Rank: Guest
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effective from the 12th of October the GMC have issued new guidelines concerning the confidentiaity of occupational health reports.
the organisation i work for have not updated their guidance on this matter, and i am finding it difficult to get anybody to take this issue seriously.
from 12-10-2009 any occupational doctor must ask the patient whether they are happy sending the report straight to the employer, or do they want to see a copy of the report, and have a chance to delete any information they feel is not relevant to their referral.
Has anybody else heard any news on this subject, and if so have their employers and occupational health providers updated their guidance on occupational health reports?
jay  
#2 Posted : 05 November 2009 12:13:01(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
jay

Sean,

Thanks for posting this.

It appears that the Occupational Health Service provders, i.e. Occpational Physicians etc. have been one group where the umintended consequences are having the greates impact, considering the feedback etc from the Faculty of Occupational Medicine (FOM) and the Society of Occupational Medicine(SOM). It has been recognised by both that it may be difficult for their members to review, amend and implement the changes by 12 October 2009.

There is useful information at:-

1) GMC:- Confidentiality: Supplementary guidance--disclosing information for insurance, employment and similar purposes
http://www.gmc-uk.org/st..._info_insurance_2009.pdf


2) FOM/SOM Joint statement to members (12 October 2009)
http://www.facoccmed.ac...._gmcconfidentiality2.pdf


3) GMC-Confidentiality (2009) :-sets out the principles of confidentiality and respect for patients' privacy that doctors are expected to understand and follow.
http://www.gmc-uk.org/st...dentiality_core_2009.pdf


4) GMC letter to FOM President (12 October 2009)
http://www.facoccmed.ac....ocs/m_gmc_confletter.pdf


5) FOM/SOM Letter to members (8 October 2009)
http://www.facoccmed.ac....m_gmcconfidentiality.pdf


sean  
#3 Posted : 05 November 2009 12:39:25(UTC)
Rank: Guest
Guest

Jay,

You are a superstar, many thanks for your help.

Sean
jay  
#4 Posted : 05 November 2009 16:05:05(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
jay

Sean,

As your post alterted me to the change, I had to get definitive information for myself as I am the contract "owner" for our company's outsourced occupational health service . Our service provider hasn't alerted us to the changes. I have alerted out HR about it.

Once I had found the definitive information, I shared it on the discussion forum.

Therefore, my thanks to you too for the initial posting.

Mr H&S  
#5 Posted : 07 November 2009 11:06:14(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
Mr H&S

Hi, Sean/Jay

When I first started with my orginisation i recommended they get new employees to complete a Occupationall health Questionairre to ensure they have no health problems.

Also there were questions regarding work at height, heart problems, back problems, medication recent operations etc, etc.

Could you or any one confirm if this type of questionnairre is require to be completed by law or is it just good practice.

Are they to prevent the orginisation from bring sued if something was to happen to the operative.

Any responce would be helpfull

JMC
sean  
#6 Posted : 09 November 2009 12:00:00(UTC)
Rank: Guest
Guest

JMC

this is not my area of expertise, however i feel the questionnaires you have got your employees to fill out is good practice, and not a legal obligation.

the only problem with the questionnaires is that they need constant updating and some employees might not want to share all their medical conditions with you.

Hopefully there is an expert on this forum who might be able to give you the definitive answer to your question.

Sean
blodwyn  
#7 Posted : 09 November 2009 14:28:02(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
blodwyn

Our occupational doctor told me the same a couple of weeks ago. He is also issuign a form to employees requesting if they want to see their reports or if they are happy for the precis to be sent straight to HR for action. He told us that the GMC did not in any way canvas their members and that it is a universally unpopular decision.

Equally the amount of time it will take for reprots to get to HR and safety will increase dramatically which will have an impact on employers doing anything to assist the employee - I wonder how the HSE will see this........

Finally he syas it is important that OH doctors make it clear that they will not be changing their diagnosis when they do show employees their reports- it is only if they have the material facts in their report wrong.

Now this really is red tape gone mad and I can see the claims rolling in when we have not acted swiftly enough and Mrs Miggins (!!) who has been arguing the toss with the works doctor for months on end as he will not dianose her with what she wants it to be and then accuses us of not improving her work station and her RSI - sorry WRULD has got worse.

Go on - just make our job that little bit harder and more confrontational - JOY!!!!
blodwyn  
#8 Posted : 09 November 2009 14:29:33(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
blodwyn

wheres the spell checker gone???? and have you seen the new screen that tells you you cant post in a certian number of seconds - crikey what gizmos this site has now!!! Techophobe Clare
jay  
#9 Posted : 09 November 2009 14:47:20(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
jay

Sean,

The typical pre-employment medical questionnaire is not an explicit legal requirement, although it may serve as a first screen for health surveillance that is required by various health and safety regulations.

The purpose of a pre-employment medical questionnaire is to establish a baseline and deal with any issues prior to commencing employment. Due to the Disability Discrimination legislation, one cannot discriminate

One needs to recognise Disability Discrimination legislation, specifically the Code of Practice on Employment and Occupation. However, courts have made it clear that Health and Safety legislation takes precedence over the protection by Disability discrimination legislation, provided the employer has made/considered all reasonable adjustments

In our case, we do not even see the filled questionnaire as it contains medical information. The prospective employee sends it directly to our occupational health service provider who assesses the questionnaire and then advises us either that the candidate has no health issues , or if there are concerns, there is an actual medical (with consent!)and the occupational health physician advises on fitness for work--but bear in mid that it is ultimately the employer that takes the decision.

Yes, the information could serve as a means of ascertaining the baseline health of an employee, so that false claims could be contested and the information provided used.


sean  
#10 Posted : 09 November 2009 14:54:08(UTC)
Rank: Guest
Guest

Blodwyn/Clare,

Sorry to say i completely disagree with you, Occupational Doctors do not make a diagnosis, they answer questions that the employer asks on the referral, i.e will this person be covered by the DDA, or will the patient be better off working in a different environment, etc...

The only delay will occur if the patient wants to see their own CONFIDENTIAL report before it is sent to the employer, which is a good thing as many occupational health professionals seem to think that adding details of the patients family etc.. is ok to do with out written permission.

i honestly think it is a step forward and probably should have been in place many years ago, unless of course you feel that the GMC are wrong?

Sean
sean  
#11 Posted : 09 November 2009 14:56:43(UTC)
Rank: Guest
Guest

Thanks again Jay.
blodwyn  
#12 Posted : 09 November 2009 15:11:20(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
blodwyn

Sean, good to have a discussion - love a blatant disagreement.

But that is not what happens in our place at all. Our Occupational Health doctor is an occupational health physician and makes diagnosis - if he is in doubt he would get a second opinion - he is not so arrogant not to. But as a DOCTOR diagnosis of conditions is what we pay him to do - he also gets where appropriate permission from the employee to see their medical records to improve his diagnosis.

Sure he responds to our requests but in most cases he is making a diagnosis -after all he is medically trained in Occ Health medicine - not a GP who is doing a bit of 'works doctoring' . That is what we pay him to do. As an ex-HSE EMA (of over 30 years experience) he is pretty hot on what he is able and unable to do. I think from your posting you have had a very poor experience with OH professionals as I have never in 20 years seen such details on employees records.

He and many of his OH collegues are very upset and it is they who have flagged up this issue and communicated it to their customers.

If you want detailsls of a top drawer OH provider - then email me

I and many OH docs feel the GMC is wrong - and in particular for not putting the issue to vote amongst their memebers
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