Sickness Absence Referrals
Our Consultant Led Management Referral service allows you to manage employees more effectively and take a more constructive approach in helping them back to work. The report to you will give you the confidence to manage sick employees more decisively. It will endeavour to give you a clear prognosis of their condition and ensure that there is a co-ordinated strategy in place for their treatment and return to work.
Each case is managed at all stages by a Consultant Occupational Health Physician, which ensures that we are able to provide you with the best advice.
Health Management will agree trigger points for the referral with you, some examples of which are given below, however, if an HR member or line manager is unsure if it is appropriate to refer an employee, they may utilise the Telephone Support Service to discuss the case in more detail.
Below are some examples of trigger points:
- Long term absence, where absence is likely to exceed 28 days
- Repeated short term absences
- Serious accident or illness at work including those reportable under RIDDOR
- Poor performance in the workplace
- Substance misuse
- Employer Liability claims
- Occupational illness which may have been caused by work
- Behavioural difficulties
- Fitness to attend a disciplinary interview.
Wherever possible we will look to use independent medical examinations ("IMAs") through our network of Occupational Health Physicians, based across the UK, and only request GP/Specialist reports when there is an essential requirement in providing advice to the HR team and the employee. This allows us to reduce turnaround times significantly, improve the quality and independence of reports into our clinical team and provide greater clarity in our recommendations.
We focus on providing you with clear advice on how to manage the employee. We understand that there is no value in providing a report to you that is late or inconclusive. In almost all cases you will be able to take more decisive and, inevitably, a different course of action to that followed before referring the employee to us.
You will receive a report from the Chief Medical Officer giving unambiguous advice on how to manage the employee. We will also provide you with telephone support in relation to the particular case and identify whether the employee is receiving appropriate medical treatment. If not, our physicians will liaise with the GP of the employee to try to ensure optimum care.
We are also able to offer sickness absence referral services through both our On-Site Nurse Led provision or Clinically Led Case Management services.
