When to refer an employee for an occupational health assessment

There are a huge variety of reasons that an employee might be referred for an occupational health assessment, from injury in or outside of the workplace, to chronic health conditions or mental health episodes.

This page offers some guidance on when to refer an employee to occupational health.

Most-common reasons for assessment:

• Recurrent short spells of absence
• Absence related to a mental health condition
• Absence related to a musculoskeletal condition
• Work performance being compromised because of ill health

Our management referrals will provide you with high-quality occupational health advice, coupled with clear next steps on how to best support your employee’s health.

Each referral takes around eight minutes to complete – via our HealthHub platform – and appointments are then booked automatically.

What happens after referral?

Once a member of staff has been referred to occupational health, our Smart Triage algorithm will assign your employee to the most-suitable clinician – and automatically book the next available appointment.

Once this has taken place, you will then be able to track the case through each stage to its completion via HealthHub.

Watch our HealthHub demo video for a step-by-step guide on how to make a quick-and-easy referral.

There are a few points you may wish to consider before you complete a referral form, including:

Is the employee in a safety critical role?

Safety critical tasks are usually defined within an organisation – and will involve activities which might place workers or others at significant risk of harm if an employee is somehow incapacitated.

Does the employee have difficulty communicating by phone?

This usually relates to a colleague having a significant speech or hearing impairment which means they are unable to converse via telephone. Most colleagues with other physical or mental health conditions would be able to hold a telephone conversation.

Has the employee had a serious mental health issue NOT including stress, anxiety or depression?

This might apply to a colleague who has recently experienced a psychotic episode, paranoia or experienced hallucinations. Or perhaps one who has an addiction to drugs, gambling, alcohol or something else – and this is the reason for your referral.

Login to your case management system here.