Making an occupational health referral: advice for managers

It’s important to provide sufficient information for the occupational health adviser to carry out a meaningful occupational health (OH) assessment.

The occupational health adviser will not have any background to the referral or the employee’s role, except for the information which you and the employee provide. The more occupational health know before they start a consultation, the more time they can spend exploring possible ways forward with the employee.

Getting the most from a referral

Innovate Healthcare have developed this comprehensive video guide on making effective occupational health referrals. 

This YouTube video will help you navigating the referral process with confidence and make sure your team members get the support they need. 

It explains: 

• what you can expect from Innovate Healthcare
• their approach to occupational health
• how they will work with you as managers to support your team and provide recommendations where required

What to include in the referral

Helpful details to add on the assessment include:

• any health conditions or treatment that the employee is undergoing, including details of any information received from an employee’s GP or specialist physician
• environmental issues that may be affecting the employee, including the physical environment and any employee relations issues
• an up-to-date role profile or accurate description of the employee’s role and main duties
• any parts of the employee’s role and any duties that they are having difficulties with, for example is there any heavy lifting or driving involved in the role, does a medical condition or medication affect the employee’s ability to carry out their job safely or effectively, is it a shift role and what hours and days do they undertake?
• history of the employee’s absence, including dates of absence, reasons for absence, and any periods where they have returned to work
• any performance issues, including duration of issues, how issues have been handled, details of any improvements or dips in performance
• what has been done to support the employee to date, including any adjustments made or rejected
• any relevant risk assessments made (such as display screen equipment assessment, stress risk assessment, pregnancy risk assessment)
• additional modifications or adjustments that you think may help, whether short term or permanent – for example changes to performance expectations or discounting sickness absence from absence triggers
• any complaints raised by the employee and actions taken in response