Occupational Health Reviews (Recalls)

Within occupational health it may be necessary for employees to be seen by the occupational health clinician after any initial appointment, this will be determined by the assessment process whether this individual has undergone health surveillance or attended following a management referral.

Health Surveillance Reviews

Where an individual has undergone a medical with one of our occupational health technicians including audiometry, HAVS, skin or respiratory health surveillance, or undergone a safety critical medical, forklift truck medical or similar: assessment may need to be repeated where the results are outside of normal expected results for the individuals, age, height and sex.

This ensures that the require information is obtained to establish if they are fit for a role where they may be at potential risk of harm.

The most common reasons for a review (or recall) will be:

• To repeat audiometry (where an individual was identified as having Cat 3, or Cat 4 hearing loss or where there is indication of noise induced hearing loss (NIHL)).

• To repeat spirometry where the individual’s lung function is outside of normal parameters.

• To check an individual's blood pressure where this was above 140/90 on initial assessment.

• To check an individual's vision (often following referral back to the optician for a review of their current ocular prescription, or if an individual had forgotten to bring their prescription lenses with them to the initial assessment).

Where the required criteria are met upon retesting then this will enable the individual to return to the standard recall frequency as determined by the employer’s workplace risk assessment and method statement (RAMS) or escalation to an Occupational Health Advisor (OHA - nurse) or Occupational Health Physician (OHP – doctor), in line with the relevant health and safety legislation/guidance.

 

Management Referral Reviews

Where an individual has been referred by the line manager or human resources to occupational health for a clinical opinion from one of our nursing or medical staff (OHA or OHP), then a follow up review will only be recommended where this is clinically deemed necessary at the time of assessment.

Typically, a review will be required to:

• Establish whether prescribed medication, talking therapies, or physiotherapy has been of benefit and what progress is being made from a functional perspective.

• Review results from primary or secondary care provision including surgical and medical procedures and/or assessments i.e. x-rays, blood tests, consultant appointments, elective or emergency surgery provided by the NHS or privately.

Most individuals will require 2- 3 occupational health appointments with reviews generally at 4 – 6-week intervals, where timescales for review are significantly shorter or longer than this the clinician will generally provide rationale for this within the report.

It is important to note however any recommendation for review by occupational health is only advice, and an employer may deem that further review is no longer necessary.

Employers can of course, take alternative action as required, however it is advised to make such decisions involving the employee to ensure that expectations from all parties are clear.

Where cases are escalated to another clinician this may be required because anticipated progress/recovery is not being made or where the issue are deemed to require further expertise i.e. from an occupational health physician (OHP) doctor, mental health nurse, or clinical psychologist.

In some situations, an employer or employee may express a preference to continue to be seen by a specific clinician rather than be referred to someone new, to ensure the safety and wellbeing of both the client and the clinician, Insight Workplace Health's decision on which clinician is allocated in these cases will be guided by our own internal risk assessments and clinical need.

Should you require any further guidance about reviews and recalls don’t hesitate to contact us here or call us on 01792 321010