Make an Occupational Health referral
A manager can refer an employee to Occupational Health (OHU) if there is a concern about their health, performance, or level of sickness absence. An assessment by an Occupational Health practitioner (doctor or nurse) can provide objective information that can assist management in addressing these issues.
What you will need to make a referral
To get the best advice from Occupational Health, you will need to include enough detail in your referral for them to make an assessment. This will help the clinician understand the nature of the employees work and advise whether any aspects might be affecting their health. They will also consider any changes which may help the employee to do their job.
You will need:
- the employees personal details (name, mobile number, employee number and date of birth)
- their department code
- the reasons for the referral
- the specific questions to be answered
- the individual’s job description and sickness absence history
- any personal risk assessments
To support you in making an effective referral, please refer to guidance provided by Optima:
Access MyOH portal to make a referral
To help expedite an Ill Health Retirement referral, please ask your employee to complete an IRMP Consent Form (MS Word, 110KB). This ensures the assessing clinician has the necessary consent to proceed with the case review.
Additionally, request that your employee completes a Factual Medical Evidence (FME) form (MS Word, 116KB) unless you are already including relevant medical evidence obtained from the employee as part of the referral.
Be sure to attach all completed documents to the initial referral submission.
Wellbeing Counselling
Managers will need to make a management referral through Optima in order to access any Wellbeing Counselling, as it is not possible to provide such support directly.
All referrals will be triaged by Optima staff who will be able to make a judgement about what support is most appropriate to help the employee, this may include Wellbeing Counselling, in addition managers will receive a report.