Experience of occupational health?

[MaryRH]

Hi all, I’d be interested to hear of anyone who has had similar experiences of occupational health as I’m trying to figure out how to navigate an appointment tomorrow.

I’ve been offered a job that not only do I really want, I strongly feel capable of doing. They run a health screening with an occupational health 3rd party before they issue the contract. I’ve never been asked to do this before and it was weird to be asked so many intrusive questions, but the employer won’t get all the ins and outs of my medical history, and we’re all protected in UK law (equalities act 2010) that the job offer cannot be retracted on grounds of disability.

I think they expected it to be a formality but of course the 3rd party have probably panicked seeing SCA on the form and won’t declare me fit for work until I have an appointment with an expert. I have an appointment tomorrow by phone and I’m wondering how open to be. I’ll ready gave the employer a run down of the reasonable adjustments I’ll need when at interview. I do recognise that it’s for my protection to have systems formally in place, but I have no wish to mention things that may or may not be related to SCA that I manage fine personally without opening cans of worms. I’d also feel differently about this if I were already employed! But I’m keen to get this done, had it been a routine health check I’d have started work already!

Thanks all

[wobblybee]

😕 Tomorrow.. You may well have been given useful advice about this by your local Citizens Advice Bureau. It’s possible this could be given over the phone, but generally speaking an appointment is made.

[MaryRH in reply to wobblybee]

Thanks Wobblybee. Yes tomorrow... I’ve been taken by surprise by this and otherwise would have done more homework, contacting CAB if necessary. having looked briefly into the legalities I’m not so concerned that they’ll try to retract the job offer, it’s more that I don’t want to have to make an issue of aspects of SCA if I choose not to. With regard to the 1st questionnaire I had to fill in, some advice I read and thought was sound: answer each direct question concisely so you don’t unwittingly give away more information than you need to/want to.

[majajefferies]

I agree, only answer questions with as brief an answer as you possibly can and then keep quiet. One technique (I always remember from sales training) is that silence is very uncomfortable for everyone. So people continue talking if the other person stays quiet. Don’t do that, brief answers and then super quiet. They will then have to ask the next question.

I would also prepare and have written down in front of me answers to any intrusive questions you don’t wish to answer, something along the lines of:

- please let me think about this for a second

- I am not sure, I will think/look into it and get back to you on that one

- I am not certain, I’ll have to ask my clinician and let you have the exact answer...

Also, at the beginning you could stipulate that as the illness is rare, fluctuating and changes that might happen over a very long period of time are highly individual and can’t be predicted, therefore you might not have the knowledge to answer all the questions immediately, would it be ok to do the interview in two parts, so that you can consult your medical experts and provide correct and exact answers to anything you are unsure of in the second conversation or over the email.

Record the interview on your tablet, so that you can go back to it rather than trying to scribble things down whilst trying to concentrate on what you are saying next...

And most of all, keep in mind that this is not a job interview, they are there to make sure you get what you need to do your job as efficiently as you can. So at the end when they get to if there is anything you’d like to ask prepare your own questions, along the lines of what will they do to make sure you have access, facilities, rest, breaks, food, will the environment be sensory appropriate for concentration (my husband really suffers with background noise, bright lights, small computer screens...). I have no idea what you do and what you think you might need, but this is the time to ask for any “reasonable adjustments “ you forsee requiring.

Good luck!

You’ve got the job already and this is just HR requirements to tick all the PC boxes...

Use it to your advantage.

Best of luck in your new job! How exciting!!!

[MaryRH in reply to majajefferies]

Thank you so much for such a comprehensive reply! I’m going to do as you suggest, prepare some answers and questions, and record it. Thanks again! X