Medical information

[candyangel]

Hi, I wanted to pick your collective brains, so I have not been to work since Sept 2019 due to severe back pain, was eventually diagnosed with RA in March last year just before lockdown, I stopped getting sick pay from my employer in April last year, they did not contact me until November last year to see what the situation was and to try and arrange and interview, I was told it would have to be done on the phone as I refused to go there, and I was told by the manager he was not allowed to come to my house, so I was waiting for a phone call which came a few weeks ago, I told him how the RA affects me, and he said he will be in contact towards the end of the month, last week I received a letter asking permission to access my medical records, is this standard practice? As I was not getting paid and hubby has been on furlough for a year, we have had to go on universal credit, so worried if I fill in the form it might affect it and worried if I don't fill it in it might affect it, has anyone had any experience like this before and can advise the best course of action? Thanks.

[Hopefulfuture]

You do not need to give access to anyone for your medical notes. These are strictly private. Tell them you will ask for a letter from gp or consultant explaining your health condition and how it affects you. Keep a copy for yourself and send employer one. Take care of yourself.

[Hidden in reply to Hopefulfuture]

This wouldn’t suffice for an employer - anyone can write a letter, and you’d be amazed at what some employees will try and get away with. I’m not talking about legitimately sick staff, but from experience there are those who can and do fake or exaggerate for various reasons. Although it’s worded as a request for access to medical records, it’s only actually giving consent for the employer to send a letter to an involved medical practitioner, specifically asking for relevant information to the reason an employee is off work. It’s legal and completely standard practice, and the employer will only be given relevant information specific to the reason for absence. A doctor can only respond to a request for information if they have the signed consent from the employee in question. You don’t have to consent, but if you don’t, then decisions about ongoing employment will be made on the basis of the information the employer has to hand instead.

[Mermaid11]

Is it for a referral to occupational health? I was asked this last year due to long term sick, I gave consent for occupational health to contact my gp or consultant and have access to my medical records as I felt i had nothing nothing hide. But they didn't actually contact them in the end.

I have recently asked my gp if he can write a letter to my company explaining what RA is and why I am off sick. My consultant told me last week, that the gp should support with this as that's what they are there for. I never knew this, I hate bothering him as I know they are busy.

[Hidden]

I’m a qualified HR officer and used to have responsibility for sickness absence at my last role: this is standard practice. Your employer will be asking for access to your medical records for occupational health purposes. The phrase is misleading, though, as what will actually happen is whoever provides occupational health support to your employer will write to your GP asking specifically and only about the condition you are currently off sick with, to establish the likelihood of you going back any time soon, and/or any potential reasonable adjustments that could be made to facilitate your return to work. They won’t have direct access to any information about you other than what the GP sends back if you consent to the contact. The signed consent has to be included with any request to enable the GP (or hospital consultant) to reply. By not giving consent, your employer will make a decision about your likelihood of returning to work, and potentially whether or not to terminate your contract, based on whatever information they already have available.

Giving consent in and of itself would have no bearing at all on your UC claim. However, if the information fed back by your GP or Consultant indicated that you’re fit to work in some capacity, but your current work capability assessment for UC says otherwise, that could cause difficulties. The bottom line from the benefits perspective is that, as long as you’ve been honest about your condition with both work and UC, there shouldn’t be a problem. Have you continued providing fit notes for the duration of your absence? Most absence policies require staff to continue providing them for the duration of any absence, even once you’ve run out of SSP, and to avoid issues, it’s actually really important employees abide by whatever reporting requirements an employer has.

This is something that many people get upset about, particularly when they feel they’ve given years of loyalty and service to an employer, but people need to understand that HR’s entire function is to facilitate business need. An employee off long term sick is costing the business money, and if there’s little likelihood of that person being fit to return to work within a reasonable timeframe, then HR’s role in that situation is to essentially get the employee off the books to both save money, and improve the absence figures. I realise it sounds harsh, and please believe that people in HR are not heartless or without empathy, because we’re not, but that is the reality. It’s not personal, that is our job. If you’ve been off for a year and there is little to no likelihood of returning - and that’s the main thing they want to establish by asking for your consent to obtain medical information - they will be looking to consider how to terminate your contract. If you don’t want to go back, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, and being terminated won’t change anything from a benefits perspective. Quitting would. If you do want to ultimately go back, and there’s a reasonable prospect of that happening, then my advice would be you do need to co-operate so that they are more likely to come to the same conclusion. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees they will, though.

Hope that helps.

[candyangel]

Thanks all for the replies, I have sent the form off, I have also written a letter explaining how I feel and how my condition affects me on a day-to-day basis, I have been with the company for 10 years, and just before I started having problems with my back, my position with the company was changed, and I was moved from a role I had been doing, and I loved for 6 years to a totally different role which I found difficult and made me very unhappy and stressed out, so many people have left since this manager (the one who changed my position) took over, and it became a very toxic environment, I have no idea how long I have had RA and I assume it was just lying dormant, and I believe all the stress of the role change brought out the massive flare up which eventually led to my diagnosis, and I worry if I do go back it could happen again! I am 45 and have worked solidly since I was 16 apart from 3 years when I lived abroad.