Referral for fitness process

For students with prolonged or severe physical or mental impairment, about whom there is a legitimate management doubt about fitness to train or study, or who are requesting significant resources for adjustments on medical grounds, it is appropriate for University management to request a formal OH assessment from the University OH service. Any OH referral by management will be in accordance with the University policies in relation to Fitness to Practise, Fitness to Study, student absence management and compliant with data protection and equality legislation.

Referral Appointment process

• Appointments are sent out either by LJMU email address or by post.
• The letter you receive from us will ask for confirmation of attendance.
• OH Appointment take priority over clinical placements.
• If you would like to bring someone with you this is ok to do so.

N.B. The OH Physician attends for one day per week and therefore attendance must be confirmed to avoid wastage of appointment slots.

You can confirm your attendance either by telephone, 0151 231 3319 in which you can leave a message or by e-mail OHAdmin@ljmu.ac.uk at least seven days prior to your appointment.

Reports to management

Following the consultation the doctor will send a report to the referring manager. The content of a report will depend on the reason for the referral, the specific questions that have been asked and any necessary specific recommendations. Medical details are not usually disclosed unless this is deemed necessary when managing the individual in their work and when the individual has given their informed consent for disclosure.

In line with the General Medical Council guidance prior to the report being issued, the individual will be offered the opportunity to view a draft copy of the management report. Consent will be obtained from the individual by the OH practitioner and that consent can be withdrawn at any stage of the process.

If the individual feels that the report contains incorrect factual information this should be highlighted to the OH practitioner. If the individual feels that the OH practitioner’s opinion is incorrect they may withdraw consent to the report being issued, in which case the OH practitioner will inform the referrer that consent has been withdrawn.

You have a specified time in which to review a report and make any comments back to the Occupational Health Unit. This time period is two working days if you receive the report by hand in the clinic or by email. If you receive the report by post then the deadline is five calendar days from the date of the report being posted.

In the absence of any comments being received by the specified deadline, the report will be submitted to the referring manager. If there is a problem, or you have not received the report as requested, then you must contact the Occupational Health Unit before the deadline.

Confidentiality

All reports and records are stored securely within the department in line with GDPR.

OH records are maintained to the same high standard of confidentiality as hospital or GP medical records, in accordance with the Data Protection Act (DPA) 1998 and GDPR 2018. 

An individual’s OH record will not be disclosed to anyone else outside OH without the individual’s informed consent. Please refer to the Confidentiality Statement.