Just to fuel discussion:
What would happen if you made sure that Personnel asked all the questions
that you wanted to know the answer to ie diagnosis, prognosis, past
treatment options and their response to them, future treatment options and
compliance. If the client is willing to consent to this information being
provided to Personnel - fine.
If the client was given the option by Personnel for the letter to go from
them or OH, and they chose OH, this solves the problem. If they are happy
with Personnel sending and receiving the letter, so long as Personnel
include the letter in the referral so that you can give an occupational
health opinion on the medical report.
If they are asking the GP the same questions they are asking you - ie are
they fit for work, what is the likely length of their absence, is there
anything they are capable of doing at present, is there anything we can do
to assist them further etc. you are obviously going to need to write again.
It may be worth doing a quick cost-benefit analysis for them and calculating
the additional costs they are incurring and asking them on which case they
benefitted from this procedure "so that, as an OH professional, we can learn
with them how we can be of more help".
Best wishes
Amanda Dowson
-----Original Message-----
From: Anne Harriss [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 27 February 2004 16:36
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: GP/Consultant report requests
on 26/2/04 7:48 am, Ray Fagg at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Donna and all
> It may be worth pointing out that the GP is acting as the patient's
advocate
> and that any reports may be skewed. They are acting in the best interest
of
> their patient which is why we see reports declaring a patent fit to return
> to work when they clearly are not. Does the GP properly understand the job
> the individual does or are they relying on 6-7 minutes of the patient
> telling the GP what it is they do? What you are able to offer is
consistent
> and objective guidance. The benefit for HR and management is that they are
> receiving impartial rather than biased advice based on an understanding of
> the job and this returns control to the organisation rather than the
> individual acting through their GP. This may be a tad cynical but it
worked
> for me in a similar situation.
>
> The comparison between GP reports and OH reports is rather false since it
> assumes that all GP's report the same way. There is plenty of evidence
that
> GP's do not understand or like sickness absence.
>
> Hope this helps.
> Ray
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Clare Haddow" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2004 10:11 PM
> Subject: Re: GP/Consultant report requests
>
>
>> Hi Donna
>>
>> I understand where you are coming from.
>>
>> My suggestion would be to persevere with the explanations,
>> when I was faced with this problem I explained that as a
>> general rule of thumb, an OH professional would receive more
>> relevant info from the employee's GP than they would
>> normally give employers HR.
>>
>> I also explained that from a cost perspective the
>> organisation would be charged twice, once for the report for
>> HR and if considered necessary the GP report to OH. This
>> seems to have worked and I write off for medical reports now
>> at this particular company.
>>
>> Hope this is helpful.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Clare
>>
>> Clare Haddow Occupational Health Specialists
>>
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>I fully endorse the comments by Ray and Clare. An additional comment I
would
like to make is that not only is the GP unlikely to be fully aware of the
workplace issues they may not be given a fully accurate picture as it is
purely from their patient's perspective - particularly if the client wishes
to remain on sick leave, or conversely if they wish to return to work
despite not being fit to fulfill the requirements of their post with or
without suitable modifications as required by the DDA.
Anne
>
>
>
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