Hi Catherine,
My understanding was that a time stipulation under the contract was agreed for the transfer; during this phase the employees were consulted as you’ve described. I was under the impression that until this had been finalised the new contract could not commence therefore this is my interpretation of the legal stance.
Regards
Jill
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Catherine Tye
Sent: 07 December 2015 19:54
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] advice re external contracts
Dear Tracy & Jill,
Jill - I do not understand your reference to the 'legal' side of things here, can you explain further what you mean pls?
In my opinion, the transfer of records cannot occur anyway until a signed contract/ SLA is in place (getting this is often a challenge in itself!) It is often the new providers responsibility to request transfer of records to a named clinical person. Often the new provider advises the customer on what they need to notify their employees of to meet the FOM standards as below. As per the earlier email individual consent is not required. The organisations that I've been involved with have usually informed their staff through team meetings, their intranet, payslip etc of a change of occupational health provider and who (within a set period of time) to contact to discuss further if they have any questions. This is viewed as a business to business transfer of information. There is no reason why this informing of employees cannot be completed by the employer prior to the new contract starting e.g. during the usual notice period. The meeting of data protection legislation including health records, and who has what responsibility and who is responsible for costs of transfer etc should be explicitly stated in the contract terms then everything is clear at the start and end of a contract.
In an ideal world a new provider would have the records right at the start. However, I cannot think of any reason why not having them would delay commencing a service although from a practical perspective if there are activities to be completed such as vaccination where there are clear timelines to be met then this needs to be planned for accordingly prior to the commencement of service and appropriate information obtained from the previous provider to provide for continuity of service. Alternatively a slight overlap may be required.
Kind Regards,
Catherine
********************************
Please remove this footer before replying.
OCC-HEALTH ARCHIVES:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/occ-health.html
CONFERENCES AND STUDY DAYS:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/filearea.cgi?LMGT1=OCC-HEALTH
**********************************************************************
Heddlu Gwent. Mae'r wybodaeth yn yr ohebiaeth hon ar gyfer yr unigolyn
neu'r sefydliad y'i cyfeiriwyd ato. Os derbyniwch hwn mewn
camgymeriad,dywedwch wrthym a'i ddifa. Gall datgelu neu ddefnyddio
gwybodaeth o'r fath fod yn weithred anaddas, ac yn groes i
ddeddfwriaeth neu gyfrinachedd.
Gwent Police. The information contained in this correspondence is
intended only for the named person or organisation to whom it is
addressed. If you have received it in error please notify us and
destroy it. Unauthorised disclosure or use of such information may be
inappropriate, in breach of legislation or confidentiality.
*********************************************************************
********************************
Please remove this footer before replying.
OCC-HEALTH ARCHIVES:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/occ-health.html
CONFERENCES AND STUDY DAYS:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/filearea.cgi?LMGT1=OCC-HEALTH
|