Hi Donna
I think if in your clinical opinion you need medical information in order to inform your decision (and from what you have described I would want this as he is going back to a critical role) and he refuses consent then the response surely has to be that you are unable to provide fit to work advice. According the case law (Cox and Essex County Fire & Rescue [2013]) an employee has the right to refuse consent to a medical report – but if consent is withheld, an employer can only make a judgement based on the information available to it, so refusal of consent is not necessarily in the employee’s best interests. This is relevant to both unfair dismissal and disability discrimination. From what I understand about the forthcoming GDPR this stance remains unchanged and particularly in your case as the justification is related to safety critical work. The only thing that I have thought about (during my work on the GDPR) is that there will be a need to make sure the employee understands why we need consents for a report, to whom it will be disclosed and what it will contain e.g., supply copy of letter to the GP, - I'm not sure previously if this is always clearly communicated to employees and in my own practice will seek to make this more explicit.
Best regards
Karen
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Donna Price
Sent: 13 April 2018 06:56
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [OCC-HEALTH] Report if someone declines to consent to GP report
I’ve recently done a management referral for a scaffolder who fell backwards on to his back while working on loose rubble. He carried in working for a couple of hours then went to his go following week after the weekend. Had X-ray no boney injury. This was June last year and has been off since. He has got solicitor involved. I’ve asked for dr and go feedback to assess fitness for work but apparently he has refused consent. I am being asked when can they expect him back to work and scaffolding duties.
Have I missed something?
Thank you.
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
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