Debbie Simmons

Occupational Health Technician

Abermed Limited

Wallace House

Falcon Court

Preston Farm Industrial Estate

Stockton

TS18 3TX

Tel:     01642 566344

Email: [log in to unmask]

web:   www.abermed.com

From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kinselley, Gillian - Oxfordshire Customer Services
Sent: 11 October 2013 12:42
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] OH technicians

I have used Access to Work support for a client who has dyslexia and dyspraxia and the support we received was brilliant.

This lady has worked for the same company for 8 years under a few different managers who always complained about her poor performance at work but have not done much about it. When I assessed her in June, I offered her support and advised her to do an assessment for dyslexia. She is not an easy person to manage because she always denies that there is any issue on her part and she always blames the managers for bullying her.

Well, first I used the Lexxic company which  specialises in assessment and support for dyslexia and dyspraxia and the company paid £750 for the assessment. The outcome was that this lady suffers from severe dyslexia and mild dyspraxia. This lady was very angry and upset about it and refused to release any information to her manager from the report because she saw it as it was telling her that she is 'stupid'.

Also, there advice on how to support her at work was not very good as it did not give us advice on how to support her directly in her post - administrator for a Medical Centre for homeless and refugees where communication either direct or over the phone was quite a big problem for this client plus other problems with the computer. I was not present during this assessment as the client requested to do it without the OH being present at this stage, so we respected her wish.

Anyway, to support this lady and to give her a second opinion, I contacted the Access to Work for support and they have been brilliant. Within 2 weeks we had an appointment, I was present during the assessment so I could highlight our concerns (the client agreed to it) and the assessor came to the place where she works to have a better understanding of her workplace   (Lexxic assessor did it in her office).

We received the report and brilliant recommendations directly related to her job role and how to support this lady at work within too weeks. This happened in August this year and since than every time I have any query about dyslexia, dyspraxia etc. I recommend everybody Access to Work and so far I have not had any bad feedback about them.

In my opinion they are great and they deliver an outstanding support to people in distress and need.

Regards

Alicja