Occupational health is an independent medical service advising employers on how health affects work, and work affects health. Refer when someone is struggling, off sick long-term, returning, or needs adjustments. It is a clinical service staffed by doctors, nurses and sometimes physiotherapists who specialise in the link between health and work, and it covers physical and mental health alike.
When a referral is appropriate
Acas sets out the situations where occupational health helps you make a fair, informed decision. A referral is appropriate when an employee is:
- struggling at work with a physical or mental health condition that is affecting how they do their job;
- off sick long-term, or absent repeatedly, and you need to understand what is going on and when they might return;
- returning after sickness absence, where a phased return or temporary changes would help them settle back in;
- likely to need reasonable adjustments as a disabled employee, and you want advice on what would actually help; or
- in a role that raises a health-and-safety question, where a condition might affect their safety or that of others.
What occupational health does not do
This is the part most blog results skip, and it is what keeps a referral lawful and useful rather than a grievance risk. Occupational health advises; it does not treat, diagnose or decide. The assessment gives you recommendations on support and adjustments, but you remain the decision-maker on adjustments, capability and absence. You cannot simply impose a referral either: it needs the employee's informed consent, and they should see the referral questions before it goes in. Where a report is sought from their own GP or specialist, they have a right to see it first under the Access to Medical Reports Act 1988. Adjustments themselves stay your legal duty under section 20 of the Equality Act 2010; an occupational health referral is a common, defensible way to work out what is reasonable, not a substitute for the duty.
Why this matters for your decision
An occupational health report is evidence, not an instruction. If you disagree with a recommendation you can depart from it, but you should record why. Treating the report as advice you weigh, rather than a verdict you follow, is what makes your eventual decision on adjustments or absence defensible. A referral also is not a quick fix for a defunct scheme: the old free Fit for Work assessment service closed in 2018, so you arrange occupational health through your own provider or an external one.
Choosing a provider
Use a provider accredited to SEQOHS, the Safe, Effective, Quality Occupational Health Service standard run by the Faculty of Occupational Medicine. Accreditation confirms the service is independently audited and its clinicians are qualified in occupational health. It pairs well with understanding reasonable adjustments and arranging a workplace needs assessment.
Where the law comes from
Related
This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.