Making a management referral to Occupational Health
The way managers submit referrals to Occupational Health changed in 2022 to a new occupational health system that will allow referrals to be submitted electronically directly in the system. The system is called OPAS G2 and you will be able to login into the system to submit a referral or by opening the Microsoft Edge browser and going to NHSGGC Favourites then Admin then OPAS G2 Occ Health System.
The management referral form has been simplified to make it easier to submit a referral, you will also be able to view reports and track the progress of a referral via your managers dashboard giving you complete visibility throughout the whole referral process. A simple guide to submitting a referral using the new system is available.
Appointments will be carried out by telephone or using the Attend Anywhere video consultation service and face to face if required.
Using the OPAS G2 system
Do not submit the referral until you have fully completed all required sections. The referral cannot be amended again once submitted unless unlocked by the occupational health team at initial triage Please ensure to add any additional questions you wish answered. These can be added by clicking on the ‘Add Additional Questions’ link. each question should be added as a new entry. Please do not add these all into the one box.
Please note there are two mandatory questions, and these are defaulted to Yes, do not change these.
Manager and employee details can be updated if required e.g. to update address or phone number by clicking on the ‘Update’ button. Please ensure all details are correct and update if required.
If you have not received a login or are unable to login by the end of March, please contact our admin team at occhealth@ggc.scot.nhs.uk who will set up a login for you.
Employees now require to give consent via G2 before a report is released, this can take up to 5 days before you receive a report after a consultation has taken place.
Please note we continue to work to the criteria below for referrals.
Any responses from our service including the occupational health advice report will be sent by email and information can then be accessed via the managers dashboard.
If we have requested additional information, please respond and then click ‘Resubmit to OH’ in the top right hand corner to resend back into the system for further triage. The more relevant information you can provide the easier this process is, please avoid submitting referrals with only one sentence as these cannot be fully triaged.
Printing & Saving a Referral
To print or save a copy of a referral as a PDF – click on the ‘Print Referral’ icon on the top right hand screen of the employee record. Either print as required or change the print option to ‘save as a pdf’
You can also print just the report itself by clicking on the completed referral to Open then click on Communications under additional Information then click on ‘new email, letter or text’ then select ‘NHSGGC Management Referral Response Report’ then click on ‘Download’ save or print report.
Please note referrals will only appear on your dashboard for 12 months following an appointment, reports should be printed/saved and kept in personnel files or similar for future reference.
We will continue to offer appointments via telephone or Attend Anywhere although face to face assessments are also offered where appropriate, priority is given to the most essential and appropriate referrals.
If you require any help, please contact the Department on 0141 201 0600.
Criteria for Referrals
General Criteria for Referrals
- Urgent referrals for cases such as terminal illness or other serious illness.
- Consideration of ill health retirement or redeployment. Please ensure that you have discussed this with the employee and HR prior to referral. Ill health retirement is only applicable if the employee has been superannuated for a minimum of 2 years, they are permanently unfit for work, all options for reasonable adjustments have been considered, and they have exhausted all treatment options and are under their normal pension age.
- Long term absences – 29 days or more for advice on likely return to work and rehabilitation. It is important to note that not all long term absences require referral to Occupational Health at 29 days for example routine surgery where an expected recovery of 6+ weeks has been identified (please also see work related stress guidance and access to counselling service information).
- In some (but not all) cases of frequent, short-term sickness absence where there are patterns of absence or there is an underlying health condition adversely affecting health or work is adversely affecting health.
- significant underlying health issues impacting on workplace health
- significant mental health issues e.g. severe anxiety, depression.
- To seek advice and support for employees who are on Stage 3 of the Attendance Policy
If your referral does not fall into the general criteria please see further guidance
Return to Work/Phased Returns
If the case is in relation to an imminent return to work then you as line manager should explore the details of this with your member of staff in the first instance. If there is any concern regarding potential residual symptoms that may impact on their ability to deliver their normal role you may wish to consider whether modified duties may be feasible E.g. a temporary adjustment or restriction duties that the employee would find difficult.
A phased return may also enable a more successful transition back to work. The new NHS Scotland wide policy enables a 4-week phased return on full pay not requiring the use of accrued leave. It is also useful to look at breaking up working weeks to reduce the impact of fatigue on return to work e.g. working non-consecutive days and gradually phasing the staff members hours back up to their contracted hours.
In some cases, a longer phased return may be beneficial in supporting a return to work and consideration could also be given to utilising any accrued annual leave to further extend a period of reduced hours following the initial 4-week period. Any phased return should be discussed with the employee prior to their return to work and should take into account any modification required to duties.
Work related Stress
If an employee reports work related stress, the expectation is that the Manager should meet with them to identify the cause of the work-related stress and explore the potential options for addressing or resolving the stressors locally.
If the stressors are as a result of relationship difficulties in the workplace, Mediation may be explored as an option via HR. A referral to Occupational Health is only indicated, if a health condition is declared or the work-related stress is exacerbating a pre-existing health condition.
If an OHS referral is required, it is important that the manager notes any interventions that have been attempted to date and includes a copy of the stress risk assessment. Managers should refer to the Stress in the Workplace guidance.
Access to Occupational Health Physiotherapy and Counselling Services
If the employee only requires physiotherapy or counselling and there are no other issues impacting on their health & wellbeing in the workplace, then a management referral is not required.
Employees can self-refer to arrange a counselling appointment on 0141 201 0600.
Employees can self refer to physiotherapy if required.
A number of services are available to support staff in response to Covid -19 including occupational health counselling and national resources via the Wellbeing Hub for NHS Scotland.
Skin problems
If an employee is reporting a skin problem which may be caused by or made worse by work (including skin problems affecting the hands) please refer via the usual Skin Health Surveillance process. A management referral should not be submitted for staff requiring to be referred as part of the skin health surveillance process and the questionnaire should be emailed directly to our service at occupational.health@ggc.scot.nhs.uk.
For urgent advice regarding a skin problem please direct the employee to contact Occupational Health by phoning 0141 201 0594 or email occupational.health@ggc.scot.nhs.uk.
If following review of the above guidance you require further information, advice or wish to discuss the suitability of a referral to the Occupational Health Service please email occupational.health@ggc.scot.nhs.uk.
Leaflets
If you have an appointment already arranged via Attend Anywhere (Near Me) software, then you can access the virtual waiting area.
We suggest using the link a few minutes before your appointment time.
Please note that you must use Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome or Apple Safari internet browser.
Links
The Workplace Adjustment Passport to support to support employees with a disability, health condition or diversity in the workplace to have, and continue to have, a great experience at work has been launched. With the help of the Passport, we can bring about progress in a collaborative and supportive manner.