Medical History/Privacy

Wow... i've worked in the UK for 15 years and have never had to answer any medical questionnaire like that!! 

This is a pensions/insurance company also, so maybe it is common in that industry.

Can the NHS share information with your employer? We haven't had to sign anything that releases medical records, but could they still ask to see your medical records at a later date? I understand them wanting to see them if you file for benefits, but do you think they can just randomly check them? I have always assumed medical records were private since thats what has always been drilled into my head here in the states. Sometimes I forget that I am moving to a different country and this is something that could be perfectly legal. Thanks.

Does anyone know if the Boroughs do this or is it only some private companies?

Paula, I just had to fill out a four page "Health Declaration Form" for my borough. Ironically enough there is a little logo that says "Positive About Disabled People"... hmm, but if you have health conditions, we don't want you working for us. 

It was pretty basic, tick the boxes yes or no and explain if necessary. Very much like a form you'd fill out if you were seeing a new doctor in the states. There was nothing on any page that indicates that this form will remain confidential. I emailed it back to my recruiter who sent it on to the borough, but I imagine I could have sent it directly to the council since it really isn't the recruitment agency's business... it is the employer's choice to hire you or not.

The final page was "Access To Medical Records Act 1988" which briefly explained you rights under this 17 year old act... hmm, time to update don't you think?

Sunnyflower this may answer your questions- The applicant can consent to your medical records being sent to their employers or refuse. The applicant can also consent with the desire to see the report before it is sent. If the applicant refuse to give consent,  the employer's Occupational Health Unit will make their recommendations based on the facts submited on the form.

If anyone is interested in seeing the form, pm me I have my borough's copy on PDF.

Paula, I just had to fill out a four page "Health Declaration Form" for my borough. Ironically enough there is a little logo that says "Positive About Disabled People"... hmm, but if you have health conditions, we don't want you working for us.

It was pretty basic, tick the boxes yes or no and explain if necessary. Very much like a form you'd fill out if you were seeing a new doctor in the states. There was nothing on any page that indicates that this form will remain confidential. I emailed it back to my recruiter who sent it on to the borough, but I imagine I could have sent it directly to the council since it really isn't the recruitment agency's business... it is the employer's choice to hire you or not.

The final page was "Access To Medical Records Act 1988" which briefly explained you rights under this 17 year old act... hmm, time to update don't you think?

Sunnyflower this may answer your questions- The applicant can consent to your medical records being sent to their employers or refuse. The applicant can also consent with the desire to see the report before it is sent. If the applicant refuse to give consent, the employer's Occupational Health Unit will make their recommendations based on the facts submited on the form.

If anyone is interested in seeing the form, pm me I have my borough's copy on PDF.

Yeah, submitted mine a couple of weeks ago. Piece after cake after reading what sweetpeach went thorough. Since I haven't heard back from them, I assume they feel I'm healthy enough to work there. Maybe it just varies employer-to-employer as to what standard of fitness they hold their staff to?

Well, I recently got a letter from my job saying that my medical history and my references are OK, so I don't have to worry about that anymore.

But...

I have an appointment for an ultrasound and afterwards to see a gynecologist in about a month regarding fertility and other problems. When I got the gyn appointment, I didn't know when the ultrasound would be, other than that it would be sometime before the gyn appointment, which is at 3:30 PM, so I figured I might as well take the whole day off.

So I asked my boss what I needed to do, as I'd never taken a day off to see a doctor before, and she said I need to give her a copy of  the appointent letter from the hospital when I get it.  I now have an appointment letter for an ultrasound and another for a gyn.  I'm kind of annoyed that my boss has to see these, and I presume she has to pass them on to HR, all for one day off from work.  (I get 29 holidays, plus all the bank holidays off. What's the difference if I take one sick day?) I just started this job.  Everyone knows I recently married; I have a coworker who recently announced her pregnancy and brought in her ultrasound photo of the baby when she announced it.  I really don't need anyone getting suspicions about why I am having an ultrasound--for the record, I am not pregnant, and at the moment, not even trying to get pregnant. But it is nobody's business at work anyway.

If i were you, i'd have just booked an annual leave day/holiday.... that way everything stays private. 

Oh, well. What's done is done. I didn't want to start off my job hiding things from my boss. I've never been at a job where I was bothered about telling someone I had a doctor's appointment.

Also,  my team has to go to training around that time, and I was able to ensure that the training wasn't on that date because I have a dr. appointment. The person doing the training had wanted it on the date of the appointment.  If I had asked for a holiday, I might have been told I couldn't go because I have to go to training.

I sympathize. My office is a bit like yours (and I work for a private health insurance company). I had to leave work early back in July because I was worried I was having a miscarriage. I had only been at the company for 3 weeks! I did miscarry but only missed 1-1/2 days (b/c there was a weekend for me to recover and it was early days in the pregnancy).

Our office has 'first aiders' who you go to when you have a problem. Fortunately I knew one well as she'd been training me from my first day there. She told me it would be kept confidential but she forgot that when I returned to work I'd have to fill out a form explaining why I'd missed work. They want to know the cause and if you went to hospital/doctor. And this form is handed to your immediate manager - someone I didn't know at all because I'd only been dealing with the training team so far.

The end result was me being forced to have a private meeting with him requesting total confidentialty as these forms are generally just left on his desk for anyone to see!

It was very awkward and very personal and not something you want to deal with so early in your employment.

Wow! So if you need to take some time off for a doctor's appointment, you have to tell why you are going?? Is this pretty common for most employers? Thanks

not where I work, although we do get paid if it's an ob/gyn type appt(don't know why) so I'd probably say.  But then I'm in my forties, have three kids and am really past caring if anyone knows where I'm going and for what.    

But truthfully, people get scans for all sorts of things.  I doubt they'd give it much thought. 

Wow! So if you need to take some time off for a doctor's appointment, you have to tell why you are going?? Is this pretty common for most employers? Thanks

I have to say "no" to that! Hopefully if its not an emergency and you can make an appointmet early in the morning or late in the afternoon and just say you are going on an "appointment". I am sorry to hear what Balmerhon went through because she couldn't "plan" on when she needed to see a doctor.

I remember being off sick one time, for one day and at the end of the month I had to fill out an absence form and I had to state the cause of being out....there were categories like headache, cold/flu, back problems, menstrual cramps, upset stomach, stress etc. I was like what the ?.  I refused on principle to "type in" what my condition was even though it was minor. My manager knew I was out with a really bad cold and wondered why I was even back on the 2nd day of it. Sorry, HR over here has way too much info about people and their conditions.  

Wow! So if you need to take some time off for a doctor's appointment, you have to tell why you are going?? Is this pretty common for most employers? Thanks

No... this is very uncommon.

I should clarify that I don't have to fill these forms out for doc appts where I work. I have to fill them out for actual absenses due to illness. In fairness, my manager recognized the awkwardness of the situation and clearly wished it hadn't happened. I probably could have taken the form directly to HR and dealt with it there or even pushed them to see if I could refuse to disclose the reason for my absense.

But what's done is done. 

I have to say "no" to that! Hopefully if its not an emergency and you can make an appointmet early in the morning or late in the afternoon and just say you are going on an "appointment".

I normally make an appointment first thing in the morning (my surgery is right next door to the building I live in) and then go to work from there. I've never been questioned when I said I had a doctor's appointment and would be in a bit late.

However, this appointment is at a hospital that is not that close, and when I made it, I was given a 3:30 appointment for the gyn, and told that my scan would be scheduled "sometime earlier that day". So I had to take the full day off.

Sunnyflower, my boss didn't say I had to say why I was going, but that I had to show her the appointment letter. The letters say I am going for an ultrasound and that I am going to a gynecologist. (For whoever isn't aware, gynecologists in the UK don't do regular check-ups/pap smears. Those get done by your GP.  You only go to a gyn if you have a problem.)