Our services

We can offer you guidance and advice following a confidential health assessment to enable you to consider putting in place workplace modifications and reasonable adjustments in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 for your new employee. The confidential health assessment is undertaken by one of our occupational health nurses either via an online or paper based health questionnaire. In circumstances where the employee’s health needs are more complex, then we can either arrange a face-to-face or a telephone consultation. Our occupational health nurses are supported by our on-site occupational health physicians to ensure that you receive clear guidance and advice.

We can offer guidance and advice to employers regarding an employee’s sickness absence and performance issues. Our specialist occupational health team will work with you and your organisation to provide impartial and professional advice to support your employee’s to return to work as quickly as possible, and to maintain their attendance at work.

We have a comprehensive referral documentation, including detailed guidance notes to help you through the referral process. We assess each referral to ensure that your employee is assessed and seen by the most appropriate health professional within the team.

We prefer that all our ‘in work’health assessments take place face-to-face in one of our occupational health locations in Nottingham, either at the Queen’s Medical Centre or at the City Hospital Campus. These face-to-face appointments generally last 45 minutes, but can be longer, depending on the complexity of the referral.

During the consultation we focus on early intervention strategies that you as an employer can take to help maintain your employee’s attendance at work. If your employee is off work due to sickness, then our aim is to offer practical advice that will assist your employee to return to work and to limit the possibility of any absence becoming a long-term issue.

We aim to work in partnership with both employers and employees. Our processes are transparent in accordance with both medical ethics and data protection regulations. This means that our report to you will be given with your employee’s informed and explicit consent. We recommend that the leaflet below is shared with your employee prior to a referral so that they have a full understanding of the referral.

If your organisation needs a little help in developing a sickness absence policy, then we can help you do this. We can also provide bespoke training for the managers in your organisation, which includes best practice in managing an employee’s sickness absence and how occupational health can support you to do this.

Please note we are not taking on any additional work at present. 
If you looking to make enquires for the later end of 2024, please contact city.occhealth@nuh.nhs.uk specifying what work is required. 

 

We refer to these types of health assessments as’ health surveillance’ as these are often an ongoing requirement under health and safety legislation, such as:

• ionising radiation
• lead
• asbestos
• chemicals
• isocyanates
• dusts
• noise
• vibration
• biological agents

Health surveillance is never an alternative to the proper control of exposure. It is not the same as health screening or health promotion.

Health surveillance will alert you and your employees to early signs of potential health problems caused by the work they are doing. Your workplace risk assessment should be used to identify whether health surveillance is required for your employees. Health surveillance is also necessary to enable detection of illness and to identify the need for any corrective measures, for example personal protective equipment or a change in working practices.

You have a legal duty to ensure your employees are under medical surveillance by a doctor appointed by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), if they work with specific hazards and undertake certain work activities, covered by the relevant regulations listed below:

• Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017
• Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002
• Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012
• Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (as amended)
• Work in Compressed Air Regulations 1996

Our Occupational Health Consultants are appointed Doctors by the HSE and are qualified to carry out statutory medical examinations not only for ionising radiation, but also for asbestos, lead  and for ‘off shore’ workers under the Oil & Gas UK (OGUK).

Currently we are not able to provide medical surveillance for work in compressed air.

The purpose of statutory medical surveillance is for the appointed doctor to monitor your employees for early signs of potential health problems caused by the work they are doing and provide them with advice on whether further exposure to the particular hazard is appropriate.

Our appointed doctor will also make you aware of any emerging health issues so you can review your risk assessment and ensure risks to your employees’ health are properly controlled.

It is known that ionising radiation is potentially harmful but like all hazardous agents, having adequate control measures in place can guard against development of unwanted health effects. The Ionising Radiation Regulations require that all workers exposed to work related to ionising radiation designated as classified workers and undergo health surveillance. This must be done each year and under the authority of an appointed doctor.

Our Occupational Health Consultants are appointed doctors by the HSE who are qualified to carry out statutory medical examinations not only for ionising radiation.

For further information on ionising radiation please visit the hse website.

Working with lead can put an employee’s health at risk, causing diseases including headaches, stomach pains and anaemia. Other serious symptoms include kidney damage, nerve and brain damage. Health surveillance for exposure to lead is a statutory medical surveillance and is undertaken by an appointed doctor. The medical surveillance includes blood tests for lead levels. These can be carried out at your place of work if you have a number of employees who require medical surveillance.

Our Occupational Health Consultants are appointed doctors by the HSE who are qualified to carry out statutory medical examinations for lead.

For further information on lead in the workplace please visit the hse website.

Under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, workers doing licensed work must have medical examinations by an appointed doctor. Since April 2015 all workers/self-employed doing notifiable non licensed work with asbestos must also be under health surveillance by a Doctor.

Our Occupational Health Consultants are appointed doctors by the HSE who are qualified to carry out statutory medical examinations for asbestos.

For more information on asbestos please visit the hse website.

Health surveillance is a legal requirement  identified in the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health regulations 2002 (COSHH) if your employee’s exposure is above a specific level.

Some work involves exposure to a substance that can cause occupational asthma. Typical substances are isocyanates (e.g. two-pack spray paints), flour dust, grain dust, wood dust, rosin cored solder fume, glues and resins. Occupations such as bakeries, food processors, beauty services, healthcare services, painters, preparers, welders and woodworkers, are all associated with occupational asthma.

Health surveillance helps prevent occupational asthma developing by detecting the early signs. We can advise on an appropriate health surveillance programme for your organisation. This is likely to include regular testing involving health questionnaires and lung function tests.

For more advice on COSHH visit the hse website.

For specific advice on isocyantes visit the hse website.

Exposure to high levels of noise at work or through hobbies and leisure will cause irreparable damage to hearing over time. Therefore, high noise exposures are likely to cause deafness at an earlier age than would be expected naturally. We will advise you on the appropriate audiometry programme appropriate for your place of work. An ongoing hearing test (audiometry) programme will assess any hearing defects which may have been caused by exposure to noise at work.

For more information on noise in the workplace please visit the hse website.

Hand-held tools and machines producing  very high levels of vibration can result in permanent numbness of fingers, muscle weakness, and in some cases bouts of white finger. A health surveillance programme will identify anyone exposed or about to be exposed, to hand arm vibration who may be at particular risk, and to identify any vibration related disease at an early stage. It will also help you prevent the disease progressing and eventual disability. Health surveillance will also enable you to check the effectiveness of your vibration control measures in the workplace.

There are different levels of health surveillance (called Tiers). You can carry out the basic level of health surveillance, Tier 1 yourself. The remaining levels of health surveillance (Tiers 1-4) must be carried out by occupational health provider.

We can advise you on a suitable health surveillance programme for your employees and  set up the programme for you. We can also provide your staff with the necessary training and supervision, if you are going to carry out basic level of health surveillance yourself. We can of course provide qualified and  experienced staff to carry out the high level of health surveillance.

For further information on hand arm vibration at work visit the hse website.

If you work within an NHS GP or Dental Practice in Nottinghamshire you are entitled under the national contract to access;

• All staff working at an NHS  GP and dental practice can access our needlestick service including follow-up, HepB and PEP. No other immunisations are permitted.
• Staff on the performers list (GPs, and Dentists) can access the full OH service. You will be asked for your performers number when you contact the service

All other staff who work in an NHS GP practice or dental surgery have no free access to the service unless their practice has taken out a private contract with ourselves.  If you are interested in purchasing our services please send an enquiry to city.occhealth@nuh.nhs.uk.

Staff who wish to enter the performers list should contact us  at city.occhealth@nuh.nhs.uk (please note individuals will need to pay upfront before any work is undertaken).

Our Consultants are appointed doctors under the Oil & Gas UK (OGUK) for off shore workers  and the  Martime and Coastguard Agency for Seafarers and Crew members.  We undertake medical fitness examinations for certification of ENG1 or ML5.

Please allow sufficient time to obtain your certificate as there are strict requirements that need to be met to allow the issuing of a certificate. If these are not met on the day, individuals may find that they require further investigations and/or assessment with other health professionals and will need more than one visit to our department. 

For more information on Oil & Gas UK and the Martime and Coastguard Agency go to:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/maritime-and-coastguard-agency

Safety critical areas such as transport, energy generation and the construction industry may have policies in place to carry out drug or alcohol testing in certain circumstances. We work with a UK accredited ISO 17025 laboratory to conduct these tests. We are unable to provide drug or alcohol testing if your organisation does not have an appropriate drug and alcohol policy in place.

If your employees spend a significant amount of time sitting at a computer then they could experience fatigue, eye strain, upper limb problems or backache. The causes may not be obvious and are generally a combination of factors such as poor posture, poor lighting or badly designed office space. Our occupational health nurses can carry out an on-site visit and provide a comprehensive report that includes cost effective workplace recommendations.

Employers must offer workers a free health assessment before they become a night worker. Workers don’t have to accept. You should take into account that night work might increase an employee’s stress levels.

We offer a night worker’s assessment which is usually a questionnaire. The questionnaire is screened by our qualified nurses. Your employee will be offered a follow-up examination by one of our nurses if you are unsure whether the worker is fit for night work. We recommend that a repeat assessment is offered regularly.

If we advise that your employee has a health problem that is related to night work, then the Working Time Regulation advise that where possible, you should offer suitable other work.

For more information go to:

https://www.gov.uk/night-working-hours/health-assessments

We offer medical assessments for Group 1 Drivers, Group 2 Drivers and Lift Truck drivers.

In line with DVLA requirements, the HSE suggests employers screen potential transport operators for fitness before employment and at 5 yearly intervals from the age of 45. The HSE also recommends that you organise an assessment after an absence of more than one month or after a short absence if it is likely that the illness has affected the workers fitness to operate workplace transport.

Our nurses and occupational health consultants work together to carry out these assessments and so to minimise disruption to your organisation, we recommend that these take place in one of our locations in Nottingham.

Employers need to be able to demonstrate that they have an effective employee immunisation programme in place. We can offer advice on the recommended vaccines for your employees depending on their work environment. We are experts in delivering vaccinations and immunisations to care workers in hospitals, nursing homes, medical laboratories and other health and social care settings. We can offer the full range of vaccines recommended for healthcare workers by the Department of Health. Our vaccination programmes include hepatitis B, hepatitis A, tuberculosis, chicken pox, measles, mumps and rubella, anthrax, diphtheria, tetanus and polio, typhoid.

We will keep a record of employee’s vaccines to provide reassurance for you should you be inspected by Health and Safety Executive or the Care Quality Commission.

Workers in health and social care settings who give injections as part of their work, or who may come into contact with discarded syringes and needles, are at risk of injury. This could potentially lead to a blood borne infection, such as hepatitis B, HIV and hepatitis C. They should therefore have support in place from an occupational health service that will carry out the necessary tests and follow up care based on national guidance. Although this type of incident is rare, it can be very traumatic and we will offer care and support for your employee on an ongoing basis.

To reduce lost time from work we can provide your employees with a yearly seasonal flu vaccination. We can deliver the vaccinations at your place of work, or at one of our locations in Nottingham. Our prices are competitive and to make sure we can deliver the vaccines to best suit the needs or your company, we advise you to contact us during the summer months to discuss your requirements. 

Counselling

We have a team of experienced and fully qualified in-house counsellors based in our service. Our counsellors can provide face-to-face confidential person centered counselling at either of our locations in Nottingham.

Health and well-being

We can support you to create a positive and healthy working environment and our experienced nurses will help your employees to make healthy lifestyle choices. Our programmes aim to:

 

Ensure staff ‘know their numbers’ - blood pressure readings, cholesterol and blood sugar level checks. We provide immediate feedback and straightforward advice to your employees on ways to improve their health.

• Improve mental wellbeing
• Change behaviour – such as smoking, alcohol and substance misuse
• Increase physical activity
• Promote healthy eating

We can offer health programmes and events bespoke to your company and advise you on the type of activities that are best suited to the needs of your workforce.

We are very sorry but we are no longer offering these services. 

Please contact St John's Ambulance for First Aid Courses near you: First Aid Courses