Unhappy about medical report request

[PotatoTomatoBurrito]

After some time off with mental health difficulties my boss is requesting a medical assessment to determine how fit I am to work. One of the questions listed is "How does it affect her life outside of work". AIBU to find that a deeply personal question and one I don't really want my GP answering? Due to both the nature of my illness (PTSD following rape) and the effects I have disclosed to the GP.

I'm unhappy with that one question not the whole report request. Sorry I have just seen how my title could be misleading

What don’t you want your GP to say? Can you have a chat with them?

I suppose if it’s the employer to assess how all consuming your illness is. Are you unable to work, but able to go about your non-work life normally? (I suspect no)

They don’t need to disclose any highly sensitive details

Also to say, so sorry to hear what you have been through.

The effects are it has massively damaged and probably destroyed my marriage. I've had a termination because I couldn't cope with a pregnancy and 100 other really personal things. I am a deeply private person and don't want even the dim possibility of any of this stuff being disclosed. And also what has how I'm coping outside work got to do with how I am in work! They can and have asked all the questions they like about that

I doubt a gp would divulge personal details, just the general impact on daily life.

To be honest the whole report feels like yet another intrusion into my life that isn't fair that I have to live through. I have been asked to consent to it but in a way that's been made clear saying "no" is not an option.

I'd talk to your gp, I had a similar situation and my GP was incredibly good at including only what I wanted and not over sharing.

Based on what you’ve said, I’d assume your GP would say there was a significant impact on your day to day life. This isn’t a case of you not being able to work but being fine outside of work!

Do you / your GP have a view on how long you will need to be off work and what support you’ll need when you return? Also, is your employer supporting you with occupational sick pay?

I looked at my medical report before it was sent to my workplace when I went through this some years ago. I'd already asked the GP to keep it vague (in my case the workplace had been instrumental in causing my breakdown). It was just factual.

@PotatoTomatoBurrito

After some time off with mental health difficulties my boss is requesting a medical assessment to determine how fit I am to work. One of the questions listed is "How does it affect her life outside of work". AIBU to find that a deeply personal question and one I don't really want my GP answering? Due to both the nature of my illness (PTSD following rape) and the effects I have disclosed to the GP.

It is to allow your employer to assess the likelihood of you suffering from a disability and therefore the extent of their duties towards you in terms of reasonable adjustments. It's really not to

I have been through similar in the past.

The doctor declined to answer the questions that were not relevant or appropriate for my employer to know, and explained as such.

I'm sorry you're going through this.

*pry

Does your work involve travelling to and from work, external travel for meetings etc, I wonder if they are trying to establish how to support you in travel and social situations?

It is to allow your employer to assess the likelihood of you suffering from a disability and therefore the extent of their duties towards you in terms of reasonable adjustments. It's really not to

So the question that should be asked is whether the OP is likely to be considered disabled under the Equality Act. Not 'please provide intrusive details that are of no relevance to me as her employer'.

This is really a task for an occupational health professional, not a GP. They're not trained in this stuff.

@FAQs

Does your work involve travelling to and from work, external travel for meetings etc, I wonder if they are trying to establish how to support you in travel and social situations?

In which case, that is the question that should be asked - 'what support would the OP need with travelling?' or whatever.

Medical reports are not a free rein to obtain whatever private information you fancy so you can form your own conclusions. You're asking for the medical professional's conclusions.

@Youngatheart00

Based on what you’ve said, I’d assume your GP would say there was a significant impact on your day to day life. This isn’t a case of you not being able to work but being fine outside of work!

Do you / your GP have a view on how long you will need to be off work and what support you’ll need when you return? Also, is your employer supporting you with occupational sick pay?

I'm back in work today after 8 weeks off. I just wanted it to be the end of it not have the trauma digged up fresh and to feel on edge until I've seen the letter

@FAQs

Does your work involve travelling to and from work, external travel for meetings etc, I wonder if they are trying to establish how to support you in travel and social situations?

Nope. WFH full time and always have

I’m a GP. Previous PP is right that this is really an occ health job but employers these days are constantly cheekily asking us to do them on the cheap. You can insist on a referral to occ health for the report (if they don’t have an occ health dept they should commission a private occ health dr). You can also refuse consent or ask to see the report before it is sent to employers (you should have been asked this already). If you do go ahead with a GP report you can ask GP to amend any answers you aren’t happy with although it needs to be factual ie not a lie! But can be amended to not include reams of personal info which is none of their business. I agree it is a fairly unreasonable question to ask, to make appropriate adjustments they only really need to know how it affects you at work. Although sometimes useful for them to be reassured this isn’t specific to work as well. If you object, GP can answer saying although you have consented to the rest of the report you feel this question to be intrusive and unnecessary and have asked the GP not to answer.

Is this part of a return to work process or a capability one?

I.e. are you looking now to returning to your role in the near future (with or without reasonable adjustments) or is your employer seeking to establish whether you are likely to be fit to complete the role again, and if so, in what time frame?

I ask, because it makes a difference as to whether the question is reasonable to ask or not. It probably wouldn't be as part of an unadjusted return to work. It might be if you were seeking adjustments, depending on the nature of those. It might also be if you are stating you are still unfit to return after a significant length of time off and do not have a timeframe for return in mind yet, particularly if this is because of one or two specific factors.

In all cases, I would expect that kind of report to be done by Occupational Health, rather than by your own GP. If they are asking for direct permission to contact your GP, you don't have to give this, and I probably wouldn't. Occ Health is a specialist role for a reason.

However it gets done, the employer can ask the question, but that doesn't mean it gets an answer. You can obviously simply refuse to answer in the assessment and the Occ. Health assessor may not include it in any case if they don't feel its relevant to why the report is needed and what the purpose of the question is. There are times when what someone is doing out of work links into what happens in a return or dismissal; there are times when its completely irrelevant. It's unlikely to make a material 'negative' difference unless you're stating you can't do x, whilst openly doing something out of work where you do just that in the same or a very similar way, but can be a sign of an employer trying to make sure they're taking a 'whole-person' work-life balance view of an employee before making decisions.

Whyever they want the report, its naturally going to feel invasive, and most people do get very stressed and resistant to it, but the purpose of them is to try to give the best possible outcome for both parties, and its worth co-operating with requests to see Occ. Therapy initially. You will be shown any report before it is sent to your employer and you will have a window to raise queries and, ultimately, the absolute right to refuse for it to be disclosed to them if you aren't happy with it.

@user18467425798532

It is to allow your employer to assess the likelihood of you suffering from a disability and therefore the extent of their duties towards you in terms of reasonable adjustments. It's really not to

So the question that should be asked is whether the OP is likely to be considered disabled under the Equality Act. Not 'please provide intrusive details that are of no relevance to me as her employer'.

This is really a task for an occupational health professional, not a GP. They're not trained in this stuff.

It is the duty of the employer to assess whether or not an employee may be disabled, obviously with the back up of medical information. The GP can comment as to the extent of the impact outside of work without disclosing personal info and yes it may well be that occ health will be the next step. But otherwise it is a very standard question as part of a request for a medical report and there is no need to read into it anything nefarious. It would have been a standard HR letter. If you don't want the GP to answer you can of course make that clear but really the aim isn't to pry or screw you over, it simply to assess the position under the equality act. We wouldn't ask a GP to make a judgment on whether or not the employee is disabled under the Act as it is a factual and legal question, not a medical one (not directly anyway).

@ginnybag

Is this part of a return to work process or a capability one?

I.e. are you looking now to returning to your role in the near future (with or without reasonable adjustments) or is your employer seeking to establish whether you are likely to be fit to complete the role again, and if so, in what time frame?

I ask, because it makes a difference as to whether the question is reasonable to ask or not. It probably wouldn't be as part of an unadjusted return to work. It might be if you were seeking adjustments, depending on the nature of those. It might also be if you are stating you are still unfit to return after a significant length of time off and do not have a timeframe for return in mind yet, particularly if this is because of one or two specific factors.

In all cases, I would expect that kind of report to be done by Occupational Health, rather than by your own GP. If they are asking for direct permission to contact your GP, you don't have to give this, and I probably wouldn't. Occ Health is a specialist role for a reason.

However it gets done, the employer can ask the question, but that doesn't mean it gets an answer. You can obviously simply refuse to answer in the assessment and the Occ. Health assessor may not include it in any case if they don't feel its relevant to why the report is needed and what the purpose of the question is. There are times when what someone is doing out of work links into what happens in a return or dismissal; there are times when its completely irrelevant. It's unlikely to make a material 'negative' difference unless you're stating you can't do x, whilst openly doing something out of work where you do just that in the same or a very similar way, but can be a sign of an employer trying to make sure they're taking a 'whole-person' work-life balance view of an employee before making decisions.

Whyever they want the report, its naturally going to feel invasive, and most people do get very stressed and resistant to it, but the purpose of them is to try to give the best possible outcome for both parties, and its worth co-operating with requests to see Occ. Therapy initially. You will be shown any report before it is sent to your employer and you will have a window to raise queries and, ultimately, the absolute right to refuse for it to be disclosed to them if you aren't happy with it.

I have had 8 weeks off and have returned to work today with normal duties/ hours.

I am fine with the disability question just not happy with the how are they coping in their personal life question.

Really all you need to do is make it clear (as it is your right anyway) that you want to review the report first and if you feel the information disclosed is too much then decline consent/ask for it to be redacted.

I think it’s perfectly normal sorry . You could say your too ill to work but be living life to the full outside work. I think it’s just to see if it’s genuine and not excuses.