Company wanting medical records.

[DartsAgain]

DP's company has issued a letter to all staff asking for them to complete medical questionnaires for them to hold on record. And it's simply to hold what would be very detailed answers to questions on record.

Quoting his letter "We are currently upgrading our payroll computer system and would be grateful if you could complete and return the enclosed personal details form and medical questionnair by xx date. This is to ensure that the information we hold on file is correct and up to date."

The medical questionnaire DP showed me even requests staff to sign to allow the company to speak to their doctor, and looks like a blanket request for them to go to your doctor at any time.

Are they actually allowed to hold medical information in this way, even for stuff unrelated to your job? To avoid drip feeding, DP was off sick for 6 weeks jan/feb 2010 with stress/depression (work related) but he's fine now. Should they still be holding details?

I do know that when I was in the civil service they could only speak to my doctor in relation to a specific issue, only with my permission, and could not hold records long term.

DP does not want them holding detailed medical info and wonders if this is against the Data Protection Act.

I have knowledge of some areas of the DPA but I'm not an employment law specialist. From a quick scan you might find the Employment Practices Code on the Information Comissioner's website of use - available here - and page 80 onwards is about employers collecting and holding employee medical information.

Is your DP under any obligation to fill out this form at all?

givemushypeasachance , thanks, I've read and printed some of the pages for DP. It does look like they've no clue, and would not be able to satisfy the conditions for holding such data.

catsareevil , the company has simply sent the form to all it's employees, with no information other than the simple letter I quoted earlier. Apart from mention of the upgrade to the system, there's no other mention of any reason for wanting the info, what benefit they hope to accrue, etc, as per the guidance pointed out by givemushypeasachance (mmm, love mushy pease)

My favourite are the minted mushy ones from Pie Minister!

The over-arching theme of the DPA is gather as little personal data as you can, limit access to only those who absolutely need it and destroy it once the original purpose no longer applies. I'm civil service too and did an occupational health check disclosure when I applied for the job but that was only seen by HR and as I recall it was destroyed after the recruitment process. Maybe some employers do need general medical data on their employees but even if they do, from your description they don't seem to be explaining why or what exactly they're going to do with it. What's medical data got to do with the payroll?

Before speaking to your doctor you need to sign a consent form granting them permission to do so, also this cannot be a "blanket" request, they need to be granted permission and you have a great deal of rights in this area.

The legislation concerned is the Access to Medical Reports Act (AMRA) 1988 and can a summary can be viewed at:

www.bma.org.uk/images/accesstomedicalreportsjune2009_tcm26-186891.pdf

I have a lot of experience of obligations under AMRA from a past role and the restrictions on employers are very strict and you have a great deal of control over the flow of information. Even when consent is given, it only lasts for a period of

Whilst not being a lawyer, I agree strongly with what mushypeas said in regards of the intent of the DPA and unless the person works in a high risk profession it is unlikely to be able to hold any medical information in such a blanket way.

Also as an employer, merely holding the information unnecessarily would be considered poor practice since it opens you up to potential minefield of discrimination risks.

In my view the form should not be returned, if the company query why it hasn't been returned, I would ask them to confirm how they will meet their obligations under the DPA and AMRA.

Hope this helps.....

I agree with the above post. i had problems with Management and also the unions asking for my data. firstly there have to be concerns re your health( i checked this with a solicitor) and the data can then only be given to OH as they are the onl ones that can interpret it. Who in payroll will know about it? I doubt that any doctor would be prepared to give away info like that ? Also your med records may havedetails of other people on them e.g condition inthe family and as these are 3rd parties and the employer has no right to know this .

if they are checking data, the letter should contain the data they have! not new information? or am I being thick? no I am not! I have had this in the NHS before. although not medical data, and I have just ignored, never any come back, as in every contract I have ever signed I crossed out the clause we have the right to make you do whatever the whatever the fuck we want with your contract and make you work where the fuck we want even though you where employed to do x, and the clause we can take any monies the trust believe you owe us because we can. never an issue on employment but they do try to trip you up with these check information things, ignore it an see where it goes.

for NHS people I was non whitley (gone not forgotten) but every employer after I went non whitley tried it on, first on contract, then on abstract checking details in an effort bollox my pay scale and duties.

I've only ever heard of this as part of a new role not during.

Okay, just got back to this and DP has told me he is not returning the form, but simply giving them the necessary information to enable payroll processing only, eg name, NI number, etc. I've printed the stuff in the link from givemushypeasachance and he's got it at work in case they ask about the form. I'd not heard about AMRA, but will look at that for him also.

Basically I don't think the company have a clue, really. Many of the senior staff are people promoted for loyalty, not necessarily expertise (company started pre-1900).

(Sorry, pressed post before finishing.)

Thanks to everyone posting info, it helps.

Good, glad he's decided not to do it.

I vaguely remember being asked to sign something like this for a previous employer, and it wasn't even anything for which your health/fitness was relevant - call centre job.

I got the impression it's really to try to put the wind up you about pulling sickies if you think that they would be able to cross reference your doctors visits with days off sick. I told them I wouldn't sign it and that was the end of it.

There is no reason, IMO, that your employer would need free reign over access to your medical records.