As a manager would you refer this person to Occupational Health?

[user6728819]

I have a staff member who has currently been off sick for just over 12 months with cancer she is due to return in 2 weeks. She had a OH referral at 6 months off which gave a few ideas of what reasonable adjustments would be needed.
As the OH referral is 6 months old should another be done before a return?

Yes I would think so. I’d imagine a lot has changed in the time since it was done.

What does HR say? Wouldn’t you be asking them for company policy and guidance not MN? I would be to cover my own arse. I hope the employee is well now BTW, must have been an awful time for them and comping back to work will quite stressful for them.

@user6728819 ask HR.

Where I am, I would have ensured frequent ongoing OH appointments whilst off sick. I would have also had a meeting about a phased return and expectations from both sides before the return, ensuring it included the OH advice.

Is this a reverse? It seems like common sense to refer to occ health and to tell the individual it’s to make sure you’re putting everything you can in place to support them.

Surely the referral should already be in before their return in case they require a phased return or reasonable adjustments?

Really quite odd you're asking Mumsnet for advice on this. As a manager, you really should know, and even if you don't (which is odd, given it's really just common sense, not even a complex HR issue), you need to be seeking advice from your organisation's HR department/service.

Yes, OH referral for sure. If nothing else, to see if there are any reasonable adjustments required. At the very least a comprehensive return to work meeting before her return date to identify needs and her capacity for work.

This is exactly what HR would do, where I am.

Your HR/employee handbook/company policy should be able to point you in the right direction. Does your employer have any of these?

On the off chance, this is your own business and you're the employer, you might be as well to engage an HR consultant to get the basic HR processes in place.

I would expect the employees GP to input by completing a fit note setting out May be fit for work if …… and stating a phased return with these adjustments.

There is no harm in doing another OH referral but the GP has a role.

GPs have a slight role but they are not OH trained so you need OH to suggest the necessary adjustments appropriate to the job. This is not a GP job.

Whilst I agree OH give specialist advice, GPs are required to provide fit notes.

The whole design of a fit note is around GPs being able to set conditions under which a patient/employee is fit to return to work.

A phased return fit note is a very common GP condition.

I’m in HR. Given cancer is a disability, I’d be wanting an up to date OH report to make sure we knew what reasonable adjustments were needed. A lot can change in 6 months (and presumably there was no prospect of return at that point anyway). Are you actually going to be able to refer, have the appt, the meeting to discuss and get adjustments in place in 2 weeks? Why is this so last minute?

GP does do the fit note but unless they understand the job that the person does they can only say phased return/ better to work from home etc but the finer details of the phased return are up to OH. I was a GP... work often didn't agree with what I said. My colleague who was a GP and OH trained said far better to get OH involved.
I agree the GP doing phase return fit notes is common but without knowing the ins and outs of the job especially if it's an active job this is not an easy task.

I’m retired HR and as I said I agree OH is better placed to provide specific advice but we still need the fit note to give broad guidance.

Phased return has an element of sick leave including payment of SSP.

i have often found fit notes to be very useful.