Occupational Health (OH) is a specialist branch of medicine that focuses on the impact of work on staff health, and ensures that employees are physically and emotionally fit for their roles. OH specialists can advise on work-related illnesses and accidents, conduct assessments for new and existing employees, monitor employee health, and assist in managing short and long-term absences.
We use GSTT Occupational Health Services (OHS).
Line Managers and Leads can access OH for:
- pre-employment health assessments
- screening in the initial stages of ill health and developing solutions to keep staff with health issues at work
- providing independent and professional diagnosis, prognosis and advice on staff unable to work due to long-term or short-term intermittent health problems
Referring to occupational health
Referrals are submitted electronically to GSTT OHS using Cohort.
If you don’t have an account yet:
- Email ohmedsecs@gstt.nhs.uk to request an account be set-up for you
- The first time you log-in to the Cohort system you’ll be asked to re-set your password
- Log in to your Cohort account here: https://gst.cohort.hosting/cohort10
- Click ‘ADD NEW REFERRAL’ on the top of the dashboard home page to make a new referral.
- A referral form will then open and ask you to provide the details of the employee you are referring. You must fill in the fields marked with an * but the more additional detail you can fill in, the better!
- At Step 3 you can upload any relevant documents (though this is not mandatory), for example:
- A risk assessment already undertaken with the staff member (e.g. for COVID-19 or pregnancy)
- Sickness absence records or fit notes
- A job description
- Confirm that you have discussed the referral with the employee and that they have consented to being referred to the OHS and click ‘SUBMIT’.
- Click ‘PRINT’ in the bottom right corner of the page to print a copy of the referral form and email a copy to the employee.
Once submitted, you can see a list of referrals you’ve made on your Cohort dashboard (see Checking referral progress below).
If you have any questions about making a referral to OHS you can email ohmedsecs@gstt.nhs.uk
Checking referral progress
You’ll get an email from Cohort if there are any updates to a referral you’ve sent (e.g. if an appointment is made, a comment is left, a report is published). You can log in to Cohort and view the update.
- Log in to your Cohort account here: https://gst.cohort.hosting/cohort10
- The dashboard will be the first page to open, showing a list of employees you have referred to OHS.
- If an appointment has been arranged, the calendar icon will appear next to the person’s name. Hover over the calendar icon to see the appointment date and time. 📅
- The speech bubble next to the person’s name will be red if a comment has been sent that you need to view (e.g. if OHS need more information to complete the report). Click the person’s name to open the referral details, the click ‘COMMENTS’ at the bottom of the page to see the comments.
- Under ‘Status’ it will say ‘Response issued’ once a report has been provided. Click the person’s name to see details of the report.
You can type a response and click ‘ADD’ to send it to OH, or acknowledge the comment (if no response is required) by clicking on the ‘ACKNOWLEDGE’ button. The speech bubble icon will turn back once you’ve acknowledged the comment.
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