In response to the recent changes to General Medical Council (GMC) guidelines on confidentiality, we need to make a few adjustments to the way we facilitate HR referrals.

As a matter of course, we'd suggest every employer discusses any referrals to an independent clinician with an employee beforehand, particularly covering the purpose of the referral and any potential outcomes, ensuring the employee consents to being seen by an independent clinician.

It's standard practice to seek consent to conduct an occupational health assessment and our clinicians are well versed at outlining the scope, implications and limits on the consent being provided.

The GMC guidelines state "as a general rule, seek a patient's express consent before disclosing identifiable information" and in the instances of providing information to a patients' "insurer or employer", be satisfied the patient understands the reason for the assessment, obtain written consent to disclose information and "offer to show your patient, or give them a copy of, any report written about them for employment purposes before it is sent".

The GMC guidelines mean that at the end of a consultation, the assessing clinician will confirm with the employee, either verbally or by dictation, the content of the report being compiled.  It's probably best practice to dictate the report in the presence of the employee and that's the approach we're advocating.

If an employee refuses consent for a report to be released at any time, the specialist clinicians would again guide them through the scope of the consent and also the possible consequences of refusal.  Any refusals to provide consent will be notified to the referring manager straight away.

We're also making it easier to submit your referrals and we've set up a dedicated email address (hrreferrals@blossomshealthcare.co.uk) to make sure you get the quickest response possible when you call on our help.