The form arrives from HR with a date and a list of questions about lifting, nights, and whether they are fit to return. Nobody has explained what an occupational health medical actually is, only that they have to attend one. The question they bring is whether I am here to get them back to work or to protect them from it. The honest answer is neither. I am here to answer the brief.
This is a fitness question for a specific job, not a full MOT. The employer usually sets the questions. The examination answers those questions. You get a report written to that brief, not a gossiping letter home. It does not replace your own GP for ordinary illness. A 30 minute GP appointment is £100.
Chest pain, signs of a stroke, severe breathlessness, heavy bleeding, a severe allergic reaction or symptoms of sepsis need 999 or A&E immediately. A clinic appointment is the wrong door for those.
What is an occupational health medical for?
The short version is this. Can this person, with this body and this mind, do this role, with or without adjustments, today. That is a narrower question than “are you well”. A well person can be unfit for nights. An unwell person can be fit for desk work. Mixing those up is how reports become either cruel or useless.
Driver medicals, return to work after a long absence, a role that needs a baseline before night shifts, a form for a new contract: they look similar in the inbox and they are not the same document. Bring the exact form. If the employer has written a letter of questions, bring that too. We cannot invent a certificate the brief did not ask for.
Ask Clinique Alpa if your employer has requested a medical. If they have not, and you simply want a GP appointment about being tired at work, that is a different visit, and we should book it as one.
What does the examination actually cover?
What I look at in clinic is the job, first. Job title is not enough. What does a shift actually contain. Weight, height of lifts, how often. Driving. Public safety. Lone working. Screens. Heat. Night pattern. Whether the role can be adjusted or whether it is binary: fit to hold this licence, or not.
Then you. The history that sits behind the form. The back that seizes on the third lift. The breath that goes on a flight of stairs. The mood that has not recovered since the absence began. The tablets, including the pharmacy ones. Sleep. Alcohol. What happened last time they tried to go back. I am not doing a full health MOT. I am doing enough medicine to answer the questions honestly.
Examination follows the brief. Blood pressure, pulse, urine if the form requires it, hearing or vision if the role does, the joints the job uses, the chest if breathlessness is in the story, a mental state if the absence was psychological. Driver medicals have their own published lists. We follow those rather than improvising a kinder version.
The piece most people miss is where the report goes, and what it contains. The employer is entitled to an opinion on fitness and adjustments. They are not entitled to your entire medical life as gossip. I write to the questions. Diagnosis goes in where it is required to make the opinion intelligible, and not as a dump. If you do not want a particular detail shared, say so. There are limits: I cannot hide a finding that makes you unsafe for the role I am being asked about. I will tell you that in the room, before anything is sent.
Bloods, if the brief actually needs them, are one all-in price per test, which includes the blood draw. A referral, if the finding needs a specialist rather than a fitness sentence, is £50 where it is clinically appropriate after assessment. None of that is a way of delaying a yes or no the examination already supports.
I cannot promise you will pass. I cannot promise you will be found unfit if that is what you came in hoping for. I cannot promise the employer will accept adjustments I suggest. You get a report written to the brief. You do not get a guaranteed outcome for the job.
When should I come in sooner?
A booked medical can sit in the diary. Some of what turns up on these forms should not wait for the HR date.
- Chest pain, sudden breathlessness, signs of a stroke, or a blackout behind the wheel: 999, and you should not be driving to us.
- If you are currently at work and unsafe, tell your employer today, not at the appointment next week.
- New weakness, a seizure, or vision loss in a driving role: stop driving and get urgent care, then we can talk about the form.
- Thoughts of not wanting to be here, or a return to work date that is tomorrow with no support: that may be 999, A&E, or a same day clinic slot, not a delayed report.
- If the employer has set a deadline, bring it. We will be honest about whether the diary can meet it. We will not invent a slot.
- If you cannot travel and the medical still has to happen, ask about a home visit. Suitability is assessed first. Some forms require equipment we only have in clinic.
When this comes up in consultation I would rather delay a report than sign a person back into a role that will harm them this week.
How do we write the report here?
Face to face at 466 Green Lanes, Palmers Green. Fees depend on the form. A standard GP consultation is £100 for 30 minutes. Driver medicals and other certificates are listed on the appointments and fees page and are confirmed before we start. A home visit is £250 in the day and £450 at night, each up to an hour, if the form can be done at home, which many cannot.
For the wider reporting work, including letters employers ask for after illness, read medical reports. Book on the book now page, or call. Bring photo ID if the form asks for it, the job description, the questions, and your usual medicines. Do not send confidential medical information by WhatsApp.
If your employer has requested a medical, come with the brief in your hand. We will answer those questions, and no more than those questions need.
Get a fitness report written to the actual job, not a rumour of it. Read our fees page, or call 020 8882 8088. Home visits £250 day, £450 night, published in full. In an emergency call 999. Subject to availability.
Written by Dr Mitesh Parmar, MBBS MRCGP, GP and founder of Clinique Alpa, 466 Green Lanes, Palmers Green, London N13 5PA. This article is general information, not personal medical advice. In an emergency call 999. For NHS advice call 111 or visit nhs.uk.