An Occupational Health referral usually means your manager wants work-focused medical advice. It can support decisions about fitness, attendance, adjustments, return to work or capability. The referral itself is not a warning or a decision.
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Why managers use Occupational Health
A referral may follow long-term absence, repeated short absences, a return from sickness, a disclosed condition, concerns about safe working or a request for adjustments. It may also be used before a capability decision where management needs medical information.
Your consent matters
You can be asked to agree to an OH assessment. The report should not normally be shared with the employer without your permission. Refusing an assessment can leave management making decisions from the information already available, so the decision should be made carefully rather than automatically.
Members can unlock: a referral-form audit, consent decision guide, wording for correcting management context, preparation questions and a follow-up plan for using the report without allowing inaccurate assumptions to become part of the record.
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