Occupational Health Responses and Support during Coronavirus - Student

Dear Colleague

Occupational Health Service: Responses and Support during UK COVID 19 Pandemic

We are writing to update you on the provision of Occupational Health services during the suspension of normal activities. As you’ll appreciate, the technical challenges of remotely accessing the secure Occupational Health clinical management IT system have been complex, but have now been largely resolved.

Our aim is to provide a remote Occupational Health Service until the University resumes face to face teaching and other activities. We intend to offer as close to the normal range of services as possible during this time, using phone or video in place of face to face consultations and appointments and paper reviews where appropriate. The following measures will be adopted to support the University at this difficult time:

1. Undergraduate & Postgraduate Referrals:

The process for referring to the OH service remains unchanged please see the following link: http://www.occhealth.manchester.ac.uk/services-overview/health-referrals/

Undergraduate referrals should be completed and emailed to the Occupational Health service via the generic email waterlooocchealth@manchester.ac.uk . We are currently unable to respond to post.

There is guidance to making a referral and the form to use is on the link above.

All correspondence should include the student ID number and the students’ telephone & email contact details. Please explain when discussing this referral with your student that the review will be undertaken by an Occupational Health clinician by phone or video and an email with the appointment time and date will be sent.

Postgraduate referrals should be emailed to the Occupational Health Service via the generic email millocchealth@manchester.ac.uk using the referral process and referral questionnaire. Please follow the referral guidance provided above and on the link.

All referrals will be actioned by clinical staff either as a telephone consultation or video meeting as appropriate.

2. Response to emails

Most emails are received via the generic email boxes and actioned as soon as possible. Please use the generic emails provided below wherever possible. Any sent directly to a named clinician will be responded too directly and as soon as possible on the days they are contracted to work.

3. Health Screening i.e. vaccination appointments for Post Graduate & Undergraduate clinical placement & staff clinical roles

Screening Services – given ALL in-person, face to face screening appointments have ceased during the COVID 19 outbreak these appointments will be rescheduled once the Occupational Health Service resumes onsite.

To rebook please contact us via email when the University resumes face to face teaching and staff return to work which will coincide with OH Services resuming.

4. Health surveillance for Post Graduate [specific Undergraduate groups]

  • The normal service is in place as per our Standard Operating Protocol
  • Annual health surveillance screening will continue to be achieved through the usual annual paper based screening process

5. Pre acceptance Applicant health questionnaires

Post Graduate [PG] Dental students [only]

These will continue to be processed as normal ALL applicants need to forward the completed Pre Acceptance Health Questionnaire issued by post graduate administrators and forwarded to the generic email address - millocchealth@manchester.ac.uk

Other Post Graduate regulated courses

i.e. PGCE, teach first, social work and audiology :

These courses require a ‘self -declaration’ and applicants are only required to complete a Pre acceptance health questionnaire if they disclose a medical condition. The relevant paperwork is issues by the schools administrator and completed forms should be emailed directly to the PG email address. millocchealth@manchester.ac.uk

Post Graduate Research PGR

ALL other PGR courses that require laboratory access to complete the ‘laboratory health surveillance questionnaire’ issued by the PG administrators and these should then be forwarded by email to millocchealth@manchester.ac.uk .

Undergraduate Student

ie Medicine, Nursing & Midwifery, Dentistry & Oral health care , Pharmacy, SALT, Audiology

All schools admissions administrators will advise applicants with regards completion deadlines for their Pre acceptance health questionnaire and the process to return the completed forms via email.

Blood Born Virus [BBV] clearance Post graduate & Undergraduate Dental plus Midwifery:

The Department of Health require BBV clearance for these courses PRE course: Guidance to follow.

All BBV bloods [Hep B antigen, Hep C& HIV antibody] require to be stamped as an ‘Individual Validated Sample’ [IVS]. ALL none UK BBV results are repeated on commencement of course.

7. International mobility placements for 2020/21

Please refer as usual where there are concerns with regard to fitness to travel and/or an assessment is required to indicate what additional provision/accommodations should be made if the placement is to go ahead.

8. General advice including COVID-19 related support

Please see the University information which is based on up to date information from Public Health England [PHE], Universities UK [UUK] & Foreign & Commonwealth office [FCO]: https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/coronavirus/

The PG/Staff email account millocchealth@manchester.ac.uk and the Undergraduate email account waterlooocchealth@manchester.ac.uk are reviewed each working day and any requests are forwarded to the appropriate teams to prioritise and manage.

If any employees or students require advice please email us with your question and provide us with your contact details including telephone number.

Occupational Health Staff provision - Covid (1)

Dear Colleague

I am writing to update you on the provision of Occupational Health services during the suspension of normal activities. Firstly we’d like to apologise for the delay in providing this information and for the difficulties some of you will have experienced in accessing the service. As you’ll appreciate the technical challenges of remotely accessing the secure Occupational Health clinical management IT system have been complex. However, with the support of colleagues in IT, we are making significant progress.

Please find below the current plans for service provision. As IT issues are resolved capacity is likely to increase and we will provide updates on increased provision as this happens.

Occupational Health Service: Responses and Support during UK COVID 19 Pandemic

Our aim is to provide a remote Occupational Health Service until the University resumes face to face teaching and all staff return to their workplaces. We intend to offer as close to the normal range of services as possible during this time, using phone or video in place of face to face consultations and appointments and paper reviews where appropriate. The following measures will be adopted to support the University at this difficult time:

STAFF management referral process to support Human Resources & managers

Staff referrals will continue to be dealt with and processed in the usual way. All referrals need to be forwarded to the generic in box millocchealth@manchester.ac.uk via HR services.

The agreed priority for the staff OH services are:

  1. Appointments that were made prior to the suspension will be contacted by Occupational Health staff and, wherever possible, rebooked for phone or video appointments.
  2. Ill health retirement applications – these will be dealt with by phone or video consultation by an OH Physician following receipt of the application or request which has been forwarded to Occupational Health Services
  3. Referral specific to individuals struggling with remote or home working arrangements during current COVID -19 pandemic
  4. Urgent staff referrals [ clinical staff will prioritise as per usual process ] and appointments by phone or video will be offered wherever possible
  5. General health related advice will be provided to staff. Queries to be submitted on the appropriate email and responses by email and/or phone call.
  6. PRE ACCEPTANCE Applicant health questionnaires

These will continue to be processed as normal ALL applicants need to forward the completed Pre Acceptance Health Questionnaire issued by HR services and forwarded to the generic email address - millocchealth@manchester.ac.uk

  1. Provision of an advisory service – responding to HR and staff queries. Please use the generic email address millocchealth@manchester.ac.uk and provide a contact phone number so we can call you back to discuss more complex issues

I hope this email reassures you that Occupational Health services continue to be available through this difficult period and we are grateful for your patience whilst we have sought to resolve the technical challenges involved in the transition to remote working. Please do contact me directly to discuss any concerns or difficulties in relation to Occupational Health provision or access.

Best wishes

Sarah Littlejohn