Job offer subject to Medical - what do they ask?

A good friend has recently been offered a job "subject to references and medical". There is no issue with references, she worked for the same company for 15 years until being made redundant approx 18 months ago and is confident of a good reference from them.

She is however concerned about the medical aspect. Although fit and healthy ( non drinker or smoker, regular exercise etc) around 4 years ago during her marriage breaking down she did attend the doctor and was on anti-depressants and sleeping tablets for a short time - 2 months at the most, she also mentioned to her GP that she felt she had been drinking more than was good for her for some time prior but had given up by then. she is now in a panic that the GP may disclose some of this information on the medical report and it may in turn cost her a much needed job.

Personally I can't see there being a problem as it was long enough ago, there has been absolutely no issues since, and I don't see how a doctor could reveal specific details of her medical history. Her previous employers were aware of what was going on as she took a couple of months unpaid leave at the time but there was never any issue with them.

Has anyone any experience of what the medical reports say or ask, that I can hopefully put her mind at rest with?

Tell her not to worry about it. Very unlikely that the GP will reveal that sort of detail especially if she has been continuing with the same GP since so they know her more recent history.
There reports are usually very general to make sure the person is fit for work.

Thanks Sunny! That is pretty much what I was thinking but never having had any experience of attending a medical for a job I really had no idea. I'd imagine they would be fairly generic questions tailored to the role - which is administration/office based work.

The medical will almost certainly be performed by a doctor retained by the company, not this person's GP, so medical history will not be available.

They're really just interested to find out if the potential candidate has a medical condition that might affect their performance in the role.

I've had 3 medicals for jobs and you are asked about any medications taken. I was also on anti-depressants after birth of my child and for a time when my partner died (plus sleeping tablets in this case). There was no issue after mentioning this and I went into all 3 jobs. I think if there is a valid reason for taking medication there is no problem. I'm sure most people have relied on some medication from time to time during stressful periods of their life. I don't think your friend should worry about this too much as long as she is in good health now.

Depending on the particular practice performing the medical, she may be asked to provide some detail on her medical history. This may include issues regarding mental health also. It may be within a specific timeframe or it may be a very grey "have you ever had..." My advice is to be honest and state her case.

However, some very important aspects. The doctor will not be disclosing these to the potential employer, they will simply be assessing whether or not she is currently fit to perform their duties. All the potential employer will be told is yes or no, so there is no opportunity for them to discriminate on the basis her illness 4 years ago. Also, her giving the context to the illness will assist the doctor in realising it has no bearing on ability to perform her duties.

Another point is that if somehow they did get that information and that they didn't select her for employment, that it is discrimination and the Equality Acts apply. Hence, the company would rather not know the specifics, just are they fit for work.

Last, it's also better to tell the truth on the forms, lying about it or hiding it wouldn't be a good idea and may come out at some point. All kinds of legislation is there to protect her in terms of confidential information and equality, so she should be upfront in the medical (if asked).

Thanks for all the very helpful advice. As I thought, she is worrying over nothing really. The application form only asked if there was any medical condition that might need taking into account, which she answered No to, but I will say to her if it isn't her own GP who completes the report to just be honest. It's not something she hides anyway!

Latrade said:

they will simply be assessing whether or not she is currently fit to perform their duties. All the potential employer will be told is yes or no,

Click to expand...

In theory, this is correct. In practice, very often the doc is given little or no information about the job in question, and therefore has little information on which to base the decision about suitability of each candidate.

Also, the doc is very often not an occupational health specialist, but just happens to be another local GP.

This area is a bit of a minefield.

While I am not trying to contradict anyone else and cause worry, the company I work for assess incoming personnel for certain positions (I won't state what positions as it would reveal a bit too much information about where I work and might make other forum users paranoid) and they do ask about mental health.