Occupational Health Consultations: November 2025

Tuesday 25 November 2025, A Virtual Event

OH consultations are at the heart of an occupational health professional’s work. This one-day course from The At Work Partnership is designed to help OH professionals enhance their consultation skills and techniques, in particular, the communication and interpersonal skills that are required for effective OH consultations but are so seldom taught.

Chaired by Dr Nerys Williams, independent OH physician

 

* There is some overlap on some of this programme’s morning sessions with our OH report writing day. This is reflected in the pricing for this day – and we offer a discount for previous report writing attendees.

* Please note this is a UK based course so this will be reflected in the content covered.

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Programme

8.55

Registration

9.00

Welcome and introduction

Dr Nerys Williams, independent OH physician

9.05

Aims and purpose of the OH consultation

Dr Nerys Williams, independent OH physician

  • Moving the case forward
  • Key questions – and getting meaningful answers
    • Disability
    • Long-term absence
    • Health and capability
    • Pre-employment/pre-placement
  • Taking a relevant history
  • Timescales and follow-up
9.35

Before the consultation

Dr Clare Fernandes, Haleon

  • Management referral
    • Use of pro-formas
    • Educating managers
    • Dealing with inadequate referrals
  • What the employee needs to know before the consultation
    • Invitation letters
    • Information about the OH service
    • OH helpline for those worried about their referral
    • Establishing consent
  • Triage: when is an occupational physician needed?
  • Ensuring privacy in remote consultations
  • Accompanying persons and chaperones
  • Recording consultations (by the employee and/or OH professional)
  • Safety concerns (for the safety of the OH professional)
  • Safeguarding issues
10.25

Coffee

10.45

OH consultation and the law

Audrey Ludwig, trainer and consultant

  • Consent and confidentiality
    • General principles
    • Consent in remote consultations
    • Written or oral consent
    • Workers with learning disabilities
  • Duty of care (pre-employment/applicants v employees)
  • Disclosure (e.g. of ‘unfit for work’) without consent in the public interest
  • Access to Medical Reports Act 1988
  • Accompanied consultations and chaperones – legal issues
  • Safeguarding duties
  • Q&A
11.40

Consultation methods & techniques

Sharon Wilday, consultant cognitive behavioural psychotherapist

  • Face-to-face
    • Visual cues
    • Advantages and disadvantages
  • Telephone and video platforms
    • Establishing a rapport
    • Technological considerations
    • Are they always appropriate?
  • Your appearance and behaviour
  • Managing referrals where the individual is anxious or angry
  • Motivational interviewing and coaching techniques
12.50

Lunch

13.35

Consultation skills and how to develop them

Carolyn Graham, consultant

  • Listening skills
  • Questioning skills
  • Note-taking (without affecting the flow of the consultation)
  • Resetting the consultation if things go wrong
  • Dealing with objections from the employee
14.40

Tea

14.55

Consultations in practice
Sharon Wilday and Carolyn Graham (Chair: Dr Nerys Williams)

  • An opportunity to observe and discuss a practical role play. This is based on a case  scenario managing a common mental health problem. It looks at how improved communication could change the outcome of a consultation.
15.55

Q&A

16.10

Quality improvement

Dr Nerys Williams, independent OH physician

  • Dos and don’ts
  • Common issues that managers have with OH reports following the consultation – and how to avoid these
  • Auditing and peer-reviewing your consultations
16.30

End of day

Benefits of attending

This training day aims to teach you to:

  • Understand the aims of the OH consultation in terms of moving the case forward
  • Set up and prepare for effective OH consultations, and understand how to audit and improve these
  • Know your legal responsibilities – and the nuances of the unique role of the OH professional – in fulfilling your obligations to both the employee and the employer
  • Get the most of your OH consultations whether face to face, telephone or video/online

The day concentrates on the communication and interpersonal skills that are required for effective OH consultations but are so seldom taught. These include how to:

  • Establish a rapport with the employee, using a non-judgemental style and clear language
  • Gather information using open questions – and phrase questions to get informative answers
  • Use and interpret non-verbal communication cues
  • Develop your listening skills
  • Lead the conversation, using techniques such as motivational interviewing and coaching
  • Manage difficult referrals where the individual is anxious or angry
  • Put it all into practice – our case study shows how the communication skills learnt on the course can improve the outcome of cases for the employee and the employer

 

This training is designed for:

  • OH professionals • Other professionally registered practitioners working in OH
    The training starts from first principles but caters for differing levels of OH experience. For the more experienced OH professional, it is very useful as a refresher course.

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