Occupational Health in English and Polish
Bilingual OH&S service to support Polish-speaking workforce
We understand that discussing health concerns is most comfortable in your mother tongue. Our medical director, Dr Greg Palka, is a bilingual Polish-English occupational health physician who undertakes consultations in English or Polish. This helps us reduce the additional costs, delays, or even misunderstandings that can arise from translation challenges.
Occupational Health for Polish-speaking workforce
Employees prefer to talk about their health concerns and needs in their native language. From our experience, native-language communication ensures a smooth process and often solves long-standing communication-related problems. Importantly, Employees may share their medical reports from any treatment they may have received in Poland.
Our bilingual occupational health service helps ensure accurate communication and minimise additional costs and disruption. The occupational health advice is accurate and details do not get lost in translation.
Our Expertise: Occupational Health for Polish-speaking workers
Dr Greg Palka, our medical director, brings unique qualifications to our service. He graduated from Krakow’s Jagiellonian Medical University and completed occupational health training in the UK. With his double qualification and more than ten years of experience in the UK, Dr Palka offers comprehensive assessments in English and Polish.
Our commitment extends beyond medical assessment; we create a supportive environment where employees feel heard, understood, and professionally supported.
Dr Greg Palka
All our appointments are available in English and Polish, both remotely and in-person:
✓ Fitness for work assessments, e.g., for drivers, asbestos workers or safety-critical (e.g., offshore) workers.
✓ Management referrals
✓ Advice on fitness for work
✓ Advice on fitness to return to work after sickness absence
✓ Recommendations on temporary or permanent workplace adjustments and restrictions
✓ Advice on ill health retirement
UK Professional Standards and Compliance
We work in the UK and adhere to UK professional standards, including the Good Clinical Practice of the General Medical Council and the Good Occupational Health Practice of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine. For example, GMC GMP Domain 2 ‘Patients, partnership and communication’ highlights: “You must take steps to meet patients’ language and communication needs, so you can support them to engage in meaningful dialogue and make informed decisions about their care).
Employers should be aware of the UK Health and Safety Executive’s position on recognising employees with specific needs and vulnerable workers, including foreign-speaking employees.
HSE also reminds the employers about their duty to provide suitable support including comprehensive information to migrant workers.
So, even if there is no legal requirement to provide translation services for patients or employees in the UK, native-language support is often beneficial from the medical and operational perspective.
Occupational Health in Poland and overseas
Occupational health regulations differ between Poland and the UK. Polish employment law requires employees to undergo periodic face-to-face medical examinations with local occupational health physicians. Therefore, the role of remote assessments is limited under Polish law. Employees in Poland require periodic face-to-face medical check-ups with local occupational health physicians.
While Polish and UK occupational health regulations differ, we provide flexible solutions. We offer bilingual OH support to British employers in the UK and overseas through remote consultations. For example, we help employers in Poland who need UK-standard OH advice for their remote workforce based in the UK.
Our Polish language pages include information for Polish-speaking employees.
Contact us
Contact us for more information about occupational health in English and Polish.
