Pre-placement medical screening

Confidential & compliant with GDPR and Equality Act 2010

Instant booking, certificates in 24-48 hours

£50 pay-as-you-go; discounts for groups

A process to manage recruitment health risks, support and protect your workforce and the business

Pre-employment medical assessments, also known as pre-placement health screening, post-offer medical checks or new starter health checks, are conducted after a conditional job offer.

These confidential health checks are designed to determine medical fitness for a specific role and determine if workplace adjustments may be required.

The process is particularly important considering employment laws from day one under the upcoming Employment Rights Bill.

Our clinicians conduct the assessments in compliance with the GMC and FOM guidelines, the Equality Act 2010 and GDPR 2018. This ensures a fair, non-discriminatory, and compliant recruitment process.

Our online assessment system allows instant booking, tailored online questionnaires and certificates, all delivered within 24-48 hours.

We offer a compliant service to support and protect the candidate, the team and the business

More information about pre-employment health assessments

Why do we recommend online health assessments?

Our online pre-employment screening system is fast, convenient, confidential and compliant.

Our expertise:
20+ years of occupational health experience across all industries

Our experienced occupational health physicians are accredited by the GMC and FOM. Our work complies with Good Medical Practice and Good Occupational Medical Practice.

Over the last 20 years, we have provided pre-placement occupational health advice to employers and employees across most sectors in Bristol, South Wales and across the country, including:

• Health care and social care
• Education
• Retail and hospitality
• Engineering and IT companies
• Financial services, information technology
• Public administration (local and central government)
• Non-profit organisations, and more.

Equality Act 2010 and legal compliance

Section 60 of the Equality Act 2010 allows health inquiries which are:

• Pre-offer: related to adjustments during the selection process
• Post-offer:
  • To determine if an applicant can carry out functions that are intrinsic to the work concerned.
  • Consider workplace adjustments for candidates with disabilities.

Health-related questions are not allowed before the job offer.

Therefore, the occupational health screening takes place after a conditional job offer is made, subject to medical fitness for the specific role. This ensures compliance with the Equality Act 2010 and prevents workplace discrimination.

Our confidential assessments also comply with GDPR 2018 to safeguard the candidates’ information and support workplace health and safety.

The process is designed to protect the candidates’ health, safety, and well-being at work and ensure the employer’s legal compliance. In most cases, it does not prevent candidates from starting work but provides support and advice on managing any existing medical risks.

An optional pre-placement assessment by our occupational health physician

The occupational health advice is based on the information provided by the applicant. For candidates with significant medical vulnerabilities, we may recommend an additional, optional occupational health assessment by our in-house physician or request an up-to-date medical report from the applicant’s GP (with the applicant’s consent).

Advisory OH recommendations

The process ensures the Employer’s autonomy. Employers must assess whether the recommended adjustments are available and reasonable for applicants who may be protected under the disability provisions of the Equality Act 2010.

Job-health relationship

Health and work are interconnected: medical conditions can impact job fitness, and job demands can affect health.

Certain job roles require a degree of medical or psychological fitness to ensure safe and healthy work. In some cases, ill health may pose risks to the safety of the applicant, co-workers or the community (e.g., uncontrolled epilepsy in a teacher). Certain health problems may be aggravated by some aspects of work (e.g., significant mental health vulnerabilities in a high-pressure, fast-paced role).

Data protection and confidentiality

Workable Occupational Health is a registered Data Processor with the Information Commissioner’s Office under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018 and Data Protection Act 2018.

Under our Confidentiality and Data Protection Policy, applicants submit their medical information directly to our occupational health team. The employer receives only information on fitness. The medical details are never shared with the employer or third parties without the applicant’s explicit consent (unless for specific safety-critical reasons).

Specific fitness for work medicals

Certain safety-critical and industry-specific roles require more comprehensive pre-placement medical examinations. For example, food handlers, drivers, offshore workers and other safety-critical workers require specific new starter (and periodic) procedures. These often include in-person examinations and additional tests, e.g., spirometry or exercise testing.
We offer DVLA medicals for LGV/HGV (Group 2) drivers, Offshore OEUK (OGUK) offshore medicals, and night worker or food handler screening.

Statutory health surveillance is required for specific roles. We can support employers with statutory asbestos medicals, ionising radiation medicals, Tier 4 HAVS assessments and lead medicals.

FAQs: Pre-Placement Health Checks for UK Employers