This is a summary of your principal rights under the Access to Medical Reports Act 1988 which sets out the procedure for obtaining medical reports for employment or insurance purposes from a doctor who has been or is looking after you (usually your General Practitioner (GP) or a specialist consultant responsible for your care).
We are seeking your consent to apply to your GP for a report on your current state of health and its effect on the work which we employ you to undertake.
You have three options. Please complete and return the enclosed consent form indicating your decision.
Option 1
You may consent to the application for the report and indicate that you do not wish to see a copy before it is supplied to us.
If you change your mind after the application has been made, you will still be able to contact your GP or consultant in writing to ask to see a copy of the report. If the report has not yet been sent to us, your GP or consultant must delay sending it for 21 days following receipt of your written request, to allow time for you to arrange to see it.
Whether or not you decide to see the report before it is sent, you still have the right to ask your GP or consultant for a copy of the report at any time up to six months after it has been supplied to us. They are entitled to make a reasonable charge for this.
Option 2
You may consent to the application, but indicate that you wish to see the report before it is supplied to us. If you choose this option, you must contact your GP or consultant directly to request the report, as it will not be sent to you automatically.
Once we receive your consent form, we will inform your GP or consultant by letter that you wish to see the report, and will copy the letter to you. The GP or consultant will allow 21 days for you to see it before supplying it to us. You should contact them directly to make arrangements to see the report after you return the enclosed forms if you have chosen this option. They are entitled to make a reasonable charge for this. If the GP or consultant has not heard from you in writing within 21 days after we have asked them to prepare the report, they will assume you do not wish to see the report and that you consent to it being supplied directly to us.
If you arrange to see the report before it is sent to us and there is anything in it that you consider incorrect or misleading, you can write to you GP or consultant to ask them to amend the report. If they refuse to amend it, you may:
- withdraw your consent for the report to be issued to us;
- ask the GP or consultant to attach to the report a statement setting out your objections/views; or
- agree to the report being issued to us unchanged.
NOTE: Your GP or consultant is not obliged to show you any parts of the report that they believe might cause serious harm to your physical or mental health or that of others. Neither do they have to show you information about other people without their permission. If your GP or consultant limits your access to the report for any of these reasons, they will tell you.
Option 3
You may refuse your consent to our application for a report from your GP or consultant.
Please indicate this decision on the enclosed form and return it to us. You are advised to keep this note for future reference.
