Health screening at recruitment

摘要

1. The most common reason for using pre-employment or pre-placement health questionnaires or declarations is to identify where the individual might need adjustments to work or the working environment because of a disability or health condition. 2. Only 4% of respondents say the purpose of the health assessment is to advise managers of likely future attendance; around half say it is useful to provide a baseline health record. 3. One-third of surveyed organisations now ask applicants/recruits to complete a simple declaration of health rather than answering a health questionnaire. 4. Where questionnaires are used, the most commonly asked generic questions (aside from age/date of birth) are whether or not the person has any disabilities or current medical conditions, or is on medication. 5. In the NHS the most frequently asked question is vaccination and immunisation history. 6. Where specific health questions are asked, the most common conditions referred to are asthma, allergies, diabetes, skin conditions, musculoskeletal disorders, back complaints and mental health. 7. Half of survey respondents say individuals can appeal against a decision to deny them employment on grounds of their health. 8. Most organisations (60%) would not discipline an individual who lies about, or withholds, relevant health information at recruitment but would instead manage the situation as if it had been declared at pre-employment/pre-placement. 9. Less than one-third of organisations' health questionnaires or declarations ask the applicant/recruit for consent to contact his/her GP or other doctor; however, most would seek a GP report if considered necessary. 10. OH nurses are spending less time on average doing recruitment health screening than they were in 2006; however, some nurses spent more than 11 hours on the activity in the week preceding the survey, and two respondents had spent more than 30 hours. 11. Practitioners are divided over the question of whether recruitment health screening is worth the time and resources spent on it. 12. Only a minority of organisations had evaluated the effectiveness of the recruitment health screening questionnaires. 13. The most common reason for organisations to have updated their recruitment health screening policies and questionnaire was to meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010. 14. Most practitioners would be against using genetic screening at recruitment even if it could predict future health and fitness for work. 15. Asking a plethora of personal health questions irrelevant to the job is both unethical and unlawful (under the Data Protection Act 7998). 16. It is also unethical to ask applicants or new recruits to sign statements giving blanket and time-unlimited consent to release health information to employers.