Rights of Access to Medical Reports
The Access to Medical Reports Act allows you to see medical reports (about you) which are prepared by your doctor (or someone who has been involved in treating you). There is no right to see this report when the report is a “one off” from a specialist or from a company doctor – providing they have not been involved in treating you.
You have the right to request sight of a medical report before it is released to your employer by the doctor. You should give your permission, usually through a signed consent form, to your Employer before the Employer approaches your medical adviser. Under the Act you can withhold your consent, so your employer cannot insist on applying to your doctor (in reality doctors will not release any information without your authorisation).
If you have opted to see the report before it is released, you have 21 days to contact the doctor. You can also ask your Doctor to amend the report before sending it to the Employer. You can refuse permission for the information to be sent to your Employer too.
It is not a good idea to be “obstructive” when your Employer requests reasonable medical information to help with a decision at work. This could indicate that you are being unreasonable.