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Occupational Health Unit Privacy Notice

How we use your personal information for Occupational Health and Wellbeing Unit purposes

The Council provides services for local communities and the people who live in them.  Undertaking this work means that we must collect and use information about the people we provide services to and keep a record of those services. Because we collect and use personal information about individuals we must make sure that they know what we intend to do with their information and who it may be shared with. 

We have summarised in this privacy notice some of the key ways in which we use your personal information for Occupational Health & Wellbeing Unit purposes. This information should be read in conjunction with the Council’s corporate privacy notice

1. Who we are, what we do. 

The Occupational Health & Wellbeing Unit focuses on the physical and mental wellbeing of Rhondda Cynon Taf Council employees and workers in the workplace. We support employees and workers that are absent due to illness and help facilitate a return to work along with supporting those in work that need medical interventions.

In order to support employees in their return to work, we may offer a referral to aid a clinical diagnosis to an external specialist source such as MRI Scanning etc. This is done as a clinical business case and is only to aid diagnosis in order to support a return to work.

Each year we offer an influenza vaccination programme for:

  • RCT Council staff and our private commissioned partners staff in Health and Social Care
  • RCT staff that would like the flu vaccination

We also carry out Health Surveillance checks required by law for some employees and workers who are exposed to noise, vibration, fumes, and other substances hazardous to health.

To support the wellbeing of our staff we provide several wellbeing support initiatives such as Wellbeing with Cari and Care First. Both services are Fully confidential and accessed by employees or workers. These services are accessed by the following:

  • Care First -staff can telephone or access services via their website
  • Wellbeing with Cari-Staff create an account with an email address or mobile number and individual password

2. What and whose personal information we hold? 

The Occupational Health & Wellbeing Unit hold personal and medical information for all employees and workers who are referred to the unit and cover the following categories:

  • Personal Information and Contact Details
  • Date of Birth, National Insurance Number, Gender and  Age
  • Employment Information (past and present)
  • Medical / Health Information

This information is supplied to the Occupational Health & Wellbeing Unit by the employee/worker, Manager, and Human Resources. Further information, if required, is obtained from the GP, Consultant (or other medical professionals) and Trade Union with the knowledge and consent of the employee/worker.

3. Where does the service get my information from? 

Information is supplied to the Occupational Health & Wellbeing Unit from:

  • The employee/worker
  • Manager
  • Human Resources
  • Occupational Clinician’s, for example Nurse, Doctor, Physiotherapist, Counsellor, Technician
  • GP, Consultant (or other medical professionals)
  • Trade Union
  • Pension Department. 

This information is collected through:

  • Management / HR Referrals for assessment and support
  • Fit for Work Assessments
  • Sickness absence referrals
  • Medical Reports (OHU Clinicians, GP’s, Consultants etc)
  • Self-Referrals (Counselling and physiotherapy requests only)employees may contact Occupational Health directly or through the wellbeing helpline contact details
  • Pension documentation

4. What will we do with your personal information? 

We use personal information to:

  • Support and manage an employee or worker through any physical or mental health issues while they are either at work or off ill.
  • Conduct Health Surveillance
  • Comply with relevant legislation, for example health and safety law

5. What is the legal basis for the use of this information?

The legal basis for our use of personal information will generally be one or more of the following: 

  • We need to process personal information to carry out a task in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority in our capacity as a public body.
  • We need to process personal information to comply with legal obligations, e.g. to comply with health and safety law.
  • We need to process personal information as part of the employment contract. 

In limited circumstances direct consent may be obtained, for example we may ask if you would like us to contact your GP with /or for medical information which could be used to improve your health.

6. Does the service share my personal information with any other organisation? 

We may also share your information internally with other Council departments, for example:

  • Human Resources
  • Pension Department
  • Health and Safety Team
  • Managers

In addition, we may need to share your information with third parties, for example:

  • GP / Consultants / Specialists (e.g. MRI / Podiatry etc.), for further information for diagnosis of a condition in order to better support the employee and manager e.g. Podiatry Wales, Workforce Wellbeing, Performance Physiotherapy, Baseline Physiotherapy, Independent Physiotherapy Services
  • Solicitors / Police, for example for court proceedings such as Insurance and Prosecution claims on behalf of the employee or organisation.
  • Health & Safety Executive, for example to comply with Reportable Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR)
  • Independent Registered Medical Practitioners (IRMP) - Pension Doctors
  • Trade Union
  • Other trusted organisations for employees to access additional support / treatment e.g. external counselling services such as MIND, Cardiff Therapy Ltd and private counsellors, also National Exercise Referral Scheme (NERS), Joint Care Programme, Spire, Cobalt, Immunisations (e.g. Hep B etc)
  • The Occupational Health & Wellbeing Unit is committed to being open and honest with you about the way we use your personal information and who we share your information with. In addition to the information that is contained within this privacy notice we will also communicate such information to you verbally when we meet with you.
  • It is important to note that there may be exceptional circumstances where the law permits us not to inform you about our use of your personal information. Typically this included information that is being used to prevent, detect and/or investigate a crime of fraud. More information about this can be found here. 

7. How long will my information be kept? 

We will only keep your personal information for as long as we need it and this depends on the nature of the information. For example, Occupational Health records should be kept for as long as the worker is employed plus 6 years or until their 75th birthday whichever is the sooner. However, Health Surveillance information may be kept for at least 40 years from the date of last entry.

8. Your information, your rights 

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives you important rights, including the right to access the personal information the services hold about you. 

Click here for further information on your information rights and how to exercise them. 

9. Contact us 

If you have any concerns or would like to know more about how the service using your personal information please contact us in one of the following ways: 

By Telephone: 01443 494003

In writing: Occupational Health & Wellbeing Unit, Municipal Building, Gelliwasted Road, Pontypridd, CF37 2DP