Gateways guidance: 15.5 Health clearance and disclosure
All new health care workers must now undergo health clearance, including screening for blood-borne viruses for those performing ‘exposure prone procedures’. The aim is:
- ‘...not to prevent those infected with blood-borne viruses from working in the NHS, but rather to restrict them from working in those clinical areas where their infection may pose a risk to patients in their care.’
An important feature of postgraduate training is the trainee’s direct responsibility, under supervision, for patient care. Patient safety, risk assessment and close supervision should be key to all postgraduate training programmes whether the trainee is disabled or not.
It is vital that trainees are confident to disclose an impairment or health condition. During the application and induction process, they should be informed of the importance of disclosure and be assured of confidentiality and their safety in complying.
A career change may be needed if a trainee cannot complete some of the components of skills training. Advice should be sought before such decisions are made
Trainees may not wish to discuss their impairment with their supervisor and it should be made clear that occupational health staff are there to help, in the first place through the disability officer.
Providers of postgraduate training should develop policies to ensure that they share information about a disabled trainee’s requirements and the reasonable adjustments that might be made. However, they must protect confidentiality at all stages and limit information to those who need it. It is distressing for junior doctors to have to explain repeatedly their condition and requirements. Steps should be taken to avoid this. Once the student or junior doctor has disclosed, then the institution is said ’to know’ and must take steps to pass on information with the signed permission of the disabled person.