Recommendation R6: Sickness records available to occupational health
From The Allitt Inquiry Report, published 11 February 1994.
Recommendation
We recommend that the possibility be reviewed of making available to Occupational Health departments any records of absence through sickness from any institution which an applicant for a nursing post has attended or been employed by (para 5.5.14).
Government response
Guidance on occupational health is to be issued shortly which will cover all these recommendations. Together with the English National Board's new guidelines, this guidance will establish better procedures for selection of student nurses for training, the selection of staff to work on children's wards and the follow up of staff who have a history of excessive absence through sickness.
Delivery
DHSC and NHS England state no delivery position (27 February 2026)
As set out in Recommendation 1, proposals relating to access to and sharing of employee health data must now comply with current legislation, including the Equality Act 2010, the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK General Data Protection Act. This recommendation has therefore been superseded. The current position requires that occupational health referrals set out reasons for referral, with the employee’s consent.
NHS England’s Growing Occupational Health and Wellbeing Together strategy (January 2023) provides a long-term roadmap to improve the health and wellbeing of the NHS workforce by growing our occupational health and wellbeing services and people.
Site note: DHSC and NHS England's own account of progress, supplied to the Thirlwall Inquiry in September 2024 and printed in the Inquiry legal team's Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version dated April 2025, published 27 February 2026). It is not a finding of the Inquiry. Their reviewed extent of implementation reads “Superseded”. Table row: section 3.2 No. 6, PDF page 16.
What other bodies have found
In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.
Thirlwall Inquiry legal team (15 May 2024)
In November 1994, the Secretary of State for Health said that guidance on occupational health was to be issued shortly to cover this recommendation. The Secretary of State said that, together with the English National Board’s new guidelines, this guidance would establish better procedures for selection of student nurses for training, the selection of staff to work on children’s wards and the follow up of staff with a history of excessive absence through sickness.
Site note: The Thirlwall Inquiry legal team's own notes on implementation, from its Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version of 15 May 2024). The review does not colour its Extent of Implementation cell for this recommendation green; it leaves the cell uncoloured where a recommendation was rejected, where evidence of implementation was insufficient, or where steps had been taken but implementation was not yet complete. Table row: section 3.2 No. 6, PDF page 16.
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Department of Health and Social Care
Response - DHSC and NHS England
Delivery statement - Thirlwall Inquiry legal team
Finding