Mental and physical disability support for staff

Mental health support

The University has developed Guidance On Supporting Staff And Students Experiencing Mental Health Difficulties.

The Occupational Health Service endeavours to help any employee with mental health issues - proactively, prior to appointment, and reactively, when employees develop a problem whilst at work.

A holistic approach is used to help the employee feel supported and enabled to do their work to the best of their ability. Steps include:

  • Pre-employment health questionnaire and contact prior to commencing work if appropriate.
  • Referral to counselling if appropriate
  • Referral to staff training programmes eg. Stress Management, Time Management, Managing Conflict. (More information on training is available from the website of the Staff Learning and Development)
  • Information on harassment advisors may be given
  • Contact may be made with an individual’s community psychiatric nurse if consent is given.
  • Work adaptations may be made in conjunction with line managers, HR Business Partners and OH.
  • Support is offered whilst an individual has sickness absence
  • Referral to WorkWAYS

Physical Disability Support

The University can provide you with appropriate assistance at your interview if you have a disability.

Occupational Health can advise your line manager and HR Business Partner on the appropriate adaptations which are reasonably practicable for your work environment.

Where appropriate, staff may be referred by Occupational Health to Access to Work (for financial grants towards approved costs that arise from your disability) or to Workstep, ISG or similar organisations which support people with disabilities at work.

Temporary Disabled Parking for Staff

If following an accident or operation you require a university temporary disabled parking permit please contact Occupational Health in the first instance. The permit is supplied by the Disability Resource Centre in conjunction with the Head of Security. It is for a limited period only.

Referral for Dyslexia Screening and Assessment

  1. A referral to Disability Resource Centre (DRC) may be either through Occupational Health, your College/Service or self referral for an Educational Psychologist assessment and report for dyslexia. If an individual initiates contact with DRC, DRC may recommend referral to Occupational Health for extra support such as counselling.

  2. Approval for funding of the Educational Psychologist's report from College/Service needs to be gained by the individual, Occupational Health or HR Business Partner. DRC needs to be notified that funding has been approved and the way that it needs to be invoiced (eg through your College/Service). This will depend on confidentiality issues which you may have. Following receipt of the report the invoice will be sent for payment as requested above.

  3. DRC arranges the appointment with the Educational Psychologist. Once the report is received DRC sends a copy to the individual and Occupational Health. If any recommendations are made, these need to be discussed with the relevant University staff such as the individual's line manager, DRC, Occupational Health, Staff Learning and Development. If further training is identified, it may be implemented with Staff Learning and Development guidance. The College/Service is responsible for the funding of any training recommended.

  4. In some situations Occupational Health may link you into the Government funded Access to Work scheme.