Occupational health (OH) physicians and nurses occupy a distinctive position: they are employed by or contracted to the organisation, but their duty of care runs to the worker. The OH consultation - fitness-for-work assessment, return-to-work review, health surveillance appointment - generates records that feed employment decisions, workplace adjustments and sometimes litigation.
Documentation in the OH consultation
With the worker's consent, Listen records the OH consultation. The diarisation separates clinician and worker contributions. The AI summary extracts: job role and demands described, health conditions disclosed, functional limitations identified, recommended adjustments, and fitness conclusions. This structured output reduces the time spent writing up OH reports from 20 minutes to five. For HR processes that depend on OH outcomes, see our article on annual performance reviews.
Legal framework: UK and US
In the UK, OH reports contribute to Reasonable Adjustment assessments under the Equality Act 2010. The OH clinician must distinguish what can be shared with the employer from what is confidential medical information. In the US, the ADA and FMLA create comparable frameworks for medical information in the workplace. Listen's data governance - iCloud-only storage, no third-party access - is appropriate for the sensitivity of OH records.
Record the clinical conversation and the management advisory letter as separate Listen sessions - two distinct documents with appropriate separation between clinical detail and employer-facing content.
View our plans for occupational health services.