Ask the expert: Consent for medical reports

Is there any situation where consent for medical reports is not required? Esther Smith, partner at Thomas Eggar, and Martin Brewer, partner at Mills & Reeve, advise.

The question:

I have come across some conflicting advice regarding consents for medical reports. One source informs me that consents are required where there is a patient relationship, for example from an employee's own GP, specialist or such like, but that it should not be required for occupational health (OH) where there should be no patient relationship.

The other source simply says get consents for everything medical. I am unsure now whether or not I should gather consents for medical tests recently undergone by some of our employees. I have asked our OH supplier, which is one source of the conflicting information; our solicitors are the other.