All successful candidates *being appointed for the first time to a teaching or SNA position in the Republic of Ireland or employees returning from leave of absence or other break in service in excess of two full school years will be screened by pre-employment medical questionnaire.

It is essential that the system of assessing medical fitness for employment be completed and fitness confirmed before they take up or resume employment.

*Please note that a pre-employment medical questionnaire should be completed only by a candidate selected for appointment.

An individual who has a disability must not be shown less favourable treatment without reasonable justification and every effort should be made to effect reasonable adjustments such that the individual can be appointed to the new post.

Having considered the Pre-employment medical questionnaire (and evidence from a medical examination and specialist advice if necessary) the Occupational Health Service will advise the employer of the outcome.

A Pre-employment medical questionnaire form and standard operating procedures in relation to pre-employment medicals is contained in the Standard Operating Procedures Manual and is also available for download by logging onto www.education.ie and following the link provided.

What is a ‘pre-employment medical’ assessment?

A ‘pre-employment medical’ assessment is to assess the candidate’s fitness to do the job, to ensure that they can work without causing undue risk to themselves or others and to advise on any modifications required to enable the candidate perform the job safely and effectively.

What information should I give to the prospective employee to complete a pre-employment medical questionnaire?

All prospective candidates are screened initially by completing and submitting a pre-employment questionnaire (PEQ). The procedure is as follows:

1. The employer directs the prospective candidate to log on to www.medmark4teachersna.ie and complete the pre-employment questionnaire online. The questionnaire is located here»

2. If the employee has any specific queries relating to the completion of the questionnaire you can advise them to send their query to info@medmark4teachersna.ie, or call our telephone advice line 1890 235711 for assistance. Our telephone advice line is open from Monday to Friday, 9:00am – 5:00pm, with an out-of-hours answering system also available.

How to complete a pre-employment questionnaire form?

1. The pre-employment questionnaire can be completed by the prospective candidate, the questionnaire is located here»

The prospective candidate should:

1. Follow the introductory instructions carefully.
2. Complete all sections and answer all questions.
3. Ensure that their personal public service number (PPSN), contact details and your school roll number are included.

Confidentiality: who views the information submitted by the employee?

All information submitted is entirely confidential between the individual who submits the pre-employment questionnaire and the reviewing / examining occupational health physician. Information will not be disclosed to any other party without the consent of the employee being assessed, with one exception: the occupational health physician is allowed to express an opinion as to whether the employee is fit or unfit for work or any restrictions or modifications that should be placed on their work.

What information should the employer expect to receive from Medmark once the pre-employment questionnaire is received?

The employee submitting the pre-employment questionnaire will receive a confirmation reference number if they complete and submit their form online. Their pre-employment questionnaire will then be reviewed by the occupational health service (i.e. Medmark4teachersna) and will result in one of the following:

1. We will issue notification to the employer confirming a candidate’s fitness for employment.

or

2. We will make contact with the candidate to clarify disclosed medical information. Once satisfactory clarification is received notification regarding fitness for employment will be issued to the employer.

or

3. We may request the candidate to attend for a pre-employment medical appointment. The decision to request that a candidate attends will be discretionary and based on the evaluation of the pre-employment questionnaire. Once the pre-employment medical is complete, notification regarding fitness or otherwise for employment will issue to the employer. Pre-employment medical assessments may on occasion result in the Occupational Health Service identifying reasonable accommodation requirements for those with a particular disability, or may result in confirming fitness for employment with some restrictions on duties applied.

The occupational health service (i.e. medmark) will notify the employer of the candidate’s fitness.

For the employee:
Click here to complete the pre-employment medical questionnaire online.