NHS Honorary Cover Documents & Guidance
Guidance and forms for obtaining NHS honorary contracts and research passports for work involving NHS patients, tissue or data
The NHS Honorary Cover Table should be used to determine what pre-employment check documents (Disclosure and Occupational Health) are required, what NHS Honorary Cover Request Form should be used to request the NHS cover, and whether a Research Passport form is necessary.
The NHS aim to have most contracts out within 4 weeks of the request. If NHS Occupational Health clearance and Disclosure clearance are needed it can take longer for honorary cover to be processed as HR cannot request the cover from the NHS until all the pre-employment checks have been completed. It is imperative that the required documents are submitted as early as possible before the person begins work.
Therefore, the HR Team should be notified of appointments as early as practicable, particularly in order to initiate online PVG Scheme and Occupational Health applications, and candidates should be asked to bring all the required documents with them to the interview where possible or provide them promptly upon accepting an offer of employment.
- On commencing recruitment, the need for honorary cover and associated pre-employment checks should be considered with reference to the NHS Honorary Cover Table and advice sought from HR as required. Requirements should be established when a job description is submitted for grading.
- For advertised posts, a job requisition is raised through People & Money. The advert and/or job description should state the requirements for the post (e.g. NHS honorary contract, PVG Scheme membership) and the PVG or disclosure screening questionnaire inserted where applicable. Raquel Munoz should be added as an Offer Specialist under the Hiring Team section on behalf of HR.
- In conjunction with carrying out a right to work check at or after interview, the recruiting department should request additional forms of identification if a Disclosure/PVG check is required. Verified copies of 3 forms of ID, are required at least one of which should be photographic and one address-based (e.g. passport, driving licence and a utility bill).
- Once the decision is made on the successful candidate, an offer of employment must be made subject to satisfactory Occupational Health, Standard Disclosure or PVG scheme record/update as appropriate and outstanding details and documentation requested from the appointee. Clinical staff (Doctors/Dentists) that are new to the University are required to provide a copy of their most recent payslip to match their starting salary and clinical increment date.
- The recruiting department submits all details and documentation to HR. Once HR have received all documents required, including the completion of the ‘Upload proof of right to work (RTW)’ onboarding task, the recruiter can proceed with the ‘Request contract’ task in People & Money and the employment contract can be processed and issued.
Members of staff are not permitted to commence work until satisfactory pre-employment checks have been completed and they have received their NHS Honorary Cover.
The Standard Disclosure application form is available from the Disclosure Scotland website.
Please contact HR in order to arrange for a PVG application or link to the online Occupational Health questionnaire to be issued. HR initiate the applications then the applicant will receive an email allowing them to complete their details.
Please note that in addition to the documents required for honorary cover, clinical staff (Doctors/Dentists) that are new to the University are required to provide a copy of their most recent NHS payslip. This allows them to be appointed to the equivalent point on the University payscale and maintain their incremental progression.
Organisations are required to apply for a Disclosure Scotland criminal convictions check for anyone who is involved in the provision of a Health Service.
Therefore anyone who has physical contact with NHS patients as part of their “normal duties” requires a Disclosure. The level of Disclosure required will depend on whether the person is undertaking “regulated work” with Children or Protected Adults.
If the work the individual is doing is considered to fall into the definition of “regulated work” with patients and is part of their “normal duties”, then they will require a PVG check. If the work the individual is doing is not considered to be “regulated work” but still involves direct contact with patients then they will require a Standard Disclosure.
Disclosure checks are only required for staff who have physical contact with patients. Therefore those who are just accessing patient data, or only talking to patients over the phone will not require a Disclosure check.
For more information please see the following document and refer to the dedicated section on Disclosure and PVG applications:
Occupational Health Checks are typically required for any staff that have physical contact with patients or some work with tissue.
If a member of staff is transferring to the University from NHS Lothian in a similar role that requires the same level of occupational health check they may not need to complete the occupational health form, unless they require a Research Passport. This applies to staff transferring from NHS Lothian only, and not to staff from other NHS Boards.
Please notify HR of employees requiring an Occupational Health check so that they can be provided with a link to the online form (note that the email they receive will be from 'hostedcohort.co.uk'). Please confirm the employee's name, email address and the provide a copy of their job description.
The Research Passport is a document used within the NHS to enable non-NHS research staff to work with NHS patients, tissue or data in connection with a NHS R&D study. The Research Passport allows for the issue of either an Honorary Research Contract or Letter of Access by the relevant NHS Boards/Trusts where the member of staff will be working.
A Research Passport is required to be completed for any research staff (who are not Doctors/Dentists/Nurses/Other Healthcare Professionals) on an approved R&D study, irrespective of whether they are working outwith NHS Lothian; as well as for any Nurses who are working outwith NHS Lothian.
Where the work is not in connection with a R&D study, a Research Passport is not required and for Doctors/Dentists/Nurses working within NHS Lothian an Honorary Clinical contract is issued and so a Research Passport is also not necessary.
The person requiring the passport is responsible for having the form completed. The Researcher should complete Sections1, 2 & 3. Their line manger should complete Section 4. Once these sections have been completed, the form should be sent to College HR, who will complete Section 5 of the form.
Please note that a NRS, IRAS, REC or R&D number is essential in Section 2 and the "Manager in NHS organisation" in Section 2 should ideally be the same individual signing Section 4. They must be the manager in the relevant department in which the work is being carried out, preferably the PI.
Please refer to the Research Passport Checklist for further details on completing the form.
It has been recognised that there may be situations where the timescale associated with the pre-employment checking process and the request of NHS Honorary Cover causes serious problems within departments.
In such circumstances, Human Resources may, at their discretion, permit the new member of staff to commence employment. Permission will be granted in the following circumstances:
- where it can be demonstrated that the post holder will not undertake any work which involves access to NHS Patients or identifiable patient data/tissue until all pre-employment checks have been completed (if required) and their NHS Honorary Cover has been issued;
- where the post holder's previous employer is NHS Lothian; they are already a member of the PVG scheme; and all their NHS honorary contract documents have been sent to Human Resources
In all circumstances, HR must already be in receipt of any pre-employment check documents (Disclosure/Occupational Health) before a risk assessment can be approved and before the post holder can commence employment.
To make a request for an individual to start before receipt of satisfactory pre-employment checks and Honorary NHS Cover, a risk assessment form should be completed by the line manager who will be supervising the post holder (or their nominated representative) and must be authorised by Human Resources.
A confidentiality statement should be signed by staff that may incidentally come into contact with identifiable patient data by virtue of the fact of where they work (e.g. receptionists working in a clinical setting), but access to identifiable patient data & the use of this data is not part of their normal duties.
This only applies to staff who are not researchers, are not working on research projects, and where no part of the duties of their job description requires access to patient data and the access is merely incidental. These types of staff would just need to sign the confidentiality statement and no NHS cover would be required. A copy of the signed confidentiality must be submitted to HR.
Extensions to NHS Honorary Cover will automatically be requested when an extension to the member of staff’s University contract is processed, or when their current NHS Honorary cover expires while they remain an employee of the University. (Similarly, cessation of honorary cover is dealt with automatically where an individual leaves the University or transfers to a new post in which cover is no longer required).
See Table 2 of the NHS Honorary Cover table for information relating to extensions.
For staff requiring Research Passports, a new application will need to be competed to obtain the extension if their current Research Passport is more than 3 years old.
If the current Research Passport is more than 3 years old and a new one needs to be completed for an extension then, if required for the post, a new Standard Disclosure will need to be completed if the previous certificate is more than 6 months old. Additionally, if required for the post, a new Occupational Health check will need to be undertaken if the previous fit slip is more than 3 years old.
If the Researcher has a current Research Passport that is not more than 3 years old, then College HR are able to make an amendment to their end date on their existing Research Passport and re-submit the Research Passport to the NHS along with the request for their extension to their Honorary Research Contract / Letter of Access. No other documents are required.
For Visiting Doctors who are not members of staff and will be either observing or treating NHS Lothian patients, the NHS Lothian Visiting Honorary Doctor Request form needs to be completed and returned to College HR who will organise the necessary cover and request any additional information needed.
This form is ONLY to be used for Visiting Doctors who are not members of staff.
For other visitors or volunteers who will be working with NHS patients, but not in a treatment capacity, please contact HR with as much information as possible.
If you have any queries regarding this process please contact the CMVM HR Team:
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