Corporate healthcare or a health screening: which do you need?

Your board wants staff health checks. A new hire starts in a fortnight. Two engineers need visa medicals before a posting abroad. You search for help and find two services that sound almost the same: corporate healthcare and a health screening.

Here's the plain version. Corporate healthcare is a programme an organisation arranges for its people. A health screening is something one person books because they want a thorough look at their own health. Both happen at 117a Harley Street, and both can involve a doctor, a blood pressure check and blood tests. What differs is the question each one answers, and the document that comes out at the end.

If you're an employer and already know what you need, our corporate healthcare team can plan it with you. Email info@medicalexpressclinic.co.uk, say you're an employer, or call 0207 499 1991.

What does corporate healthcare cover?

It's occupational work, planned around your organisation's requirements. Once those are clear, we plan the service, book the clinical work and return fitness-to-work and screening reports through the corporate process you've agreed with us. One account can hold:

• Pre-employment medicals for new hires, often the first thing an employer asks for, completed against your written specification or your own form.
• Workforce and annual staff screening: doctor-led assessments for staff and key personnel, shaped around the roles being covered. Our Health MOT packages can sit inside the programme, or we can agree a bespoke assessment.
• Visa medicals for staff moving abroad, across multiple destinations, coordinated with your HR team or global mobility partners. Payment on account means employees don't have to pay and reclaim.
• On-site assessments, where your premises are suitable. Doctors and nursing staff can attend.
• Structured wellness work for a team, alongside the clinical services, when you want a programme rather than a one-off visit.

Assessments take place at Harley Street, on suitable employer premises or at nearby specialist partner centres, and we coordinate the whole service and the corporate report. Corporate clients have dedicated account management, with direct invoicing and 30-day credit terms by arrangement. Pricing for employer programmes is bespoke.

Same-week appointments are often available for occupational work, subject to capacity. A large group, or a visa protocol for a particular destination, may need longer, so it helps to share your dates early. Report timing depends on the service and any external investigations, and we confirm it when the specification is agreed.

This service sits with Medical Express Clinic. It's separate from the occupational health service at our sister clinic.

What does a health screening do?

A health screening is for one person who feels well and wants to know where they stand. The doctor takes a history, examines you and goes through the results with you. The report is yours, and no employer is waiting at the end of it for a fit or unfit line.

The UK National Screening Committee describes screening as a way of finding apparently healthy people who may have a higher chance of a condition. A positive finding usually leads to further tests rather than a diagnosis on the spot. An occupational medical starts from the other end: a role, a workplace or a destination has a medical requirement, and the assessment checks it has been met.

Corporate healthcare and health screening, side by side.

If you're an executive who wants a thorough personal assessment rather than an employer programme, the Ultimate Health MOT at The Health Screening Clinic is the closer fit.

What does HR receive, and what does the employee keep?

Most of the confusion between the two comes down to one assumption: that whoever pays the invoice owns the results. At Medical Express Clinic, employee health information is handled in strict confidence under medical and data protection regulations. Individual results go to the employee. With the employee's consent, the employer receives a fitness-to-work summary saying fit, unfit, or fit with adjustments. Anything further needs the employee's explicit written consent.

That rule fits the wider guidance. The GMC's advice on disclosing information for employment and similar purposes is built around consent, relevance and sharing a limited opinion rather than a whole record. The ICO treats workers' health information as special category data under UK GDPR. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 places duties on employers for health, safety and welfare, though those duties don't entitle them to the full medical file.

Usually the summary is all an organisation needs: can this person start, travel or work with adjustments? If a role genuinely calls for more, that's a conversation with the employee, and their agreement in writing.

Which one should you book?

A few common situations, and where each one leads:

• If you work in HR, occupational health or global mobility and need a programme for five or more people, start with corporate healthcare. We agree the specification, the locations, the reporting and the account terms before the first person attends.
• If your organisation has its own medical form, send it in advance. We'll confirm the tests, the location and the appointment length from that form, so nobody has to guess which package matches it.
• If you have no form, tell us what the role and the destination require, and we'll agree the specification in writing before the bookings go in.
• If staff are moving abroad, mention visa medicals when you get in touch, since each destination's protocol changes the tests and the timing. Our visa medical checklist is worth sending to each traveller.
• If a start date is close, give us the date up front, and ask where each test will happen so travel and time off can be planned.
• If you've been sent employer or visa papers, book the appointment that completes that form rather than a standard GP appointment.
• If you're a candidate arranging your own medical, book through our pre-employment medicals page.
• If you simply want a thorough check on your own health, a health screening is the right choice: the Essential MOT is £495 and the Advanced MOT £999, and our guide to Essential or Advanced helps you pick.

If you feel unwell, or have a new or worsening symptom, see a GP or contact NHS 111. For chest pain or any emergency, call 999 or go to A&E.

Medical Express Clinic has practised at 117a Harley Street, London W1G 6AT, since 1984. We're CQC-registered and a short walk from Oxford Circus and Bond Street.

Related guides: what a pre-employment medical covers and what a full body MOT costs in London.