# How Smart Clinic's flexible model works

- **Episode:** [129](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/129.md) (2024-09-19)
- **Type:** interview
- **Tags:** flexible-model, how-it-works, smartclinic
- **Time:** 14:46–17:17 (start 886s)
- **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/129?t=886](https://truthliesandwork.com/129?t=886)

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[14:46] Leanne Elliott: So in terms of— just, I want to make, make sure I really understand how, how Spark Clinic works, Harry. So if I was an employee in a business, and my business, do they engage you on kind of a retainer basis, a contract basis? Are you then the kind of the signpost for occupational health referrals?
[15:04] Harry Cramer: We give people that option to not have retainers with us and to not have ongoing costs and to not have ongoing fees because we want to make it really easy for anyone to access occupational health. Things like, we're a small business, should never be a reason to say I can't possibly use occupational health because that would mean that our services aren't being made available to the people who arguably need them most. Um, so no, no retainers. You can just Contact SmartClinic, go to our website, set up an account, and we're there in your pocket whenever you need us. And it's somewhere that we try to be really flexible with clients, because if you need occupational health support, we want to make sure that you can get it
[15:43] Leanne Elliott: In your experience, is that, is that something that managers, um, that they recognize? Could a manager say, I think, I think you're, you know, I've seen changing behaviors, everything okay, this person is actually going through a bit of a hard time, the manager said, okay, would you feel comfortable, you know, making that referral to occupational health? And at that point, do you work directly with the individual?
[16:07] Harry Cramer: Yes, yes, and we'll work directly with the individual, um, but we'll also produce a report for that management to help them manage the employee as well. So that, that report will contain things like suggestions on some adjustments that they could make, hopefully temporarily, It will include things like possible support options available for that employee. It will include things like advice on whether somebody is currently able to be at work, and if so, in what capacity. So can they do all of their job? Can they just do some of their job, but they might need help with other elements of their job? But giving the advice and the report to the management team— often it will be the HR team— is absolutely fundamental because it's giving them the skills to manage that employee effectively. And just know what to do next. You know, as we said, that they're not a medical professional, so if someone comes to them and gives them a complicated diagnosis or a very long-winded medication name, they're not going to know what to do with that information, nor should they. It's not their expertise. So we want to make sure that it's really clear for them in terms of what they need to do next to make sure that employee is also getting, getting the support they need