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DOccMed Part 1
DOccMed MCQ topics: what Part 1 covers, with sample questions
DOccMed Part 1 is a best-of-five MCQ paper. It covers fitness for work, occupational health law, occupational disease, toxicology and hazards, health surveillance, ethics and confidentiality, and sickness absence. Most questions put you in a workplace situation and ask what you would advise. This page explains what each topic tests and gives three worked sample questions.
Last reviewed October 2026
What is the DOccMed Part 1 paper like?
Each question has a short scenario and five options, and you choose the single best answer. The paper is sat online. For this year's MCQ date, see DOccMed exam dates.
The questions test judgement more than recall. Several options are often partly right, and the skill is picking the one an experienced occupational physician would choose. Reading around a topic is not the same as being able to answer questions on it under time pressure.
Which topics does the DOccMed MCQ cover?
These are the main areas the paper draws on, with what each one tests and where candidates commonly go wrong.
Fitness for work
Tests: Advising on fitness after illness or injury, return to work, adjustments, and safety critical roles.
Common trap: Answering with diagnosis and treatment when the question is about function and the demands of the job.
Legislation and the employer's duties
Tests: Applying health and safety law, the Equality Act 2010, RIDDOR, and COSHH to a real workplace decision.
Common trap: Knowing the name of a regulation but not who holds the duty or what it requires in practice.
Occupational disease
Tests: Recognising work related disease, including occupational asthma, dermatitis, noise induced hearing loss, and musculoskeletal disorders.
Common trap: Missing the occupational history that links the symptoms to the work.
Toxicology and workplace hazards
Tests: Chemical, physical, and biological hazards, routes of exposure, and their health effects.
Common trap: Recalling the toxin but not the practical advice a manager or worker needs.
Health surveillance
Tests: When surveillance is required, what it involves, and what to do with an abnormal result.
Common trap: Treating surveillance as a substitute for controlling exposure in the first place.
Ethics, consent and confidentiality
Tests: Consent for reports, what can be shared with an employer, and conflicts between the worker's and the employer's interests.
Common trap: Sharing clinical detail when the manager only needs functional advice.
Health promotion and sickness absence
Tests: Managing short and long term absence, workplace health programmes, and mental health at work.
Common trap: Choosing an option that sounds supportive but does not address the actual problem.
The Faculty of Occupational Medicine publishes the current syllabus and pass mark. Check fom.ac.uk for the details that apply to your sitting.
DOccMed sample questions
Three original questions in the style of the exam. Choose your answer, then open the explanation.
Question 1 · Fitness for work
You are the occupational physician carrying out a pre-placement assessment for a job assembling small electronic components. The applicant has a conditional job offer. She mentions intermittent numbness and tingling in both hands, worse at night, over the past few months. Your examination today is normal. The recruiting manager wants a decision today. What is the MOST appropriate next step?
- A.Advise that she is unfit for the role because of probable carpal tunnel syndrome
- B.Advise that she is fit without restriction because today's examination is normal
- C.Take a fuller history of her symptoms and hand function before advising
- D.Advise the manager that health questions are not allowed before she starts
- E.Withdraw the offer until nerve conduction studies have been completed
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Take a fuller history of her symptoms and hand function before advising
Her symptoms fluctuate, so a normal examination today does not settle the question. You need a clearer picture of the pattern, its effect on hand function, and how it relates to the demands of the job before giving advice. Declaring her unfit assumes a diagnosis and an outcome you have not established. Clearing her outright ignores the history. Health questions are permitted once a conditional offer has been made, and withdrawing the offer for tests is premature.
Question 2 · Legislation (RIDDOR)
You are the occupational physician for a manufacturing company. An employee fell from a stepladder at work yesterday and has a confirmed fracture of the wrist. He was treated in the emergency department and sent home. His manager asks you what the company needs to do about reporting. What is the MOST appropriate advice?
- A.Report only if he is off work for more than seven consecutive days
- B.The employer should report it to the HSE as a specified injury
- C.You should report it yourself, as the doctor who knows of the injury
- D.Gather a full account of the fall before deciding whether to report
- E.Record it in the accident book only, as he was not admitted
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. The employer should report it to the HSE as a specified injury
A fracture other than to fingers, thumbs, or toes is a specified injury under RIDDOR, so it is reportable whatever the length of absence. The reporting duty sits with the employer as the responsible person, not with the treating or occupational physician. The seven day rule applies to injuries that are not specified injuries. Gathering more information would not change whether this is reportable, and hospital admission is not the test.
Question 3 · Health surveillance
You are the appointed doctor for a battery recycling plant. A worker under medical surveillance for lead has a blood lead result above the suspension level. He feels well, and his examination is normal. His supervisor asks whether he can carry on in his usual role. What is the BEST course of action?
- A.Allow him to continue and repeat the blood test at the next routine review
- B.Start chelation therapy so that he can remain in his usual role
- C.Allow him to continue in his role if he wears a suitable respirator
- D.Certify him unfit for lead work and ask the employer to review controls
- E.Refer him to a neurologist before making any decision about his work
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Certify him unfit for lead work and ask the employer to review controls
Once blood lead reaches the suspension level, the worker should be removed from exposure, whether or not he has symptoms. The result also signals that exposure controls may be failing, so the employer needs to investigate. Waiting for the next routine review delays action that is needed now. Chelation is not used to keep someone working in exposure, and a respirator alone does not replace suspension. A normal examination makes a neurology referral unnecessary as a first step.
How should you revise the DOccMed MCQ topics?
- Start question practice early, on every topic, before you feel ready.
- Review every wrong answer until you can say why the correct option was right and why each distractor was wrong.
- Track your score by topic and spend most of your time on the weakest two or three.
- Give legislation and topics far from your clinical background more time than feels comfortable.
For the mistakes that cost candidates marks, see DOccMed MCQ practice or the DOccMed preparation guide.
Common questions
What topics are covered in the DOccMed MCQ?
DOccMed Part 1 covers fitness for work, occupational health law and the employer's duties, occupational disease, toxicology and workplace hazards, health surveillance, ethics and confidentiality, and sickness absence and health promotion. The Faculty of Occupational Medicine publishes the current syllabus.
What format are DOccMed Part 1 questions?
Part 1 is a best-of-five MCQ paper, sat online. Most questions describe a workplace situation and ask for the most appropriate advice or action, so they test applied judgement more than recall.
What is the DOccMed MCQ pass mark?
The pass mark varies from sitting to sitting, but on average it falls between 65% and 70%. The Faculty of Occupational Medicine sets it for each paper by standard setting, so check fom.ac.uk for the figure that applies to your sitting. Practice scores, including ours, are not a prediction of your exam mark: question banks differ in difficulty, and the real paper is standard set.
Which DOccMed MCQ topics are hardest?
It varies by candidate, but many find legislation hardest because questions ask how the law applies to a decision rather than what it says. Topics far from your clinical background usually need the most practice.
How should I revise the DOccMed MCQ topics?
Practise exam style questions on every topic early, review each wrong answer until you understand why the correct option was right, and spend more of your time on the topics where you score lowest.
Practise every topic with exam style questions
The DOccMed MCQ practice tool covers each syllabus topic with best-of-five questions and explanations, and shows you where your weak areas are.
Real exam style questions. No card required.