Abnormal ECG

[Rocombe11]

Hello All I attended a medical for train driver and was told that I had an abnormal ECG, the condition being left axis deviation. This is a common abnormality, affecting about 10 percent of people, it is not life threatening and does not affect me in any way. Rang the TOC and they said that they would book me in to see a cardiologist. This was ten days ago and I still have not heard back.

Anyone have any idea on the stance of TOCs regarding this. Do they quietly drop candidates with heart abnormalities (even harmless ones) or do they have to carry on with the testing process.until you are eliminated on safety grounds. Anyone else with the same heart abnormality make it through and be offered a train drivers position?

 

[keith43003]

Hello All I attended a medical for train driver and was told that I had an abnormal ECG, the condition being left axis deviation. This is a common abnormality, affecting about 10 percent of people, it is not life threatening and does not affect me in any way. Rang the TOC and they said that they would book me in to see a cardiologist. This was ten days ago and I still have not heard back.

Anyone have any idea on the stance of TOCs regarding this. Do they quietly drop candidates with heart abnormalities (even harmless ones) or do they have to carry on with the testing process.until you are eliminated on safety grounds. Anyone else with the same heart abnormality make it through and be offered a train drivers position?

I wouldn't be too worried about it. I discovered previous to applying and successfully getting a drivers job that I had an abnormal ecg (innocent heart murmur). However, I also managed to pass a medical for the Royal Marines without any issues, which is where the heart murmur was discovered.

Quick trip to the cardiologist to do an echo cardiogram and that should be a tick in the box for you matey.

Good luck!

 

[SPADTrap]

Not sure on how to advise you but I was paranoid about something like this when I did my medical!

Best of luck with getting the OK! Hope you're soon doing the job!

 

[156441]

Funnily enough 3 trainees on my course got referred with 'heart problems' which on further investigation turned out to be a poor ECG machine!!

Needless to say the TOC where not amused (and we all got jobs!!)

There are plenty of drivers (myself included), with minor irregularities and you'll find a vast number of the walking public with them as well.

 

[Rocombe11]

Thanks for the encouraging replys, as it turns out, had an email today, the person in HR dealing with me was on holiday last week, so hopefully will get sorted soon.

 

[tlionhart]

Funnily enough 3 trainees on my course got referred with 'heart problems' which on further investigation turned out to be a poor ECG machine!!

Needless to say the TOC where not amused (and we all got jobs!!)

There are plenty of drivers (myself included), with minor irregularities and you'll find a vast number of the walking public with them as well.

Lol same thing here.
Turned out I was 'tickety-boo'

 

[me123]

Speaking from a medical point of view and not a railway one...

As you already know, it's a common abnormality of the ECG, and is most likely in the realms of normal. The more concerning causes of LAD that come into my mind would all show other signs on the ECG, and whilst I obviously haven't seen your ECG, that you are just mentioning the LAD sounds reassuring. I suspect that the cardiologist won't have any concern with you continuing into the job. They may wish to do an echocardiogram (which is an ultrasound scan of the heart) for further reassurance; I wouldn't get too worried about that either.

As has been mentioned, if you test lots of people (and this is true for any test), you'll often find "problems" that are variants of normal, or that would never cause a problem. If you hadn't been applying for a job, you almost certainly wouldn't have had an ECG without good reason, and this would never have been detected.

In order to stop you assuming the role, I would imagine that they would need to demonstrate that the medical condition in question would impede your ability to undertake the job. (At least, I would expect this to be enshrined in employment law). In the case of heart conditions, they obviously want to minimise the chance that you could have any cardiac event whilst in control of a train. For this reason, I would reckon that the cardiology opinion is purely a precaution to ensure that your condition would not pose a risk to passengers and other rail users - the HR department at the TOC clearly cannot assess this risk, hence the cardiologist.

Hope all goes well for you.

 

[Rocombe11]

Funnily enough 3 trainees on my course got referred with 'heart problems' which on further investigation turned out to be a poor ECG machine!!

Needless to say the TOC where not amused (and we all got jobs!!)

There are plenty of drivers (myself included), with minor irregularities and you'll find a vast number of the walking public with them as well.

I will find out tomorrow whether the machine was faulty because I am seeing my GP to have the test redone, the only reason I know that I have LAD is that the nurse blurted it out, and then said the Doctor would explain it to me, when I saw him he didn't want to explain it to me, all he said was to not worry about it-a sure fire recipe to get me at it!! Anyway to get rid of the anxiety that this caused I booked in to see my GP.

 

[Rocombe11]

Just an update. Have seen the cardiologist, and had a echocardiogram,and did the impression of a hamster on a treadmill, the Doctor passed me and told me to lose 25 lbs, give up smoking and take more exercise-apart from that tickety boo!

 

[SPADTrap]

Just an update. Have seen the cardiologist, and had a echocardiogram,and did the impression of a hamster on a treadmill, the Doctor passed me and told me to lose 25 lbs, give up smoking and take more exercise-apart from that tickety boo!

Top man glad to hear it! Enjoy!

 

[TDK]

Just an update. Have seen the cardiologist, and had a echocardiogram,and did the impression of a hamster on a treadmill, the Doctor passed me and told me to lose 25 lbs, give up smoking and take more exercise-apart from that tickety boo!

It's good to see the company invested in you to see a cardiologist. It is a guarantee for the company because if you have a serious incident even if it is not your fault and the daily mail find out you could imagine what the outcome would be, seriously though, if you did have an incident that needed the RIAB to investigate they would check your medical records and would not be too happy if the company had not put you forward for confirmation of fitness for duty.

 

[me123]

Not at all surprised with the outcome, but fantastic news nonetheless! Best of luck with the new job.

 

[HSTfan!!!]

When I had mine the doctor told me I had had a heart attack at some point in my life, not impossible but quite unlikely being that I am in my twenties and reasonably fit. Scared me for a bit and was told I'd have to see a cardiologist but it turned out to be a fault with the sensors.