PSNI Recruitment - Stage 4 - The Medical

Potential Constable Dibble

Gotta love a wee armpit hair trim from the SMT guy!!

Johannes_Cabal

MrBlack93 wrote: »

I've got a quick question about colour deficiency as it's annoying me. Could someone tell me what the test they use involves? I've done some searches and people are saying that it's not the ishihara test (Number and dots), if that's the case what test do they use? Has anyone had any difficulty with this? Has anyone failed on these grounds? did u appeal? if so what was the result?

The test isn't as bad as the standard coloured dots with a number. I'm apparently colourblind and passed it no problem when I did it in the 1309 campaign.

If like me you have no real problems distinguishing colour in day to day life, it should be no problem.

There was a colour test, viral thing going about Facebook a few months back that is essentially the same idea. Have a look at it and hopefully it will put your mind at ease.

Mop a top

Potential Constable Dibble wrote: »

Gotta love a wee armpit hair trim from the SMT guy!!

Lol I've heard of him having to go further south!!!! Be thankful armpit hair needed a trim lol

Razer33

Hi guys have my medical coming up soon and was wondering if they tell you on the day if there is a concern or if you are being deemed medically unfit. Or is being deemed unfit communicated via letter the same way as being deemed medically fit?

StingrayGC

If they allow you to do the medical screening everything is pretty golden, if you have an issue they won't allow you to take the test due to the involved expenses.
I found that at each stage of the medical I was given a subtle no problems there.
If you think that you may have an issue, get a letter from your doctor giving as much detail as possible to allow the doctor to make a decision there and then.

Razer33

Thanks Stingray, I dont forsee any problems it was more just a random thought that popped into my head as to whether you could potentially fail on something and they put you through it all without mentioning.

KevBo2015

Be nice to the nurses and they might drop you a hint! The nurse I had was lovely and escorted me to the gates and gave a little hint that as far as they were concerned no problems!

If your successful they will be putting needles into most of your arms, so remember your manners haha!!

fish2690

Does anyone, who has done their medical, have hay fever and takes prescribed antihistamines for it?

iamveryhopeful

hello everyone. I was wondering (and I do not know the rules so please excuse if this is not allowed) but can anyone detail how the medical is for me please?

As in, just exactly what do they do? Do they take blood samples (needle phobia) or urine samples or is the only test they do the hair follicle one?.

Is there a hearing test and eyesight etc?

Generally speaking I would just like to have a step to step guide of exactly what it is they do (if that's possible)

Many thanks in advance people

MikeOneJuliet

iamveryhopeful wrote: »

hello everyone. I was wondering (and I do not know the rules so please excuse if this is not allowed) but can anyone detail how the medical is for me please?

As in, just exactly what do they do? Do they take blood samples (needle phobia) or urine samples or is the only test they do the hair follicle one?.

Is there a hearing test and eyesight etc?

Generally speaking I would just like to have a step to step guide of exactly what it is they do (if that's possible)

Many thanks in advance people

You'll do an eyesight test reading words and letters, colour test and a hearing test. The Dr will take a urine sample and do a quick check of your mobility and functionality and then you'll give hair samples for drugs screening. Very straightforward!

iamveryhopeful

MikeOneJuliet wrote: »

You'll do an eyesight test reading words and letters, colour test and a hearing test. The Dr will take a urine sample and do a quick check of your mobility and functionality and then you'll give hair samples for drugs screening. Very straightforward!

Well thank you very much for your response. It is much appreciated

did you do your medical and how did you do?

I am at the stage of sending back my vetting forms and my online learning is due to commence very soon, but it is nice to know the ins and outs of future stages (that I can only hope I will manage to progress to).

Thank goodness they wont be prodding me with any needles though! Its interesting that they do the substance misuse test within the medical. Makes sense and means one less days holiday used from work

It is just your normal reccy drugs they test for in the hair test or do they screen you for everything under the sun?

MikeOneJuliet

iamveryhopeful wrote: »

Well thank you very much for your response. It is much appreciated

did you do your medical and how did you do?

I am at the stage of sending back my vetting forms and my online learning is due to commence very soon, but it is nice to know the ins and outs of future stages (that I can only hope I will manage to progress to).

Thank goodness they wont be prodding me with any needles though! Its interesting that they do the substance misuse test within the medical. Makes sense and means one less days holiday used from work

It is just your normal reccy drugs they test for in the hair test or do they screen you for everything under the sun?

Did my medical two years ago, I'm out on the ground now. Drugs will test for any illegal substances as far as I remember. You get to declare any medicines etc you've taken recently. You'll be soon to hit the waiting room. The horrible phase of waiting for your call. But if you've got this far and your vetting clears then you should be seeing the big pearly gates of GV soon enough

iamveryhopeful

MikeOneJuliet wrote: »

Did my medical two years ago, I'm out on the ground now. Drugs will test for any illegal substances as far as I remember. You get to declare any medicines etc you've taken recently. You'll be soon to hit the waiting room. The horrible phase of waiting for your call. But if you've got this far and your vetting clears then you should be seeing the big pearly gates of GV soon enough

Haha congratulations mate.

How are you finding it may I ask?

I haven't taken any medicines recently nor any of the recreational drugs that I believe the test accounts for. I have recently taken performance enhancing supplements that I am curious as to whether will show up or not.

Fingers crossed I end up at GV.....

Thanks for your response again.

Razer33

fish2690 wrote: »

Does anyone, who has done their medical, have hay fever and takes prescribed antihistamines for it?

I did, no problems at all but just declared it on the forms and to the person taking the hair samples

MikeOneJuliet

iamveryhopeful wrote: »

Haha congratulations mate.

How are you finding it may I ask?

I haven't taken any medicines recently nor any of the recreational drugs that I believe the test accounts for. I have recently taken performance enhancing supplements that I am curious as to whether will show up or not.

Fingers crossed I end up at GV.....

Thanks for your response again.

Its great! Far better than i ever imagined. You'll find that you feel totally lost and like you started learning all over again when you hit the streets but its great fun. Good luck with the application!

atd2492

Hello all, just looking some information in regards the eye test. Recently received date for medical and have had eyes tested. Passed all but the first part of the requirements which is 6/12 or better in bad eye at recent test with optician. I've had a lazy eye from birth But my vision is fine and have not needed glasses in over 8-9 years. Are they very strict on meeting all the requirements for the vision.

mk1234

Looking a little bit of advice please guys, having a lower merit score for 1405, I gave up hope of being processed. I am very in to working out and I have recently started a steriod course to bulk up over the winter months. Im now being processed through the 1405 stages and I have received my PCA date, if I make it to the medical stage will steriods be tested for? I really hope I havent f*cked this up, ive been chasing this career for so long... Silly I know...... thanks in advance ðŸ‘

Shield

I think it's recreational drugs only, but I could be wrong. There are just too many steroids out there to try and detect.

mk1234 wrote: »

...if I make it to the medical stage will steriods be tested for?

Mop a top

Do you really need them? Call me ignorant but why would anyone need them? Just baffles me! If you do get to the medical I'd declare every thing

Johannes_Cabal

mk1234 wrote: »

Looking a little bit of advice please guys, having a lower merit score for 1405, I gave up hope of being processed. I am very in to working out and I have recently started a steriod course to bulk up over the winter months. Im now being processed through the 1405 stages and I have received my PCA date, if I make it to the medical stage will steriods be tested for? I really hope I havent f*cked this up, ive been chasing this career for so long... Silly I know...... thanks in advance ðŸ‘

From what I remember from the 1309 medical, they do test for steroids, however I'm not 100% as I could have read it in relation to another force.

Probably best contacting the relevant department and find out sooner in the process rather than later. At least if you are honest at this stage and don't get in, it shouldn't bar you from future recruitment.

iamveryhopeful

forgive me if I am wrong here but steroids are legal to take and possess for personal use aren't they? They are just illegal to sell?

Therefore, as a police officer obviously it would be against the job taking them as you would have clearly purchased them from your source and ignored the crime that they were committing I.e. selling. But as an applicant and therefore a civilian then surely steroid use would not be something to fail on? I can't recall reading anywhere in the psni documentation about steroids. Its all alcohol misuse and the 5 main categories of recreational drugs?

In addition to this, it is extremely costly to screen for steroids and with the numerous different types then surely on a financial basis it wouldn't be best practice to test for them at this stage?

Anybody with more knowledge of this feel free to correct me

Life_On_Mars

mk1234 wrote: »

Looking a little bit of advice please guys, having a lower merit score for 1405, I gave up hope of being processed. I am very in to working out and I have recently started a steriod course to bulk up over the winter months. Im now being processed through the 1405 stages and I have received my PCA date, if I make it to the medical stage will steriods be tested for? I really hope I havent f*cked this up, ive been chasing this career for so long... Silly I know...... thanks in advance ðŸ‘

I'm not qualified to judge, but how serious are you about a Police career if you are willing to damage your chance(not to mention health) by taking steroids. They are banned from all sports, the armed forces etc with good reason. If you are only willing to tow the line to get a job, what other morally questionable practices will you justify in the future. If you had to take them for a medical reason(what they are designed for) then fair enough.

Sorry for the rant but integrity is everything. Don't take any non prescribed medication. I used to work with junior sports teams and hammer home the destructive nature of steroids. If you get banned from a cycling or rugby club for certain behaviour then it's probably not going to be welcome in a Policing organisation.

iamveryhopeful

Life_On_Mars wrote: »

I'm not qualified to judge, but how serious are you about a Police career if you are willing to damage your chance(not to mention health) by taking steroids. They are banned from all sports, the armed forces etc with good reason. If you are only willing to tow the line to get a job, what other morally questionable practices will you justify in the future. If you had to take them for a medical reason(what they are designed for) then fair enough.

Sorry for the rant but integrity is everything.

Whilst I agree with you in principal ( to an extent) the psni recruitment is a bit of a joke with regards to the time between each step of the process. I he received the letter a good while ago about recruitment being halted due to budget (the same letter I received) and then not hearing anything for months. If I am honest I had completely given up on it. Therefore, if he too essentially gave up on his hopes of getting in then taking some gear for vanity is hardly comparable to other "morally questionable practices" that you speak of.

If researched and done correctly and safely steroid use is no harsher on a persons health than the normal drinking and smoking. As with everything, abusing them is where you get serious health implications.

Anyway, this is nothing personal I just don't see how you connect taking some (lets face it legal substances) can lead to your premise he would make other "morally questionable practices" judgements in the job in the future?

Life_On_Mars

iamveryhopeful wrote: »

Whilst I agree with you in principal ( to an extent) the psni recruitment is a bit of a joke with regards to the time between each step of the process. I he received the letter a good while ago about recruitment being halted due to budget (the same letter I received) and then not hearing anything for months. If I am honest I had completely given up on it. Therefore, if he too essentially gave up on his hopes of getting in then taking some gear for vanity is hardly comparable to other "morally questionable practices" that you speak of.

If researched and done correctly and safely steroid use is no harsher on a persons health than the normal drinking and smoking. As with everything, abusing them is where you get serious health implications.

Anyway, this is nothing personal I just don't see how you connect taking some (lets face it legal substances) can lead to your premise he would make other "morally questionable practices" judgements in the job in the future?

If you can justify involving yourself in criminality whilst seeing yourself as a potential police constable then what else will you do if people aren't looking. Being a policeman is as much about what you do off duty as on and I don't want to get into a back and forth on this so this will be my last post. If you think it's fine then offer it at the medical, don't wait to see if it comes up. It was posted here because he knows it's not fine and he needs your reassurance.

iamveryhopeful

Life_On_Mars wrote: »

If you can justify involving yourself in criminality whilst seeing yourself as a potential police constable then what else will you do if people aren't looking. Being a policeman is as much about what you do off duty as on and I don't want to get into a back and forth on this so this will be my last post. If you think it's fine then offer it at the medical, don't wait to see if it comes up. It was posted here because he knows it's not fine and he needs your reassurance.

My point was not that I think its ok to justify. I was merely saying that many people in the recruitment process have likely become disillusioned with the whole thing and just written it off. During this period some may have taken recreational drugs or in this case steroids whilst not even thinking about becoming a student officer.

The question was asked to gain reassurance that they were not specifically tested for at the medical (which nobody can advise on either way). He wasn't asking for anyone's reassurance about whether it was the right thing to do or not.

As I have posted before (and I stand corrected if I am wrong) but aren't steroids legal to use (obviously whilst not in the police). So they are only testing for use of illegal drugs?

Not arguing merely asking myself

Mop a top

I'm going to be a mare here and say how is it fair? Yes I get that you thought your chances with this campaign were over but are you still taking them? I understand its to help you bulk up, assuming that means gain muscle mass? If that's the case, how is that fair that you can use steroids which will inevitably help you develop muscles which will presumably help you pass the PCA? Hows that fair on the likes of me who's never smoked, has a very rare drink and is training her ass off without the use of "enhancements"? I personally think it's unfair and I know people who have achieved seriously amazing body builder bodies without using them. That's why I questioned your need to use them earlier.

I think what LOM is possibly getting at is, you're worried you'll fail the medical because you're using them and having doubts about that BUT you're still taking them. I think that's why LOM said about " morally questionable practice's". You're thinking it might be "wrong" in the eyes of PSNI but you're still doing it.

mk1234

Mop a top wrote: »

I'm going to be a mare here and say how is it fair? Yes I get that you thought your chances with this campaign were over but are you still taking them? I understand its to help you bulk up, assuming that means gain muscle mass? If that's the case, how is that fair that you can use steroids which will inevitably help you develop muscles which will presumably help you pass the PCA? Hows that fair on the likes of me who's never smoked, has a very rare drink and is training her ass off without the use of "enhancements"? I personally think it's unfair and I know people who have achieved seriously amazing body builder bodies without using them. That's why I questioned your need to use them earlier.

I think what LOM is possibly getting at is, you're worried you'll fail the medical because you're using them and having doubts about that BUT you're still taking them. I think that's why LOM said about " morally questionable practice's". You're thinking it might be "wrong" in the eyes of PSNI but you're still doing it.

Yes I am still taking them, ive put my life on hold for psni recruitment since campaign one, which to be honest im fed up with. Yes I really want this career and I understand completely where you guys are coming from, it is purely for image only that im using them. Infact the course im running at the moment will only decrease my cardio ability, yes ill be able to rip the push/pull apart (hopefully) but thats not even marked anymore. Basicaslly im fed up of waiting around months on end to receive a letter to find out whether ill be going any further or not. We could receive a dear john letter next week for all anyone knows. All I wanted to find out was if steriods will show up in the drugs test, of course if I was lucky enough to become a student officer that would be the end of my steriod taking.... though like ive said im not letting my life evolve around psni recruitment any more

Johannes_Cabal

I just Googled PSNI and steroid use. Found a Pdf. It's a bit long.

Substances that will be tested for are those listed in the Misuse of Drugs Act and include: (aa) Amphetamines (including ecstasy); (bb) Benzodiazepines; (cc) Cannabis; (dd) Cocaine; (ee) Opiates; (ff) Ketamine; (l) Where testing is carried out because there is reasonable cause to suspect, on the basis of intelligence, that a serving police officer, police staff member, non police personnel in a role as detailed in Appendix ‘A’ has used a controlled drug. The testing may cover one other controlled drug or drugs in addition to the controlled drugs listed above, provided that the individual is informed prior to testing of the drug(s) or drug group(s) for which he or she is to be tested;

Overview

Alcohol and/or other substance misuse may manifest itself as specific acute symptoms and signs attributable to the actions of alcohol and/or substances. If the misuse becomes a regular occurrence or develops into addiction, then non-specific changes in behaviour normally develop over a period of time. Listed below are some commonly used drugs, and the acute observable symptoms and signs. It must be noted, however, that the regulations limit drug testing to Amphetamines (including ecstasy), Cannabis, Cocaine, Opiates and Benzodiazepines only. Careful consideration should be given to the legality of testing for other drugs not currently covered by the regulations. Some examples of acute observable symptoms and signs are:

Anabolic Steroids

(1) Anabolic steroids are abused by athletes and body builders to increase muscle bulk. As well as their anabolic (muscle building) action, they also have androgenic (masculinising) actions. There are no immediate acute symptoms or signs of taking anabolic steroids, but over a period of time they cause: (a) Much more rapid weight (muscle) gain than usual; (b) Increased greasiness of skin and hair; (c) Increased spots or ‘acne’; (d) An increase in aggressive behaviour. It should be noted that anabolic steroids are not included in the regulations.

Johannes_Cabal

Sorry for long post but hopefully, this helps clear up the OPs position regarding Psni recruitment.

Mop a top

I totally understand you're frustration at the recruitment process and if you know my history on here youll know I really do. Best option my lovely is to be totally honest at the medical and ring PSNI and ask to be transferred to occupational health to get a straight answer or ask for an email address.

If these steroids are going to decrease your cardio WHY THE FCUK ARE YOU TAKING THEM?!?!? You've got a PCA coming up!!!! You know the PCA is all anaerobic exercises, well it bloody feels like it. Why would you further jeopardise your chances at passing just for cosmetic reasons!?!? Seriously my lovely think about it, you're annoyed and frustrated at the length of time you've "wasted" on the job of a lifetime but think how pis*ed you'd be if you did something to ruin an actual chance at getting in!!!

Contact them, ask and out your mind at ease but as a mummy figure I'm seriously urging you to rethink the steroids if they're having an adverse effect on your cardio. Didn't you say you've only just started them? Just stop and think about it, we've got the PCA soon and this whole process will be over March/April. Can't you hold off until then and give yourself the best possible chance of passing everything for the job of a life time, the career you really want?!?

It's your choice and no one can make you do anything you don't want to but are you doing the best by you? Whatever you decide I hope it all works out in your favour my lovely x