My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

AIBU?

To think if you work one day a week...

61 replies

StuffezLaBouche · 07/03/2013 18:02

You should arrange your appointments for any of the four working days you're not at home?
Willing to be told IABU here as I'm childless so obviously haven't experienced this.
An ex colleague of mine fell pregnant after a long time believing she couldn't. Took her maternity leave and returned to work (teaching) @ 0.2, which is one day a week. Her DH works from home and grandparents look after the toddler while she works. All fine.
Her child is now two and she is pregnant again and thrilled. However, she's arranged her last two medical appointments on the one day she works - which means a TA has had to cover her (not fun for the TA in the school in question.)
So genuinely, AIBU to think she should have arranged them on a different day?

OP posts:
gymboywalton · 07/03/2013 18:03

all depends what the medical appointments are

if she is seeing a consultant, then they often only run clinics on certain days

YouTheCat · 07/03/2013 18:04

If at all possible, she should change appointments. If not possible may be she should change the day she works?

NotTreadingGrapes · 07/03/2013 18:04

YANBU.

ScentedNappyHag · 07/03/2013 18:05

In my experience, you take appointments when you can get them, midwife appointments while I was pregnant were like gold dust!

HousewifeFromHeaven · 07/03/2013 18:05

Yanbu

fairylightsinthesnow · 07/03/2013 18:07

depends on what they are. A lot of clinics etc only run on a particular day. when I was pg with DC2 I only taught on 2 days. Every fortnight I had to attend a clinic at the hospital that was on one of my two days. When I went back after ML for three days a week I had all sorts of issues trying to see the HV for my son's 2 year check because they only did them on certain days and they weren't my days off. I had to wreck our half term plans in order to fit it in rather than miss a couple of lessons. Anyway - should a teacher, as opposed to a TA not be covering? (Sorry, I'm secondary so don't know what the norm is in primary)

Blowninonabreeze · 07/03/2013 18:07

Personally, in that situation, I'd move heaven and earth to get appointments on any day other than the 1 day I worked.

BUT sometimes logistically that's tricky. Eg the midwife only comes to my surgery on a Wednesday. (However the one time I couldn't do a wed, she arranged for me to see her at a different surgery)

The consultant who specialised in hypertension only does clinics on Thursdays, etc etc etc

Wheresmycaffeinedrip · 07/03/2013 18:08

Depends on what the appointments r. Some things you can only do on certain days as midwives only visit surgeries on set days or the testing is only done on a Tuesday morning etc. if however she has the option to arrange then although legally she's entitled to the paid time off , ethically I think she could rearrange so not to inconvenience everyone.

However there is nothing you can do, it's her business and people will just have to accept it as legally she's entitled .

YouTheCat · 07/03/2013 18:08

TA's cover a lot in Primary.

XBenedict · 07/03/2013 18:09

Sounds simple to achieve in theory but as others have said many clinics only run on certain days etc so in practice it might not be so straight forward.

CMOTDibbler · 07/03/2013 18:10

If they are hospital ones, you don't get any choice in the matter unfortunatly. But if things can be arranged, then they should be on non working days.

whatyoulookinat · 07/03/2013 18:10

Yabu if its the only day she can see the midwife.They usually work several health centres & will only be at yours one day a week. Maybe its the day she works?
Yanbu if she can make app on another day.

IcanandIwill · 07/03/2013 18:11

Depends on the appointments. I had to see a Consultant and the clinics were set, it was a case of that day or nothing. My Midwife was a little more flexible but not actually that much.

StuffezLaBouche · 07/03/2013 18:11

Thanks for these comments - just wondering what was normal. It's a bloody tricky school that's really in the shit at the moment for various reasons (me leaving, obviously, muahaha) and yes, it is a TA covering. The kids are VILE when TAs cover. (Yes ideally it would be a teacher, fairly lights, but budgetary reasons mean it won't.)

OP posts:
Titchyboomboom · 07/03/2013 18:11

Mine were always on the same day of the week, no option as a small village surgery

youmaycallmeSSP · 07/03/2013 18:15

YABU once you know the ins and outs of it :) As others have said, there is usually little or no choice of appointments, especially if you're under consultant-led care for a complicated or higher risk pregnancy. Paid time off work to attend antenatal appointments is also a pregnant woman's legal right.

StuffezLaBouche · 07/03/2013 18:18

Paid time off work to attend antenatal appointments is also a pregnant woman's legal right.
Thanks SSP I knew that and that's why I had an inkling IWBU :-) I also didn't know appointments were so hard to get! Fair enough!

OP posts:
youmaycallmeSSP · 07/03/2013 18:24

If she's deliberately scheduling appointments for her work day to maximise her time off then it would be fairly outrageous. I can only imagine the slackest of slackers or someone in an awful workplace that they couldn't wait to leave doing that though.

CatsRule · 07/03/2013 18:27

She should arrange them for her days off however I attend a clinic and it only runs on a Thursday morning...I have no choice. If I wotked part time I would probably feel I should switch my day off to accommodate.

StuffezLaBouche · 07/03/2013 18:30

I do actually think that, SSP but didn't say in my OP as I thought it made me sound vindictive and I wanted honest responses. She's fairly open about not wanting to be there. I wouldn't either. Still, if she's entitled to take her appointments then her invention doesn't really matter, I guess

OP posts:
MrsDeVere · 07/03/2013 18:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

wigglesrock · 07/03/2013 18:32

I only worked 2 weekdays when I was pregnant and the midwife clinic fell on one of those days. I always took the last appointment of the day but still had to leave about 30 mins early. It's just one of those things.

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

MerylStrop · 07/03/2013 18:35

Well it is her legal right, of course, but morally she really could try to change appointments to be on days she does not work.

If it is just routine midwifery appointments, there is, in my experience (3 kids), some flexibility if you ask politely (eg go to the hospital or different clinic), ditto any routine tests at hospital. If it is something urgent or serious then of course then that is different.

mamapants · 07/03/2013 18:36

I could only see MW on a tues. Health visitors only on a Mon. Nothing she can do about it probably. Little choice with times either.

Montybojangles · 07/03/2013 18:44

Depends on appt. we ran an antenatal diabetes clinic in our outpatients that was only on a certain day, as it was the only time both the diabetes consultant and obstetrics consultant were available together.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.