ADVICE ON !# WEEKS PARENTAL LEAVE IN THE NHS PLEASE

[mooshy]

Just wondering if anyone has any experience of the parental leave situation within the NHS.I know the basic legalities, but am more interested in if anybody actually TAKES it.Also what has the reaction/support of your hospital been like if like me you work for the NHS.I was thinking about taking 2 weeks every summer for 5 years.Would appreciate any comments.

[zebra]

Have you seen this thread ? You & Mears should talk!

[carriemac]

my husband took a week this septemberand apparently was the first consultant ever in the trust to take it!! He has another 38 weeks to take...

[mooshy]

Hi Carriemac,
Well yes that sounds about right !
We all need time with our families for a variety of reasons-or sometimes just to chill out and recover from the stresses and strains of working for the NHS !
Hopefully as more people catch on it will become an accepted and more routine part of all our lives.Well done to your man for taking the time and lets hope the rest follow suit ! mmm

[sis]

My cousin is a surgeon in the midlands and he took paternity leave at the end of last year ( but his wife said that he kept going in to work...).

[Tissy]

I think if you took two weeks every Summer, your colleagues would be a bit cheesed off, whether or not you were entitled to it!

I understood that parental leave is intended to cover sickness, appointments etc, and I as a parent myself would feel disgruntled if a colleague, whose work I would have to cover, regularly took what amounted to extra holiday, whether or not it was paid.

Would my dh, who also works in the NHS, be entitled to the same leave as me? i.e. another 13 weeks for the same child?

[Tissy]

BTW, my dh, who is a nurse, was gladly given two weeks paternity leave when dd was born.

[JulieF]

Tissy

Emergency dependant leave is meant to cover sickness etc. This applies to anyone with a dependant (not necessarily a child could be an elderly relative etc)

Parental leave is a separate entitlement of 13 weeks to be taken over the 1st 5 years of your child's lifein order to spend more time with your child/ren. Where mooshy might come unstuck is the clause that says the employer can defer the leave for up to 6 months to a time more convenient to them so she might not be allowed to take it in the summer.

And yes your dh is also entitled to this leave.

[slug]

Dh was given a grand total of 3 days paternity leave when the sluglet was born. You would think, given that he worked at a Children's hospital, that they would have some sympathy for the fact that his wife and child were in hospital for a week after the birth.

However, he got his revenge by quitting to be a SAHD.