Medical appointments when work in a school

When I book blood tests for mum, I get all the local options for about a 20 mile radius. Surely there is somewhere else that draws blood in the time you can get there?

Yes, at our surgery the bloods are
picked up at 11.30 to be taken to the hospital lab as they cannot stay in the fridge overnight. However, I’ve done late blood tests if the patient is able to take the bloods to the hospital lab and drop them off…. Maybe a way round it if you don’t get anywhere with the school.
Having said that I think it’s disgusting they will not allow you time off for this, I think I would be taking a sick day!!

It's not unreasonable to ask staff to try not to book appointments during the school day but a total ban is crazy!

I'm a governor of a special school with a huge staff. We ask that, where possible, appointments are made outside school hours but understand that it isn't always possible or within a staff members control. Time off is allowed for appointments and staff do their best to minimise disruption to classes where there is a choice of appointment time.

Are you in a union?

A friend of mine nearly didn't go to the doctor about a funny mark o her leg. As she was a teacher she was waiting for the holidays. Her husband insisted she went and it was a type of aggressive skin cancer. GP said her prognosis would be completely different had she waited.
Please make the appointment (speak to the union if necessary. Staff handbook does not trump your legal rights)

I have to swap my non class contact time if my hospital appointments for my condition land on a school day. I had to go down the route of flagging up my condition as a disability although I would never consider myself disabled.
Schools are fucking awful places to work. We are treated like morons and/or robots. A member of staff was badly bitten by a child...staff member asked to remain in school and go get checked out after school.
Another teacher tripped over in her classroom, clearly broke her wrist but the management seriously asked her to take some paracetamol and an ice pack until the end of the school day.
She refused and called her partner to collect her.

Maybe i am being naive because I’ve always had an understanding employer… but have you tried explaining to your seniors the situation you are in? Maybe if they understand that you don’t actually have any option to book an appointment in your specific circumstances (with, what sounds like, a very small GP surgery) they might allow it
just this once?

I'm a teacher, if my school were like this I'd phone in sick every time I needed an appointment. Health is wealth.

This kind of thing is what unions were invented for....

I managed school staff, this not normal. Sure it's absolutely best if you can avoid medical appointments in school time but very often this simply isn't possible and no reasonable school would insist on this. I can't comment on the legalities but it's definitely immoral.

8-3.30 then probably two hours of preparation and marking is not part time.

I'm a teacher. I'd ask whether they preferred if you took the whole day off sick or the couple of hours needed for the appointment. As pps have said, there is no way they can actually enforce this if you operate in a transparent manner. Getting them to put some of their ridiculous suggestions in writing might also make them reconsider...

Your employers do not have the right to force you to jeopardise your health for them. If you need a blood test you need it. Blood tests have to be done in the morning because they get couriered to the analysis lab at about 11am and the tests done that afternoon. Delaying tests could exacerbate serious health problems. Do you think schools would have the right to say "wait till half term" if a staff member was on the two-week-consultant-referal pathway for cancer? Of course not. And there's plenty of other nasty non-cancer things out there which go away quicker if nipped in the bud quickly. It's stupid to make people wait for treatment if it means you are off sick for longer due to delaying treatment.

Get the blood test as early as you can on a morning that avoids the worst day of the week (if there is one). Don't apologise for needing this.

Are the symptoms affecting your ability to work at all, if so I would ask them for an OH referral. Whatever guidance they are given in that they will follow.

But I would also ask by email about the appointment, you can link to your doctors website if it’s on there. I’d also mention your symptoms and if it’s effecting your work. I worked in HR for a MAT and I would absolutely have stuff in writing, never just ask verbally! Get a paper trail started.

They are awful and I do remember them asking people to put off operations they had been on waiting years for, until the holidays. Like the NHS will just book you in at convenience. And yes they will ask people who’ve broken their legs to come in the next day etc. when they clearly can’t.

Just before I left they eased up because they realised this tough policy wasn’t getting absence down at all, in fact it was going up! I don’t know what happened but it was moving to more early support for issues instead.

Schools get away with this type of treatment because staff put up with it. Email the head explaining that you need to go to an appt in school time and why. Use the term 'wellbeing' in the email if you can. If they say no you have it in writing and can take it to your union. Reply to a no email saying you will now be discussing it with your union. Also forward to chair of govs. Be annoying and ruffle feathers otherwise this type of behaviour will never stop.

I worked in a school where the Head tried that rule for all appointments, including hospital ones.

The policy had been quietly shelved by the time I returned from three months off sick and a comprehensive grievance investigation which was found in my favour.

My current place says 'Have you got an appointment? Have you got a text to show us? When do you need to leave/will be coming in, roughly?'.

Ridiculous rule - I would phone in sick and wouldn't feel guilty..

Just about to say the same thing. If you are a Teacher take it on a PPA session, surely that would be allowed…no cover required, no extra cost for the school.

My school and MAT have the same policy. All planned GP and dentist appointments must be made for outside school hours.

Which means that they have to be in holiday time.

I needed to see a GP with an urgent problem, and wasn't prepared to wait the 7 weeks left of term. So I booked the appointment and took the day off sick.

Good job I did, really. The GP put me on the two week pathway, I shudder to think what would have happened if it had been left for almost 2 months more.

can you only get bloods at Gp. We use swift queue which gives you appointments at all local hospitals.

that said another reason teachers are leaving - your health matters .

i phoned my manager last Friday got an Gp appointment Saturday ( I was working) she was fine I went to appointment before coming to work late , I told her it was another 2 weeks if I didn’t take this appointment - her words - take the appointment we need to support your health - this should be school’s response too.

Do you work in an academy @gracebros56 ? Sounds like the stupid rules academies follow.

What's your job role? If you're a teacher can you arrange it during your PPA? Otherwise call in sick. Your health comes first

With blood tests sometimes the latest pick up for the lab is late morning so make sure you know the facts before complaining

That's ridiculous! My GP surgery we don't get to choose when you get an appointment, you get what you're given.
Luckily I have a job where we aren't expected to take time off for health appointments.

Talk to the GP and make a complaint if needed. It’s disgusting they won’t offer tests all day. If it’s planned in advance and related to a medical condition they should be able to do anything for you or arrange it with another GP.

As for school I understand their point. You only work part time so 3-6 should be when you book elective appointments.

You'd have no hope with my GP surgery.

You can opt for telephone appointment slots either between 8 and 12 or between 2 and 6 - and yes you do have to be available for the full 4 hours - and just hope you're early in the slot

What would the school say if you broke your leg... wait until half term to get it sorted?

That’s absolutely disgraceful, definitely seek union advice and make the appointment!

My school isn’t perfect by a long shot, but my headteacher has in the past few years given me paid time off for appointments for me, medical appointments for my kids, SEND meetings at my kids AND grants leave for special things like children’s first days of school and Christmas plays. She also gave me a hell of a lot of flexibility when I had a parent seriously ill in hospital - half days as needed and allowed me to skip meetings to fit visiting hours. It’s a challenging inner city school, but the understanding that I have a life outside of work is the reason I’m not job hunting.