Doctors don't understand how difficult it is for me to see them.

Presumably no child would disclose a safeguarding issue before 8:30 or after 3:30?

As my mum used to say "graveyards are full of indispensable people". If your boss is off sick long term, the school has to make alternative arrangements, it can't just rely on people deputising on an ad hoc basis.

Ours is currently running at a 4 week waiting list

The role and risk can be covered by one of the Governors whilst the OP is at her doctors appointment.

You cannot continue with the level of stress forced on you.
It's easier said than done, however no job is worth your health.

Why can’t you call during the day? Presumably you get some sort of break?

That is not the point that was being responded to. The point that was being responded to was the suggestion that a child making a disclosure was something that must be dealt with immediately and cannot be delayed by anytime whatsoever. The legal requirements re a DSL have already been covered on this thread and it is ludicrous that this hasn't already been put on place by the HT. A DDSL can be trained extremely quickly and this should have been done within a matter of days when the staffing situation emerged as it currently is.

And then there would be an investigation as to why there was no DSL on site and the OP would be risking her career.

Options to see what services are available for blood tests before/after the school day are helpful. Online consults, exploring private options and ways to get the meds to tide her over until the holidays are helpful.

Suggesting she leaves the school site during the working day is not. (Long term suggestions for training additional DSLs yes, but not for this immediate situation).

Agreed. What a waste of NHS resources

So what do you expect them to do?

This is exactly right. Were there to be a time sensitive safeguarding issue such as a person trying to remove a child from the premises without permission, then any adult on site would call the police as they would in any emergency situation.

Indeed something would happen were she to perish. However, the consequences of my demise might be a late report or an overdraft (or whatever not significant in the grand scheme scheme of things most jobs consist in) but the solution for there being no SLT member being available in a school with lets of vulnerable children could have long term impacts on said children, no? Presuming, like it sounds like, this is a standard quarterly rollover, or whatever, then there is nothing magic about 90 days and if so why could not an extension be issued? Obvs this would be different were it chromic short term medication or whatever that might have serious negative consequences of take for 91 days, or 119 days, rather than 19?

Yes they can.

They can sit quietly with a trusted adult and wait for whoever needs to be there to be there.

It is likely to be an hour tops.

The adults involved up to this point can make a written report of everything they said and did.

The DSL could equally be in a CP case conference or on the phone to social segoces. The child can wait for a short period of time until that adult is available.

A child disclosing a safeguarding issue when no-one else onsite is trained for that or they've chosen you and that moment to disclose, can't wait.

The OP has already explained that they work through break and lunch. They have also said they don’t have another school nearby… I imagine that this is a primary school in a small town or village ( or there would be a larger leadership team). Not everywhere has a private GP on every corner - the nearest one to me is a 50 minute drive.

This really highlights the challenges of being in a leadership role in a school run with skeleton staffing. The governors need to work out their contingency plans as, like others have mentioned upthread, this is completely unsustainable and you need to prioritise your health.

This attitude only perpetuates the situation faced by the OP.
schools can’t operate in th current environment.

Maybe having to close the school
for a day is the drastic action needed to highlight the issue. For as long as people continue to sacrifice their own wellbeing for “the system”, the system will continue to take advantage

It sounds like you haven’t really listened to the advise up thread. In this situation would you push for one of your teachers to do without their medicine for 2.5 weeks til the end of term? Or would you advocate for them and find a way to make an appointment before then?

a blood test takes approximately 90 seconds. The minutes (hours) before in the waiting room are frustrating but at least you’re contactable by phone if needed? If you’ve been left in charge to cover someone, surely there’s someone that can be left on site to call you if needed?

Call them up and book an appointment for in the holidays, meanwhile, explain that you need your medication prior to then, they can't refuse. Just say your review is booked. Most GPs would be a two week wait for bloods now anyway, which fits in with school holidays

No.

Those of you who can't engage with the advice being offered here are the ones not getting something.

Many, many people posting here will have experience of the sort of pressure you're describing.

But maybe they've also experienced the sort of medical event or life disaster that proves to you how little you matter to your employer in the grand scheme of things.

If you had an ectopic pregnancy or brain haemorrhage or your husband was arrested for murder YOU WOULD MISS WORK and work would find a way to keep on keeping on.

It is ridiculous and unsafe and unsustainable to be SO IRREPLACEABLE that you miss 6 scheduled GP appointments. Appointments that will have been made well in advance allowing for contingency and cover to be arranged.

You are only IRREPLACEABLE to your family and those who love you. Therefore you prioritise your health and go to your appointments.

As I said if she died tomorrow, the problem would be solved. It can be solved she just needs to have boundaries and essentially say she needs to do this, just as the others have when they’ve been ill, there are workarounds even in education.

It won't though. Schools are struggling to fill headships even more than they are to fill teaching roles. So many schools now have a shared head across 2/3 schools and a deputy at each because no-one wants the job.

It's all good and well saying the school will have to cover you, but who do you think has to sort the cover? The OP! She can't leave the premises unless there is another DSL, and there isn't (reliably anyway). If she is off sick, the school cannot legally be open to children.

Yes, they need to train another (or more) DSLs, but that takes time and isn't going to help with this predicament.

It is incredibly naive to think schools have enough staff to just "carry on" if you're off sick. They don't.

but in her role as opposed to, say, an office job (like mine) there could be (could be!) very serious consequences for the vulnerable. Even in a similarly 'front line' caring profession (say NHS) it will be a larger organisation with redundancies built in...

As I mentioned earlier, it is easy to get a blood test done through a private hospital/laboratory/GP. You can make an appointment in the evening or over the weekend. Once the blood test is done and the result is available, usually within 48 hours, it can be emailed to the GP with a covering note. GP can then prescribe the medication.

If you were getting ready for work and at 6.15am you tripped down the stairs and fractured your leg and had to go to hospital, the school would survive because there would be no choice. Treat this appointment as that. You fell down the stairs, work is not an option. You need this blood test, work is not an option.

but it is her problem, i think that's clear from her post... the buck stops with her right now... missing the other 2 of the top 3 is no joke especially if the school is struggling...