Time off for Doctors/hospital appointments?

[ChatterMonkey]

How does your work deal with time off for doctors or hospital appointments?

Do you get paid time off for these, or do you have to use annual leave for it?

My employer asks you to use annual leave, or if not wanting to, will allow the time off but as unpaid leave. Which i thought was pretty standard. But a colleague is kicking off about the company's 'shitty' policy for medical appointments, and apparently expects paid time off for this, outside of his holiday days.

Whats standard for this sort of thing?

Teacher - it’s such a faff to set cover that we arrange appointments for after school if we can (well, I do…). If it’s a hospital appointment or similar that can’t be changed easily we get cover. Anything like planned operations/recovery goes down as sick leave. I’ve never been asked to take one unpaid. You get paid time off for pregnancy scans/appointments without question.

Before teaching I worked in the public sector and we worked flexi time and logged hours on a timesheet. We were allowed to go to appointments as we wished but we logged the time out and had to make it up if we didn’t have enough time banked, so I guess that was unpaid.

I should add, our sick leave policy is that the first day of absense is unpaid, and then any days after that are paid. So wouldnt really come into play as sick leave for a doctors appointment.

Paid but really intrusive form to fill out basically asking you what your appointment was for
I used to just mark personal

i understand these appointments should be first thing or last thing
hospital appointments are covered and are ok but not gp appts, which should be first thing.
a bugbear of mine!

I try to book them on non work days but it not possible just attend during the day. Neither sick nor annual leave. No forms.

no paid time off it it was anything serious or major then ohs involved and would get paid time off for something like cancer treatments and follow up

i can do flexi time so get paid. Same for dc appointments.

Full timers have paid time off but expected to try to make appointments first thing or last thing. Part-timers are expected, as far as reasonably possible, to arrange appointments on non-working days.

We take the time we need for medical appointments and just make the time up by working a bit later/ staring earlier. Work from home, desk based job though, so it's much easier to be flexible as it doesn't matter when the work is done as long as it's done.

For GP and dentists appointments we have to make the time up within the following few days, but no requirement to make up the time for hospital appointments. It’s actually written into our company handbook.

Make time up or book leave...I work for the nhs

Just to add, employers need to consider that you don't often get a choice when the apt is, you have to take what you can get, so rules saying 'it must be first thing or last thing' make no sense. It's in the interests of the employer to allow people time to attend medical appointments. If they don't, the chances are they'll get sicker and then be off, or they'll leave and you'll have to replace the,. Good employers care about the wellbeing of their staff.

Drs appointments are own time as you have some degree of control over times but there's manager discretion. Hospital appointments are paid. That's the civil service.

i think we are encouraged to have medical appointments <<not hospital>> first thing/last thing.
nhs

i can do flexi time so get paid. Same for dc appointments.

If you are flexi you are not paid when at an appointment, you are paid for the hours you are working, just at a different time.

I would not expect to be paid when at hospital appointments, but I am fortunate I am able to flex time too (it is all informal, I dont need to keep record). It is the jobs where fixed hours are worked or needed where the difficulties arise.

let your colleague kick off @ChatterMonkey
they could be doing you a favour!

2 hours paid, which looking at the other replies think this is very reasonable!

There is no entitlement to paid time off for medical appointments, except for pregnancy related ones, in the UK.

There should be an effort to make apps at the beginning or end of the day and time can be made up.

When I've had a hospital appointment mid morning of late, there has been an almost two hour delay. That has a massive impact on my work which has to be made up and I have had to walk out once because I had a client meeting booked and professionally in my field, it is unheard of to keep clients waiting.

I try to clear my diary for an hour and a half after the end of the hospital appointment.

Usually I can make the time up.

We have 20 days annual leave and 10 days personal leave per year (for full-timers). I believe this is typical in Australia. Personal leave covers being unwell, immediate family or someone you have caring responsibilities being unwell, and I would also use personal leave if I had a scheduled medical appointment/procedure that I couldn't make outside of hours/that I couldn't quickly have eg in a lunchbreak, or by starting a bit earlier one day so I could leave a bit earlier to make the appointment. Any of those would just be recorded as 'personal leave' in the payroll system. I'm unsure what our policy says, but if one of my team members told me they had day surgery coming up (for example) I would absolutely encourage them to put that day in as personal leave.

NHS, if hospital and unavoidable we were allowed to just go to the appointment and come straight back to the ward after. Ditto with occupational health although they preferred you to try and book outwith your days on. GP appts had to be booked on days off. Surgery went down as sick leave.

I'm lucky with my work .I just put it in my diary and go.

I'm a teacher. Hospital appointments we are allowed to attend but might be unpaid. Dentist should be booked outside working hours unless emergency. Doctors' appointments should be outside work time but everyone is now aware of how difficult it is to get appointments so there is a bit more flexibility. Where possible we are covered so we can hang around on the phone at 8.30......

I take annual leave for hospital ones and try and do GP ones out of work hours
If I can't then they will give me an hour or so paid to get to the GP

NHS here, I have to take it as sick/annual leave or make the time up.

I believe if the hospital appointments relate to a chronic condition/disability they should be paid with no penalty. However doctor appointments for a new condition or just a checkup are a bit different. We would be allowed to go but expected to work the time back.