Time off work

[Happydays777]

Can employer say no to taking time off for hospital tests/minor ops found out I have a blood clotting disorder and I bleed too easy. I have loads of gynae issues too now including a complex ovarian cyst that needs urgent investigation. Worried about time off work.
Colleague said well it's a good job work is letting you attend appointments - you should make hospital appointments outside work hours - I not had time off in 20years now it's all come at once. I'm sorry I said as this year I have had 37 appointments since january - Haematology, gynae, colorectal, GP, loads of gynae. I can usually work flexi / make time up later / use holidays but getting worried about her comments.

Does your colleague have a private health insurance plan? How the fuck does she expect you to get appointments out of work hours?

I’m not sure you can pick and choose hospital appointment times. Work have no choice but to let you attend.

Agree with precious poster OP your colleague is ridiculous- basically every hospital appointment I've had has been during work hours. Just one of those unavoidable things and I don't think work can prevent you from attending necessary medical appointments- although they may ask for evidence (my work did.). Hope you're feeling ok- sounds like you've had a lot on.

I had an employer ask me to move an appointment for ENT. I had been waiting about a year for it. I did try and they told me I’d be waiting another 12 weeks. So I went with what I had. I worked more than full time hours. What can you do?

Don’t share anything with that colleague. They are not living in the same world as you.

Your employer can say 'try to make the appointments out of work time or at a time that may cause less disruption' i.e. at the start or end of your day.

BUT....

Take no notice! Your health is your priority. As long as you have texts/letters showing you have hospital appointments that's all you need.

Well said! Hope they get you sorted soon. Nothing is more important than your health.

A manager once told me it had to come out of my holiday, another told me I had the option to take it unpaid. Even with a letter from my consultant stating i would need time off to attend medical appointments, these were the options i was given. I was also told to make hospital appointments outside if worktime, I explained that hospital appointments are made for me by the hospital and if I refuse them I go back to the bottom of the list. They didn't care. I have lost count of the amount of days I had to take unpaid due to hospital, now i don't work i can go whenever.

It is a nightmare trying to get GP or hospital appointments. Our GP now doesn't do afternoons, and everyone I know who uses the practice has had all their appointments cancelled at the last minute. If they ever get in, and actually get to hospital, there is no way any of us will refuse whatever time they give us.
I USED to try to book things outside work time, but these days, beggars choosers etc.

First up, sorry to hear of your health issues, it must be worrying to have work issues on top of everything else.

It is normal to try and arrange appointments outside of work time where possible, or to minimise disruption (first / last appointment of the day for example if you can influence the appointment times - I can do this with some of my NHS hospital appointments easily but I know this isn't always possible).

If you work part time, there would be a bigger expectation for you to try and schedule on days off than if you work full time.

You could consider asking HR for support with flexible working so you can work from home, for example, and then this nasty colleague won't be quite so aware of all your movements to boot.

Thanks for your support everyone.
I got a recent letter saying gynae need to refer me to tertiary hospital because of the blood disorder the risk of bleeding during op is high. It says i meed to be seen urgently and without delay because of ultrasound findings but because its a tertiary hospital there's a waiting list that's over 10 weeks. I phoned gynae at referring hospital and they said the referral has been sent. I'm on urgent list but not 2ww. I'm premenopausal maybe peri in my 40s have backache and bloating complex cyst..
It's all come at once. It's an awful stressful time. If I hadn't had the blood disorder my local hospital has lower waiting times.

OP I have Vonn Willebrands which is a bleeding disorder (maybe you have similar?) I need DDAVP before procedures which adds a day and contact with my haemophilia centre, and liaison if I’m not being treated at that hospital. Please ask for this to be added to your HR medical notes as it will give you added employment protection. You’ve said it’s a colleague making comments and not your line manager, their opinion is not your problem as long as you have communicated what’s going on and what you expect to happen next with your employer.

This is a serious, permanent and potentially fatal illness. Wouldn’t it qualify as a disability under the Equality Act 2010 that requires reasonable adjustments?

I’d take this up with HR and with your union. If you haven’t joined a union then I would do so pronto. But be aware that there is usually a time lag of (from memory) three months before you can involve a union after you join one.

i’m not a lawyer and what experience I did have was not in employment law, but I think you should push this.

We ask people to try and arrange appointments to be at times thst cause as little interruption as possible, i.e. beginning or end of the day, which is usually possible for things like dental check-ups or regular blood tests, smear tests etc. But you don't always get a choice, and if a hospital department only runs a particular clinic on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting 10am, so it is. You also can't control them running late.

We also ask that people keep us informed- if we know someone is likely to need time off for investigations or on-going treatment. We can invoke HR processes that mean the Bradford process won't be invoked and they won't be disciplined - and if we know, we can more easily reschedule rotas etc. We give medical leave for hospital appointments, though not things like dental checkups.

But this doesn't help you if you don't work for us and you have an unsympathetic employer. I would check the employee handbook to see what it says about medical appointments, but they might just be unhelpful.

Wtf has it got to do with your collegue?

I'm so sorry you're going through this, several of us in my department are having to justify every request to the hideous harpy ' in charge' of our team. She has private insurance of course and funnily enough her little favourites are allowed, as is she, to get whatever time off they need. This is in the NHS by the way.

As others have said:

Talk to your EAP rep

Join a union

Get your manager to refer you to occupational health

Talk to your HR rep about getting reasonable adjustments put in place

Look at your organisation policy or Acas

And keep a record of every time your boss is awkward or obstructive.

(While there is not, at present, a mandatory right for PAID time off, they're likely to be on a very sticky wicket if they don't allow you any time off. I'm guessing your colleague is about 23 and still in blossoming good health?!)

People can be so clueless about these things. It is completely out of your hands. You are entitled to go to hospital appointments during work time. I agree with making sure HR are up.to date with all your health issues.
Even if someone works part time, changing an appointment to a non working day isn't that easy as particular clinics may only be certain days of the week. Even certain imaging appointments may be limited to certain days and times.
I bet the colleagues and employers who come out with all this crap would.be the first to complain if anyone said anything to them.

Employers do not have to give unpaid or paid time off for medical appointments (unless related to a disability or maternity), as unbelievable as that seems.

Your work is obviously fine with it though so just ignore your colleague.

Your colleague is a smug, inconsiderate idiot who should mind their own business.

We all know that you cannot just schedule NHS hospital appointments as you wish and you need to focus on your health anyway and get those investigations done quickly.

You could approach HR and ask for an occupational health referral and reasonable adjustments especially if you blood condition is a long term one and your other issues might need surgery.

Your colleague is being ridiculous, yes where possible book routine appointments outside work, or at the start/end of the day. Hospital appointments and treatment are completely different! And come under normal sickness leave policies.

Thank you yes. This year her son need something to his leg and needed an op she said "None of my family have ever needed hospital treatment". I said I'm sorry to hear he's not too good and she said he'll be OK and that none of her family has health issues and have good genes.
It's all come at once and there will probably be many more appointments and probably gynae ops for me. Just worried about the ultrasound findings and the ?fibroid that needs urgent investigation

Yeah its a life long blood clotting disorder where my blood is low in factor 8 so if I bleed it doesn't clot as it should meaning I could bleed out during surgery. Had to be tested and have to have lots of tests to see what does and doesn't work and bleeding plan had to be written. So surgery is very risky.
Not ideal when I have ovarian cysts and need ?fibroid investigation and have severe backache and bloating.

Ask for an OH referral as sometimes if the appointments are disability related they will specify the appointments should be paid appointment for x amount of times in a year.

Sounds like your colleague lacks compassion and should mind her own business.

Don’t take any notice of your unsupportive and unhelpful colleague. It is very difficult to get appts that are at end of/ beginning of day as everyone wants these!
I’d say your employer is fortunate you are still soldiering in and trying to work.
Prioritise your heath and keep your manager informed so they can plan for any planned time off you will need.