lady it sounds tough, but if you contravene your employer's sick absence monitoring policy, you CAN be dismissed (usually a longish procedure, with at least 3 stages). If you are ill a lot, genuine or not, they are entitled to implement their policy & they must apply it equally for all. It's about business needs. Usually they'll send you to an occupational health doctor to see if there's anything they can do, within reason, to improve your attendance.
Before DCs, I worked in civil service legal role (not hr side) and the government imposed targets were harsh. If a department/section didn't meet the sick absence target, the team manager would get bollocked, regardless. I managed a team of predominantly woman (1 man), all either had young kids and were constantly getting ill & in 18 months 3 had hysterectomies. This was not taken onto account & I was monitored for not discouraging absence!
I blame the Daily Mail, civil servants are sick note, lazy bastards.
DH works for private company, consultancy. They need to be 98% billable to meet their targets. This allows either two sick days per year or 1 hour every fortnight for admin (he manages a team of 6, management time is non billable). Their targets come from the board.
It is an employer's world out there right now.