Lots of appointments during working hours

[OhDon]

I'm a bit nervous about this situation as I've been informed my work are 'clamping down' on absences including lots of appointments for dr's, dentist etc... During working hours. They have now started asking us to fill in forms every time we have to leave for an appointment (fine).

My problem is that I have a lot of appointments. I had a big issue with a pregnancy which triggered all sorts of things (lost the baby) and I now have to see the recurrent miscarriage clinic, genetics department and haematology department. The hospital I have to go to for these is about an hour and a half away because I have to use the large city centre one rather than our smaller local hospital due to the complexity.

In the past few months I've had to have around 5/6 appointments with these various departments and I have another two coming up next week.

I don't know what to do really. If I want a child I need to keep going to these appointments and work with the hospital to (hopefully) make that happen. At the same time I feel incredibly guilty that work is under a lot of strain and I keep having to be off.

AIBU to continue as I am doing? No one has specifically said anything to me but I'm just aware that I have a hell of a lot more appointments than other colleagues (and it probably won't be stopping in the very near future either).

My brain is all over the place at the minute with everything so I may be worrying about nothing but I can't stop thinking about it.

Behave Zebraa, you really think someone should sacrifice having a family for work? The balance is a bit off with that line of thinking don’t you think?

OP I think you have to have some conversations with your HR, bosses and consultants. Be upfront about the specialisms that you’re under and why working full time doesn’t give you much leeway to peruse your health needs outside of working hours i.e the services all operate in the same hours! Discuss what can be done to either minimise your absence or make time up. It might be worth considering a temporary reduction if your core hours whilst you’ve so much going on. At least that gives you room to make time up iyswim.

It’s also worth emailing or writing to your consultants (I would recommend this over contacting their secretary to get a considered reply over playing Chinese whispers and leaving messages) to see if they have any room to handle your care differently. For instance haematology may be able to post you blood forms and relay your results and any changes via letter and only have to physically see you if there’s a need to. A lot of consultants are starting to run ‘telephone clinics’ precisely because it’s time consuming for everybody to have face to face appointments and a lot of the time it’s not necessary.

Yikes, some of these comments are like capitalism personified. YANBU OP, sorry to hear about your difficulties ♥️

What’s that old saying about employers? “If you die they will the ad for your job before they write a sympathy card for your family” or words to that effect.
Also - WTF to those that think your colleagues will be pissed at you attending these appointments. Fair enough if you were off getting your nails done, but this is serious and potentially life altering stuff we are taking about here. I know would rather have to pick up some extra work than go through what you are and, to be quite honest, anyone who thinks otherwise is a bit of an arsehole.

Actually, let me clarify - you're not being unreasonable to need hospital appointments etc, but there's a high chance your company isn't happy about it. However, that is not your fault. You're a human being with a life and medical needs, not a fucking worker robot.

You are more important than your job. Don't feel guilty for taking care of what you need to, nonone else is going to take of you but you.
Obviously be upfront, minimise the impact as much as you can, but ultimately, your health and your family are your top priority. Wishing you all the luck in the world for a positive outcome, it's such a hard time and self care is completely essential to getting through it with your mental health intact. x

Ah yes the days when i worked in retail and would book hair appointments, waxes for my day off then they would change my day off with no notice.

Arseholes.

oh and was agreed time off for a Depo shot then went back on their word an hour and a half before the appointment.

I'm sorry for your loss OP.

We were referred to the recurrent miscarriage clinic after our 3rd loss.

This however does sound like a lot of appointments. My bloods and genetic testing were done via RMC.

I don't want to pry into your situation but it seems a lot of appointments given you are still in the 'investigation' stage.

Any chance of combining them, trying to get them on same day at least?

Without going into exactly what the situation is, the appointments are sort of 'seperate'.

There were two conditions discovered when I had the miscarriage. One genetic and another with my blood which is why I'm seeing those two departments. They are there regardless of whether or not I'm pregnant. It just so happened that's how they were discovered IYSWIM.

They have an affect on my fertility which is why I'm also seeing the RMC.

No advice on how to handle work but having been down this road I feel for you OP

My RMC was every other Wednesday from 1-5, your appointment time meant nothing and waiting time was usually over an hour, often two or three, there were signs in the waiting room saying long waits were normal and tbh everyone was fine about it - a long wait usually meant someone was dealing with something awful and you were grateful it wasn’t you that time

More waits for blood tests and you’d spent half a day there, only plus was it was only half an hour from my office.

Work were lovely about it, they knew about my losses and it’s pretty flexible there so I made up the time unofficially and would pick up work in the evenings if needed and do what I could in the waiting room.

It was the same when I was pregnant, different clinic Wednesday mornings every other week for the previous miscarriers, endless scans and blood tests, loads of waiting. You’re protected by being pregnant at that point but it’s an almighty faff and I wish you every luck with getting your rainbow baby.

I usually always show my boss hospital letters - it is often agreed (in good companies) that hospital appointments are not within your control and hard to reschedule and highly unlikely to be out of office hours. The opticians dentist and GP on the other hand are less tolerated as they ought to have more flexibility and you are choosing the day.

I also offer my annual leave or unpaid but usually am allowed to go anyway. If it’s far away I will use my leave to go due to the travel time too

I have hormonal problems and I think in my case they would rather I was able to come to work than be at home for 2 days every month off sick!

I’ve always worked places (and I’ve had quite a few jobs) where hospital appointments didn’t count and were paid time off. Private and public sector.

Things like doctors and dentists, fine to use flexi or annual leave for. Hospital appointments are different.

Can you get a letter from your consultant explaining the reason for the frequent lengthy appointments?

I think the people they are trying to crack down on are those with multiple visits to the GP/dentist for minor issues, or taking Monday mornings and Friday afternoons off.

Not people with serious health conditions or undergoing fertility treatment!

I'd be really open with your managers and back it up with copies of appointment letters etc.

I work in the NHS and we're allowed to take time off for medical appointments, provided we try to book them at the end of the day or use time in lieu/annual leave for long appointments eg travelling to a different hospital.

You say you'd offered to take them unpaid, but never found your wages docked - I'd talk again to your manager about the situation and see if you can get this put on a more formal basis.

The appointments are essential and you are obviously keen to minimise the impact at work - so if taking them unpaid isn't what they want, ask your manager what the best solution would be, from your employer's point of view.

Are you able to take the time off and then make up the hours missed over the following few days, eg working through lunch breaks for a few days?

She’s taking the piss. Her business in her own time.

Well zebraaa let's hope you have more sympathetic colleagues and employer one day if you get seriously ill.

God some people are unbelievable.

OP I would cover for you any time as everyone in my team does for our colleagues. We are senior professionals and decent human beings and it is a given that health is prioritised.

If you have offered to take the time as unpaid then that is fine.
A crackdown does not mean making it hard for people with genuine hospital appointments.

I think it's a case of trying to be fair to them and you. If you can get an early or late appointment, then offer to make up the time during the next week, sometimes it's fairer to take a half day/whole day annual leave. Strictly speaking you are only entitled to time off for essential appointments for sickness so these appointments whilst necessary are in a grey area - most employers are relatively generous if you have a good record and haven't taken many sick days but this wears thin when it's the 5th or 6th whole day off in just a few weeks. Pregnancy doesn't count ever, that's an entitlement, but ivf for instance is another grey area

www.tuc.org.uk/blogs/work-your-proper-hours-day-–-tackling-culture-unpaid-overtime

“UK workers gave their employers £31.2 billion of free labour last year, doing a grand total of two billion hours unpaid overtime.
Five million workers put in an average of 7.4 extra unpaid hours, missing out on an average of £6,265.”

I have very limited sympathy with employers who will generally take, take, take.

At my workplace you get paid for hospital appointments but for GP or dentist you take unpaid leave or make the time up. I would speak to HR and explain. It sounds like they are trying to clamp down. We're expected to try to make GP or dentist appointments in our own time, doesn't always work.

I don't take whole days off on these appointments. I always either come in first or come in afterwards but it's just hard to tell how long they will take.

A few weeks ago I had an appointment at 11, I didn't manage to get out of the hospital until 2pm just because of wait times etc... So didn't get back to work until 3:30.

My immediate manager does know the situation and is always sympathetic. The managing directors are at another office so I don't know whether she has told them, I have never spoken to them really.

Pregnancy is covered by the equality act. My work is 'cracking down' on medical appointments. What they actually mean is routine dental/gp needs to be in own time where possible. If you can possibly make other apptmts on days off or the beginning/end of shift please do. You need to return from Hospital apptmts or come into work first, even if there is only a bit of your shift to do. All apptmts need to have text or letter/card confirmation. People have been taking the piss in a big way and most people are happy with this. Maybe they mean something like this which is fair enough.

I work in HR - are HR/your management aware of the pregnancy and the subsequent issues needing further appointments? If not, do let them know. You are covered against unfair disciplinary action as pregnancy (inc miscarriage) is a protected characteristic - they may even need to consider making reasonable adjustments for you to cover you attending these appointments. Would your blood condition be considered a disability?

Hospital appointments are notoriously inflexible. Call your union/Acas for advice if your work has a problem with your appointments.