To be so so upset and angry

[BroomHandledMouser]

We have - very tentatively - booked a self catering holiday in August. It’s a beautiful cottage, north Devon and yards from the beach. It really does look lovely.

I’ve booked it for 6 of us - 4 adults me, DH, mum and step dad and our two children. I booked it as a surprise for everyone, so once I’d paid the deposit I called mum and told her. She was beyond excited!!

She immediately put in her holiday request.

She’s just called me in tears saying that it has been rejected due to capacity issues. She’s NHS - she has worked all through this pandemic, not once taking any time off. All she’s asking for is 20 hours - 20 fucking measly hours.

I’m so so upset. I wanted to take her away and get her to relax, and breath, and repair.

We’re still going, but my god I can’t stop crying. I’ve asked her to appeal the decision, but at the moment she doesn’t have anything left in her.

Also NHS, our trust is first come first served, I dont even attempt to book leave in August. As for christmas no leave is allowed.

Trouble is August is school holidays so the issue is probably not covid-related. In the NHS they make you book your holidays months in advance and the school holidays are always very contentious and in high demand. If the requests have been open for a while, there won't be any left. They have a limit on how many in a certain role can be off at the same time. It probably means other people who do the same job as her have already booked it off. The NHS barely has enough staff to cover shifts and often departments purposefully leave vacancies empty to meet their budget limits and that causes problems for holiday capacity and sickness absences.

i suspect other people have already booked the time off

just liaise with her when she is able to take leave and then rebook op. no need for tears

@GrumpyHoonMain

NHS staff have on / off rotas. Sure you know this already? If it’s important for everyone she come then book a day she already has off.

Not all have rotas, some just have fixed hours and days.

The rest of your post doesn't really make sense, to obviously the holiday is more than a day.

Is there anyway your Mum could work more hours the week before and the week after the week she wants , pitch it that it will be better for the ward or service if she is there more for two weeks and not there for one , especially if they fall in the key holiday weeks ?

It's a nice thought OP, but you can't count on someone being able to get time off. Can't you reschedule?

@frumpety

Is there anyway your Mum could work more hours the week before and the week after the week she wants , pitch it that it will be better for the ward or service if she is there more for two weeks and not there for one , especially if they fall in the key holiday weeks ?

Have you ever worked on a medical ward? That’s absolutely not feasible. Patients need care every day. They can’t wait a week while someone’s on holiday.

I'm in the NHS, school holidays are sorted out months and months in advance in a way that's fair to everyone.

It would be denied in my trust too as I assume she's asking for a week off, we might be able to swing a day or two.

It's probably surprising if you don't work in that sort of environment.

Why don't you switch to a school week, there will be much less competition, cottage might be cheaper and this school year is a bit of a right off anyway.

This would be the case in lots of companies, not just the NHS.
If other people have already booked time off for the same week, then she can't take that time off.
I'm surprised that you're surprised tbh

You know what I’ve learnt during this pandemic... Life’s too short you don’t know what waits around the corner’
So I think your mum should phone in sick what’s the worse that can happen ? She deserves a break and she’s asking months in advance and they’ve said no?! On what grounds? Sod ‘em I say don’t tell any other colleagues x

Yes I have PurpleDaisies. I am fairly sure that the OP's Mum wouldn't be there every day if she only works 20 hours ? Haven't read the whole thread so not sure if OP has said what area her Mum works in ?
The other alternative is could she gets the train down and does 4 or 5 nights with you instead ?

trust here only lets you apply for holidays from 1st april for august as leave runs april to april.

So I think your mum should phone in sick what’s the worse that can happen ? She deserves a break and she’s asking months in advance and they’ve said no?! On what grounds?

You don’t think management won’t notice she’s gone off sick at the very time she was refused annual leave? Do you think people are that stupid?

They’ve said no because there will already be the maximum number of people allowed off on annual leave that week! What’s difficult to understand about that? The NHS is a service that has to run! Unless you want to turn up to hospital in August and find the doers shut. Don’t be ridiculous.

My god some of the replies on this thread. 🤦🏻‍♀️

So I think your mum should phone in sick what’s the worse that can happen ?

Isn't that obvious? They could dismiss her.

@Bunnyrun5 the worst that can happen is she is dismissed for fraud by receiving sick pay for going on holiday and saying she is ill. On what grounds has she been denied the holiday - likely that her department already has people off that week so the department won’t be able to run effectively without her.
We have 7 staff members on my grade in my role in my department, I’m summer holidays we run on 3’s add an extra person off sick and we’re really struggling to the point work gets missed/cancelled and it’s extremely stressful on those in. So she should absolutely do this if she doesn’t mind risking her job or losing the respect of her colleagues.

I think a lot depends on the area your Mum works in and how those 20 hours are split ? So if she works 20 hours over 5 days she will be missed more than if she does a couple of long shifts a week. Remember too in a lot of Trusts the working week runs from Sunday, so if the cottage is booked from Friday she still might not be free until the Sunday iyswim ?

Oh bless her. I hope that you find something else nice for a time when she can make it.

In the meantime, make a note in your diaries for 1 September this year, to get her to book next year's holiday, to make sure that you can all go together in 2022.

@frumpety

Yes I have PurpleDaisies. I am fairly sure that the OP's Mum wouldn't be there every day if she only works 20 hours ? Haven't read the whole thread so not sure if OP has said what area her Mum works in ? The other alternative is could she gets the train down and does 4 or 5 nights with you instead ?

You don't think she could do, say, half days, every day of the week then? Maybe, four hours a day, M-F? Maybe?

Whatever it is, she most definitely could be in everyday.

Zebraa - what I wrote was not rubbish. It was what happened where I worked in the NHS. It may be different in other areas. I do not appreciate being told that what I write is rubbish.