To ask if you would cancel a hospital appointment for work reasons?

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I have been given a hospital appointment this week under a referral, and it clashes with the day I am supposed to go into the office to meet my line manager in person for the first time. I have been in my job for 3 months and I'm still in probation.

Half of me thinks that I should cancel it to as it would be unprofessional to have to rearrange meeting my manager (visiting them involves an overnight stay on my end - they live near the office), and with me being in probation I'm obviously conscious of making a good impression. However, the other half of me thinks that hospital appointments should take priority above anything else, as they are hard to rearrange and difficult to get in the first place.

I’d suggest you speak to your manager asap to explain and rearrange the meeting with your manager. I’m sure any reasonable manager would understand that rearranged hospital appointments are rarer than hens teeth at the moment. Personally as a line manager I wouldn’t have a problem with this - probationer or not - life happens !

As a line manager I would definitely support you going to the appointment and rearranging the meeting with me, even if you were on probation.

I would see this as a priority and would understand as a manager if one of my team needed the day off. If they are very difficult about it in the current climate with NHS waiting lists, then I would personally quietly look for a new job…

Line manager here too. I'd rearrange. Hospital appointments and health are priority.

Work schmirk.

Rearrange- sounds like it would be easy for them to.

For me it would depend on rhe appointment, wait etc. I would probably ring the hospital and ask about rearranging. If it is possible to do so for later in the week, Same day then following week etc. And this wasn't detrimental to you to wait a week longer then I would do so.

If however it would mean waiting weeks/months longer, or you need the appointment urgently then I would go to the appointment and the manager would need to understand. As a manager I would understand this provided it wasn't the day before (given the travelling involved) if it wasn't an emergency.

Be honest with your manager.
You'll probably find they're supportive of your appointment.

I can't imagine it will be a problem to rearrange the meeting and I certainly wouldn't hold it against anyone in my team. Having said that, depending on the nature of the referral (i.e. assuming the issue isn't time critical) I might still phone up the hospital and see if it's possible to shift it by a day or two. Sometimes once you're through the door, so to speak, it's actually quite straightforward to get another slot.

If it’s routine, then rearrange the hospital appointment. If it’s for an actual condition or diagnosis, rearrange the work appointment.

I wouldn't have been happy if any of my reportees had cancelled a hospital appointment to meet with me, especially with how difficult it is to get appointments these days.

And I’m another manager who’d happily rearrange our meeting if it’s a not-easy-to-move hospital appointment

We have a new manager who's been working overseas who has no idea yet just how difficult it is to get appointments for anything and is very sniffy about things having to be rearranged. Of course they pretty much come and go as they please.

Personally as a line manager I'd rather people looked after their health first. I've learned the hard way that once your health is gone you cannot get it back.

Thank you all, I will email my manager in the morning. Do you think I should phrase it as asking them if they would like me to rearrange the hospital appointment, or be more assertive and say I have a hospital appointment so will need to rearrange meeting them?

Just explain you have a hospital appointment with a specialist, please could they rearrange your meeting.

I'd try to rearrange the hospital appointment first, as sometimes as easy as a phonecall to the clinic or secretary. If it can't be rearranged for a suitable time I wouldn't give it up though and at that point email your manager.

I wouldn't rearrange hospital for this, I'd speak to my LM in good time and rearrange with them.

I have rearranged hospital around work though (derm appointment so not critical or anything) as my work was very business critical at the time.

What @LittleOwl153 said

Hospital appts are hard to come by. You need to take it.

They should understand
I had one on a Saturday and it was the only Saturday in the month I was working!
I said to work I had to go as it's gynae (a years wait for gynae at the min) and we sorted it

Be more assertive and tell them it clashes with a hospital appointment

I would phone hospital and rearrange asap.

hospital appointment above job every time. You can always get another job You cannot get another body

Just say you need to rearrange as you have a hospital appointment. Don't be so wet.

Never demonstrate to your employer that you'll prioritise them above your health or they'll keep on expecting it. It's true that we teach people how to treat us.

I always tell my staff to put their health and family first before work, so I’d be happy to rearrange my stay if I was your LM. But maybe chat to them, see what arrangements they’d have to sort out to change.