To be angry to learn that the NHS gives some staff special treatment when it comes to sick leave

[valianttortoise]

Most people only receive sick pay under quite limited terms and I know of staff who have been booted while suffering horrible health situations (including cancer).

But I've recently learned that some people, if they have line manager support, will get full pay for many years (three in the case of the person I'm thinking about). I wouldn't mind if this were for genuinely horrible situations but genuinely horrible situations are being sidelined as any NHS worker knows. The person I'm thinking of has a diagnosis of anxiety and adult ADHD.

Their union is now supporting them to seek ill health retirement and I reckon they'll get it.

Things are unfair so never take no for an answer because if you do some other fucker will help themselves.

You have no idea.

I have a very clear idea, thanks. Most people are screwed by it. Some people manage to bludge a disgustingly preferential deal.

MH and ND bashing. I have my bingo card out ready.

I was off sick for MH in the NHS and was treated very very badly.

Same here.

OP YABVU.

You shouldn’t be working in the NHS if you have no empathy and your post clearly reads as if you don’t believe these are true illnesses

In 40 years I've never seen anyone get a sick pay extension

I used to be a porter and had a colleague who was mugged, beaten and ended up in hospital. People just patted him on the back for being back in work when he came back.
A supervisor was running for the bus and tripped.... smashed some teeth. There was a fucking signed card and collection, and a fruit basket for her. Was ridiculous.
I signed cards and gave so much to collections for people off with heart attacks, cancer, bereavement etc. Anyone off with "stress" (which was a catch all term for MH) had nothing, and was given a wide birth when they returned to work.
It happened to me.
The NHS is SHIT is you have MH issues.

If you’ve been there a certain amount of time, sick leave allowance increases. Over 5 years service you get 6 months full pay and 6 months half pay. However, if the injury happened at work /was caused by work then there’s a different policy that’s more generous. There’s some people who do take advantage (seem to always be ill when it’s a school holiday and it’s convenient for them) but that’s a very very small number. Most of the nhs colleagues I know are truly dedicated.

Until very recently nor had I. Management keeps it dead quiet for obvious reasons. Might foi stats to see how many are in the same boat.

Not in my team. Our management treat you with complete contempt. We generally come to work unwell so we don't have to deal with calling in sick.

I've seen it once. It was a short extension because the illness was terminal. You'd have to have a heart of stone to resent that.

I actually think there should be a maximum of 3 months full pay and 3 months half pay in all public service jobs. 3 years full pay is ridiculous. I know the NHS has very high staff absences. No wonder it always needs more money.

Is the sickness related to a workplace injury- physical or mental? In which case, the policy is different.

Otherwise, the sickness policy is strict and brutally enforced these days. I know of 3 colleagues in my team alone dismissed due to absence in the last 12 months. Many more trust wide. IMO not before time as people have abused a very generous sickness benefit.

The trust is under so much financial strain it’s any excuse to get rid of us that does not involve redundancy packages.

I have never seen anybody ‘paid’ for 3 years. I have worked for the nhs for 20 years in multiple departments. I am management- managing sickness daily. Kindly, I think you are mistaken.

This is so sad to hear. I'm sorry you had that experience. That says a lot about your team!! Why on earth would some get cards and not others..
How awful. I work in the NHS and have just been off sick for a period with MH problems - though granted they were caused by work! My team and manager have been nothing but supportive, not only that but our trust has a range of counselling and mental health services free to staff which I was encouraged to access, and I have had adjustments made on my return for a while.

OP I don't think sick pay is something you can just get over and above what the policies say, just because you know someone. As far as I'm aware it's the same in all NHS trusts which is 6 months full pay, 6 months half pay, then stat sick pay.
Are you sure you've got your facts straight, or are you going from rumours / hearsay?

If the person is getting special treatment then that is wrong, but I very much doubt they had full pay for 3 years.

Sickness policy is brutal in the NHS. I worked as a 999 call handler. Had a pregnancy loss, took two week off and then came back as I kept getting pressured about low staffing etc. First call I took was about pregnancy complications. I processed the call, went to my manager and said I have come back too soon, I can't handle this. She said "well you've come back and gone off again so it's no longer pregnancy related and you'll hit an absence trigger point". I'd been in the room 10 minutes but she took glee in telling me if I'd stayed off it would have remained pregnancy related, but because I tried to come in it was no longer considered that.

Yep a colleague of mine was off for nearly a year due to cancer and they nearly got managed out because they were not able to fulfil their full duties because of their health when they returned. If a person can't do the job they are paid to do, I think it's better for them to either retire through ill health or accept redeployment into a role that doesn't impact their health and that they can actually fulfil. But yes they were quite strict with it!

Long term NHS HR here - as everyone has said, sick pay entitlements are set nationally (at pretty generous rates) and there are very, very limited circumstances in which extra can be given. I've never heard of someone getting 3 years full pay and can only imagine that would be very exceptional, possibly involving a workplace injury? I can well imagine someone being off sick for 3 years without it being properly dealt with but no way would that all be on full pay just because 'they know the manager' (that sort of thing way above a managers authority, it would be like director of HR stuff).

Posts like these make me really angry, you really don't know whats going on behind closed doors.
Not for you op (because youve already made up your mind) but for others on here so they can understand why people might be on sick for longer than normal.
In my case I was working for the nhs for over 20 years. I had an operation that went wrong, meant I became disabled and eventually deemed that I would never work again. The process is long, the process is determined by the nhs not the employee. When it got to the point that it was decided I would probably not be able to return to work the nhs put me on the route to dismissal on ill health grounds, they then have to send you for assessments, collect evidence from all professionals involved in your care, they then need to collate this and put it to you at a tribunal, this took in my case 9 months (so in total i had 18 months on sick pay as they started the process when I'd been off 9 months). I wanted it resolved sooner so I could draw a line under it and focus on my health and my then young children and also apply for my pension but it was not my decision it was all in the hands of HR/occupational health/senior managers. You are also told you shouldn't discuss the process with colleagues while the process is going on, and afterwards my colleagues were told 'it was by mutual consensus' it wasn't it was decided by the drs, the hr team, the managers, I had no choice.
So please don't think your taxes are being wasted because of 'ill' staff abusing the system.
The nhs like many other organisations have to follow a process in dismissal cases it doesn't and should never be done without following process (or the nhs could end up paying more money out than a few extra months sick pay).

"kindly" is really irritating just fyi

I'm definitely not mistaken, I've seen the payslips

How have you seen your colleagues payslips? Have they shown them to you?

It will be ‘workplace injury’ related.

To be honest I’m sooooo glad I left public sector & work in private sector. Firstly I’m paid much better, so I’m not concerned about any colleagues getting sick pay when required. Why is public sector so insular and jealous over pointless things?

3 of them? Tell us which NHS organisation can currently afford such leniency against all national guidelines!

This is goin g down like a lead baloon. Multiple people proving OP wrong and yet she keeps on going.

They don’t keep it quiet for obvious reasons they keep it quiet because it’s not anyone’s business but the people involved. I know someone who has had their sick pay extended, they have a brain tumour and I’m just pleased that they aren’t being financially disadvantaged. You might know one aspect of someone’s health but what makes you think you know the full picture. Worry about yourself rather than what others may or may not be getting.