To go off sick with stress when colleague is off sick

[Mumsworkneverdone]

Hi I a community nurse and I currently work part time but I am expected to cover the work of my full time colleague who is off sick with stress as well as my own work but my manager is not listening when I say I cannot cover this, I’m struggling to sleep I’m so stressed. My question is would so be unreasonable to go off sick with stress myself?
And If I go off sick with stress will this affect my employment record as a nurse? Part off me wants to just walk out and leave them to it.

It's not clinically significant poor mental health though is it, its short term difficulty sleeping due to a work related issue which could be resolved with proper management and communication.

well in a local job that may be the case but it’s not something that should follow someone forever more for their whole career is it ?

Depends how often it's done, and for what reasons I guess. It's all on an individual basis.

If I was about to hire someone who hadn't said taking on extra patients was causing them stress and had then just got herself signed off sick leaving all of them in the lurch, I'd have some red flags to consider.

She physically can't see that patient though can she in the time she has, if she is dealing with the other patients on her own workload. So yes, I would advocate her flagging up the patient's condition to the manager urgently and for her to speak to the patient's family to tell them that they will have to seek emergency care / GP care or whatever other options there are. What else can she do? She can't be in three places at once.

Union should be able to support you on this.

In the meantime I would not go sick before trying to “work to rule” which basically means you only work the hours/complete the tasks you would do if your colleague wasn’t off.

This is exactly the type of toxic attitude that nurses have to put up with to be honest . Being accused of leaving patients in the lurch because you are off sick . If a gp signs someone off sick it’s not a good manager who blames the nurse for leaving patients in the lurch. This nurse is being left in the lurch herself

She has left them in the lurch because she's decided not to do her job as a protest. She can take care of her own patients, just not the additional.

Listen, the post I was originally replying to was about how nurses HAVE to do all the extra work because they can't possibly leave patients unseen and how they're so stressed because they CAN'T just leave it. So the advice was to get signed off, thereby leaving the patients unseen anyway. My original comment was just questioning that logic.

@Carefto but they wouldn’t be left unseen would they ? The manager would have to sort something out . And it might do the manager good to have to get off her backside and sort it out which she should be doing in the first place . It’s different when you are there ant work and being told by the manager that you are the one responsible. It’s very stressful being told you are responsible for patients that you are simply unable to care for adequately in the time that you have . I think time to go to the union.

Well if the manager can just 'sort it out' then OP shouldn't be in the situation she's in. Speak up, stop taking on the extra work, manager sorts it, problem solved. No sick leave necessary.

If she has stress and anxiety secondary to workplace stress that's a reason to be off sick in itself.
If she makes a mistake due to her stress levels she will not be backed up by anyone. Its no defence in a court of law.
Would you want someone so stressed they can't function properly making clinical decisions for you?

I voted for going off sick but assuming you have prioritised the visits that are a priority and handed back with clear rationale, it is not safe or indeed possible to see that many patients within your working hours.

In my experience they’ll always find someone if they are in a situation where they absolutely have to. If one person is off sick they will expect other people to pick up the slack no matter how you try and argue. If you try and argue they make it out that it’s your fault , that you are unable to manage your caseload or make you feel guilty for letting the patients down . It’s enough to make anyone go off sick with stress and nurses should not have to put up with it. She’s already highlighted it and isn’t being listened to.

Right, so her going off sick will just pass the problem to a different nurse. Got it.

Either the manager will sort it or they won't.

If she is off sick with a GP certificate her employer needs to know why.

Evidently the OP is at risk of becoming sick if this continues, which is why proactive steps need to be taken to address it. Perhaps a period of sick leave might be necessary, but it isn't going to sort things out on its own.

I’m saying she needs to prioritise her own health and also go to the union

Where I live you are entitled to confidentiality and don’t have to say why unless it’s long term sick leave and you are referred to occ health

I don't understand this.
Is your boss wanting you to do extra hours for no extra pay?
Is your boss wanting you to work overtime and be paid?
Is your boss expecting you to fit extra jobs into your same hours.?

the first is a hell no
the second you can refuse
the third is a "how do you expect me to do that?

I am also not sure, if you have worked for the NHS for 15 years, why you don't know what the sick leave policy is, at least roughly if not in detail.

That's certainly not the case in any roles I've had in the UK.

If she does take sick leave, how would it be helpful to the OP for her employer not to know why she was unable to attend work?

@godmum56 no the manager is wanting her to squeeze extra patients into her caseload eg normally 5 per day but wants her to fit 8 in. Within the same working hours hence adding to the stress.

The problem is that as shes there despite many thinking its optional its not in the NHS your told to make it work, or your the problem. Your guilted into it being the patient that suffers (which is true) and ultimately your registeration is on the line. When something happens thats detrimental to the patient your responsible and the ‘managers’ do not have your back. But until that point they will continue to push. Unless your physically not there they will be automatically added to your caseload - they will deal with it when theres not someone to physically put it on ( hence if OP goes off sick)

i dont think she doesn’t know the policy, what she is asking is if she secures a job elsewhere but has been off sick will this be detrimental to her recruitment into a new role

For her own privacy and confidentiality that’s why. If it’s that way in the uk she has no choice I guess

No one's disputing that. But claiming you're so stressed because you can't possibly not pick up patients for moral reasons, but then being fine with disappearing completely doesn't add up logically.

It's not helpful for either party if there's no transparency regarding absence through work related stress. Hiding behind privacy isn't conducive to addressing the issue.

The demands of nursing are beyond anything I have ever experienced in any other job. The lack of respect and the unrealistic expectations are ridiculous.
We are highly skilled professionals but are treated as servants and people behave as though their taxes mean we are servants and expect more from us than any other professional.

She doesn't have poor mental health. She has too much work, not enough time to do it and isn't being paid to do it. Being tired and working too much is being tired and working too much. It isn't sick.

Have you quoted the wrong person? It doesn't matter what her job is, doing a full time role that isn't yours in addition to your own part time role is unfeasible whatever sector you're in. The sector/role doesn't change the need to do something about it in a responsible, grown up way.