My job offer within the nhs has been rescinded after my previous manager disclosed my BiPolar

[ItsActuallyNotOkToNotBeOk]

2024 I was off work because I needed my medication increased. If you have bipolar you understand. I was off for 8 weeks whilst I got over the extra sleepiness. I returned to work and my managers manager did the return to work, wherein this meeting she wrote down everything I said in a personal notebook. She specially asked my what my mental health medication was and wrote it down. I asked why and she said she wanted to know if ‘it was safe for me to be at work’ then she laughed and said ‘ha I mean am I even safe right now the door is closed,
you’re not going to go psycho on me are you?’

I immediately started a grievance that obviously they found unfounded because it was my fault led against
hers. This year has been hell.

Recently I applied for a new job in a different trust and it was all going brilliantly until after the reference from my previous manager. Job offer removed . Subject access requested immediately. 1 month later (ish) I got a massive tranche of emails and I got my reference which was actually fine.

The issue is my current manager then emailed the new manager and said and I quote ‘she does have BiPolar and she quite worryingly is on an antipsychotic for it as well as antidepressants. My manager had a conversation with her in a closed room and was very concerned bc she might lose it. You never know what people with this kind of disorder are capable of do you? My advice would be to rescind the offer because she was also off for a fair bit of time for ‘medication titration” whatever that is’, I also didn’t believe she even had it at the beginning so I contacted her GP directly to challenge whether the sick note we received was even legitimate but it was’. 4 days after this email was sent (Easter ) I was informed my job had been rescinded

At this poInt I’m beyond angry. I knew she had spoken to my GP because they rang me (the Gp) to say that 24 hours after receiving a letter from her regarding the authenticity of the fit note she rang them pretending to be me and got the security question wrong.

This isn’t normal is it ? Can I add this to my grievance or do I just resign and take it all to tribunal ?

I was not clinical facing from 2023 up until now (well who knows)!! However my next post was essentially my pre surgery role high up in Pathology if that changes anything

Given the manager had already contacted the GP to confirm the sick note why would they be ringing the next day “pretending” to be the Op?
They already have Ops work record and details of her condition. What was to be gained by impersonating her?

This is outrageous!

If I were you I'd speak to the union and ACAS. Get a written statement from your doctor that says she contacted them pretending to be you. Escalate this via HR as high as possible and demand action.

It sounds like projecting and bullying. Surely her mental health isn't great if she's doing this (which you could flip around to quote her words about not being safe back to her) and then she's using your mental health against you. If you were "unsafe" (which you are not) what are they doing about it? They can't have everything their way.

Would you approach the person that offered you the job to try and explain what is going on? Get your HR to intervene? Do you have others that could advocate for you? Maybe they would reopen the role for you?

From my experience HR never wants negative exposure and this is discrimination that you could take further.

Bullies just want to strip you of everything because they are jealous and hate it when you show agency.

You have agency and you're obviously very good at your role you get offered another job.

I know this is awful but I think it will work out.

That's nonsense. Yes you can ring your surgery and speak to a Doctor.

Yes but you ring the surgery and the doctor rings you back. The Gp isn't just sat by the phone waiting for it to ring!

My surgery do not discuss anything on phone unless it’s a prebooked appointment

Also the law regarding giving references is quite strict on what you can and can't say.
Where I work there is unoffical 'vetting' but this is done by phonecall - you ring someone you know and warn them etc. You would generally not put it in an email due to the risk of SAR, plus who would you email?

Whilst your manager is very much out of order I would not knowingly hire another person with bipolar on the drugs our current employer is on, they are off work for months every time the dr tinkers with the meds, even when in quite frankly they seem half asleep and apparently it’s the meds. They also have verbal tics which means nobody wants to be in the building with them along, they don’t feel safe. Not everyone is the same but once you have experienced what we have been through you are definitely twice shy. Kindly op, perhaps you don’t realise how awkward it is to have someone off for 8 weeks, it’s really bad and we 9 months in are struggling with the situation of having someone incapable of working the job.

As all others have said, union. You must do this.
As the husband of someone involved in NHS recruitment (clinical, but sits in on interview panels and discusses the applicant's merit withouth having the final final say) it seems fairly clearly that this recruitment hasn't followed NHS guidelines (and that's ignoring the illegal impersonation) and most probably, the law.

Definitely get advice from your Union, that's what they're there for.

You can't call for blood test results, for example?

Hmmm not sure really. Good question. I use the nhs app and look on there. I guess they might give them over phone.

Of course you can get them to help you, that's what you pay your money for. Good luck. That's appalling!!

The issue is my current manager then emailed the new manager and said and I quote ‘she does have BiPolar and she quite worryingly is on an antipsychotic for it as well as antidepressants. My manager had a conversation with her in a closed room and was very concerned bc she might lose it. You never know what people with this kind of disorder are capable of do you? My advice would be to rescind the offer because she was also off for a fair bit of time for ‘medication titration” whatever that is’, I also didn’t believe she even had it at the beginning so I contacted her GP directly to challenge whether the sick note we received was even legitimate but it was’.

So your manager essentially sent in a second reference by email that contradicted the formal reference, gossiped about your sensitive private information, displayed a parodically extreme level of hostility and ignorance about bipolar disorder, and flaunted her ignorance of the very basic concept of medication titration?

This all sounds either incredibly baffling -- or implausible. Does this NHS manager not know anything at all about employment law and GDPR? Or health and medicine?

And, assuming she wasn't a friend of the person she wrote to, why is she writing in such a chatty tone? You never know what people with this kind of disorder are capable of do you -- that sounds like a spoken pattern of conversation, not email-speak. And I also didn’t believe she even had it at the beginning so I contacted her GP directly to challenge whether the sick note we received was even legitimate but it was’. That's pure gossip. It isn't really about the OP at all; it is chat about the manager herself. Insofar as it says anything about the OP, it actually contradicts the 'potentially dangerous madwoman' trope that the manager has riffed on a couple of sentences ago.

All extremely odd.

Look stop trying to be clever, troll hunting is not allowed so what part of if you don't believe it report don't you understand?

First thing is that anyone in the NHS trying or succeeding in breaching medical confidentiality needs to be sacked. The facted that they are a manager is shocking. Discrimination in employment on grounds of disability along with harassment is as serious employment breach as they come and you should use every avenue open to you to pursue it. But it will be a fight in large organisations like NHS. That's why uou need every support you can get.
Start with your union.

I don't think anyone is saying OP is a troll, bht that maybe something else might be going on like she is unwell?

Agree this is a paranoid delusion and most answers are just egging OP on with zero thoughts to her mental health

Respectfully, none of us know the OP, so it's impossible to know that it's anything to do with their bi polar. Trying to pick apart a post for 'inaccuracies' isn't helpful in either situation. The advice would be to contact your union, seek legal advice as these people would be meeting the OP in person and would know whether the SAR request evidence says what it says.
My sister is bi polar. She's capable of incredible flights of fancy, which I recognise because I know her personally.

I’m so sorry you’re going through this. As a first step you could put a timeline together and link everything that has happened. Yes, please go to your union and also any employee assistance scheme you have. This person should not be doing the job she is doing, please get support and lodge a grievance. This is likely to be an external provider. Try not to worry too much about what you do next, get this incident logged and I think your current role will be better and you will gain time to think. Your manager should not be in post. I personally think she should be suspended pending investigation but I’m not HR!

I do think the union / legal advice needs to be involved. However I also think that while her manager hopefully will get sacked (if everything is true) it is unlikely that OP can be employed in a patient facing role. It's a really different thing to work a job and have 8 weeks off unexpectedly than to know in advance this is a likelihood every time medication changes - it's incompatible with the role. In the private sector where I work any absences of this length of time are unpaid / SSP, which is entirely legal. The NHS really needs to start doing this, it's no wonder it's in such a mess if this is the norm. How can you possibly run a service with this sort of absence rate?

I haven’t read the whole thread but I’m furious OP.
I have bipolar disorder and I’m on Quetiapine, Lamotrigine and Pregablin (latter is for anxiety).
The Quetiapine makes me drowsy, are you on it too?
This situation seems to be a common thing inside the NHS. I worked in mental health for a crisis team. I was on a late shift and took my meds with me and discreetly took them when the shift was almost over. I was then sent to another part of the building.
Came back and the nurse was standing by my bag grinning. Looked in my bag and the meds were in a different place.
Following few days and a newly qualified nurse approached me and said she had been told I was bipolar and that one of the nurses had looked up my medical records. At this point I hadn’t disclosed this.
I took this to my manager and she launched a full investigation but then I was moved to a different mental health department.
I have another NHS related story so I will do a separate post.
OP you must get professional advice about this. Your manager trying to get records from your GP practice is shocking! She can’t do that, it is a data breach and confidentiality breach. She also breached confidentiality when she told your potential new manager about your diagnosis.

My second discrimination story is with another NHS manager in mental health.
I loved that job and was bloody good at it.
I had to get some paperwork and asked him and another nurse if I could have the paperwork. They were in his office.
Collected the paperwork and was working when I was summoned to his office and told I had clicked my fingers when asking for the paperwork. This didn’t happen and I was never disrespectful!
He then rounded up a posse of other staff including the matron from a different ward, my previous manager and senior nurses and said I was going to be up for a disciplinary!
I was sobbing my heart out and didn’t understand why he would do this. His mother had bipolar and he had a very difficult childhood but I was nothing like her, had a full time job and was compliant with meds.
I was sent home and then was summoned back to apologise to my manager or he would complete a disciplinary. So I had to apologise for something I hadn’t even done.
He also once threatened me with the sack as I bought another member of staff a birthday card with glitter on it and he didn’t like glitter.
You are welcome to private message me OP, it is so awful to be treated like this.
Stay strong, you’ve done nothing wrong at all OP. Xx

You can still call and speak to a receptionist. Some practices do ask security questions, and you can call for blood test results in most cases.

This is definitely an issue. So many people think everyone should be able to any role they want regardless of whatever issues they have. Yet these same people I’m sure would be extremely annoyed if their much awaited appointment was cancelled due to lack of staff. Reasonable adjustments are absolutely fair. Allowing somebody into a role they just cannot do is not fair. People always say the NHS should save money. But if they are having to potentially pay double for staff regularly because someone needs 8 weeks off every so often (or just totally cancelling the patients) just isn’t feasible. It’s very different to being competent and then say breaking your leg as a one off than it is to having a long term condition where you know you’ll likely need regular long term time off.

Wow. I’ve had some horrendous managers in my time, especially as a person with invisible disabilities but this is horrendous.
i don’t know how these people a) get their jobs and b) keep them