My job offer within the nhs has been rescinded after my previous manager disclosed my BiPolar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we received was even legitimate but it was’. 4 days after this email was sent (Easter ) I was informed my job had been rescinded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

"I would not knowingly hire another person with bipolar on the drugs our current employer is on"

I think this would be discriminatory - you are taking a sample of 1 and extrapolating that every other person would act similarly.

@hahabahbag 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

Yet, on the other hand, I have a child with bipolar (among other things) who has only ever had 2 weeks off when they started on an antipsychotic 12 years ago. Have only had one lot of ‘tinkering’ as you so scientifically put it, and had no time off with that. They are very rarely sick and don’t take time off work, and have to be made to take annual leave. In fact, in the 5 years at their current job they have taken 3 days sick, 1 day and 2 days, both times for flu. Although on an antipsychotic, antidepressants, ADHD meds, they don’t front up to work half asleep. They run a good distance before work each day, try and get to the gym for a run during lunch if they can, go to sports training 4 nights a week and play sport on both days of the weekend, all while being wide awake with plenty of energy. No verbal tic’s either.

I do appreciate you’d never hire them, and would not feel safe with them. For that I’m actually really glad as I’d absolutely hate the thought of them working with such a judgemental arsehole.

Def speak to union.

Presumably your son hasn’t put in for reasonable adjustments though. His work may not even know he’s bipolar.

Bit different for people who have taken months off for their meds.

Discrimination or not, I can understand her reasoning.

No, but the other poster stated they would never employ anyone with bipolar, or on antipsychotic medication (and maybe antidepressants, that wasn’t clear). They were pretty clear it was their personal blanket policy. So my child, and lots of others like my child who don’t take time off with their meds would come under this blanket policy. How is that reasonable?

That seems like a very straightforward and easily evidenced case of discrimination. You were offered a job, had a good reference and then this manager made an assumption you were unsafe based on nothing other than your diagnosis and medication, shared this with the potential employer and you subsequently had the offer removed. I'm pretty sure there is a crime in trying to impersonate you with the GP add that to the breech of data from occupational health and the manager, I'd say both organisations are fucked! Good luck with challenging this, I really hope they are held yo account and you get a good outcome.

I’m a GP and I’ve never heard of anyone using a secret code word, nor any of the things OP has said the surgery did.

Perfectly normal in primary care to ask a patient to confirm their date of birth or to set up a password or security question if there is any confidentiality concern. But sure, calling it a 'secret code word' makes it sound extra cuckoo.

It's not the bipolar which is the issue it's the 8 weeks off for a medication change. That's excessive. Maybe necessary but it doesn't point to an employee who will be able to do the job as needed and there is no requirement to hire someone who you reasonably think may not be able to fulfil the needs of the role. Whereas I am sure there are many people with bipolar or other conditions requiring medication who would not need that amount of time off for a medication change.

It would be impossible to run the NHS well if many employees were routinely doing that.

I have an abusive ex husband who has tried previously to speak to my dr. I asked for the password to be put on. Would you like me to forward you the communication from my GP? Or my gmc number to Prove this isn’t bollocks?

Are you a doctor?

If you are a doctor and have recently been unwell enough need antipsychotics for bipolar disorder, and have applied for a clinical role then I think it is acceptable for the manager to share relevant info. How she phrased it is relevant if she used unacceptable language, but I think sharing info that may affect patient safety is important. Not saying you can't work if well, but if unwell people need to know.

You know what? It’s actually not super helpful for anyone with a mental illness to read ‘well I wouldn’t hire anyone on antipsychotics either’ these keep us alive. I’m going to report the thread and ask for it to be locked or deleted. Thank you for the people who didn’t essentially agree with my manager that bi polar = wielding knife maniac

This is awful and I would talk to your Union.

I am an experienced consultant psychiatrist of decades. Many people with bipolar are working in responsible jobs. Those who have had the illness for years are often pretty damn good at managing their illnesses and recognising signs of relapse. A tiny number will put themselves or others at risk. Someone who is taking their meds and is educated about their illness is eminently employable.

And we prescribe antipsychotics for many illnesses. Yes, at higher doses probably for schizophrenia. But we don’t just prescribe them for hallucinations and delusions. They have mood-stabilising properties. So antipsychotics can be used to treat depression in bipolar disorder for example. They can also help with some of the mood instability in emotionally unstable personality disorder. We also use antipsychotics to augment antidepressants for people with depression and anxiety and PTSD.

The medication somebody is on tells you very little conclusive actually about their diagnosis and prognosis.

Sorry that people have been vile to you and accused you of lying or being unwell. Just shows stigma and discrimination is everywhere

People who wrote comments like that should be ashamed of themselves. We certainly aren’t knife wielding maniacs.
If it wasn’t for being put on antipsychotics I probably wouldn’t be alive today. Bipolar disorder is an incredibly difficult disability to live with, we didn’t choose to have it.
Big hug to you OP, we are survivors xx

Please use your union for this, and be as quick as possible applying to ACAS for support, do it tomorrow as there is a time limit for tribute/conciliation.

It’s shocking of your old manager to behave like that. I would also ask what HR process was followed to rescind the offer ie what grounds were given even though the link between your old manager disclosing is obvious, and was that the official process.