Do I stay at my job or not?

[SunnySide1992]

Hey everyone, so i just started a new job as a dental nurse and have found out im pregnant! Which is fantastic news and really unexpected as we have been trying for a while! I require to have x3 hep b vaccines for my job, i had one and now im pregnant they wont give me anymore! My job gave me a risk assesment to read and said i can stay but im still very worried about not getting the vaccine! Any advice? I need to decide soon cos i read online you have to be employed for 26 weeks in order to get goverment maternity pay! Sorey for rambling =)

What does the risk assessment say? In your shoes I think I would say, I've had hep b vaccines in the past and I think the first shot is most likely to cover you anyway. I think being in employment, getting maternity pay and having a job to come back to are all really important for stress levels (and money!) and I think its v v unlikely you would contract hep b in the circumstances you describe, but obviously the risk assessment will have more info. Presumably you use PPE in work?

If you’re already pregnant you won’t get SMP in a new job. To qualify for SMP you essentially need to have 1 period before falling pregnant (its 26 weeks employment before 25th week of pregnancy) to be safe. So based on that, financially I would choose to stay.

If they’ve done a risk assessment and you’re not happy, raise your concerns with them and see what they say.

I don’t understand why you can’t have the remaining Hep B vaccines when you’re pregnant? The NHS website says it can be given during pregnancy and there’s no evidence of any risk.

Is it an NHS dentist? I know if you change jobs within the nhs then you will continue to accrue continuous service for the purposes of maternity pay. Worth checking out. Although of your plan was to simply just stop working I wouldn’t be comfortable doing that as you’ll then only get stat Mat pay.

When did you start the job v’s when you got pregnant?