Pneumonia

[Myusername2015]

Hi fellow teaching (of all types and sorts ) comrades; I’m after some advice. So 1st week of term I went down literally in the middle of the night with severe double pneumonia and was hospitalised
with oxygen IV Extremely poorly etc Since then (6 weeks) later I’ve had three more admissions and had constant antibiotics steriods and inhalers. Chest X-ray clear on last one but CT scan picked up infection (apparently usually seen in covid patients but I’ve never had a a positive test) So day before letter from HR tell me OH are now involved. I am home and recovering (fingers crossed but sleep most of the day and am knocked for six. My GP has signed me off for another two weeks and is
Insistent I don’t return until I feel ready (but heard OH can override this?)

I was hoping for your help with some adaptions I could talk to Oh about. I’ve never dealt with OH but my biggest issue is teaching a non core subject in a huge secondary means constant movement is inevitable. I feel so bad for the kids; I wondered about saying just sixth form to start (as they bubble together) but I don’t know that really helps the school and I’m scared stiff of contracting covid after this horrendous month. (Especially as I have also developed asthma during this)
Any ideas? Or experience with OH? I just feel they will march me back on Monday with a few extra lunch duties to make up for the trouble I’ve caused.❤️ To you all in these rubbish times

No advice as I don't have any experience, just wanted to say I hope you feel better soon, and make sure you look after yourself.

Occupational health are usually very supportive of staff in my local authority - for local authority school - not sure academies

.
The school may need to refer you after a period of time to put reasonable adjustments in place [ but in Covid era - who knows what they can be]

Are you in an union ? - it would be really good to join if not - they will help and advise

If your doctor has signed you off for two more weeks, OH can’t override that. If you’ve been off since September then you will probably have triggered the sickness procedures so you should have had a sickness meeting with someone from school. I would advise you to see OH before returning if possible so that reasonable adjustments can be implemented before you return. The most obvious one would be a staggered return whereby you work part time for the first few weeks. This will allow you to build up your stamina again as you’re likely to get very tired. Usually this builds up each week until you’re back to full time. Your employer must conduct a return to work meeting on your first day back to discuss how you are, how you can be supported, and to bring you up to date with what you’ve missed.

Good luck. I hope you recover soon.

Oh, and forgot to say that OH are there to support and advise you, and to advise the school about how they can also support you.

Thanks for taking the time to reply; my worry is my Doctor does not think currently I will be fit enough to return until after Xmas. I have been informed by HR if this was the case I would according to our sickness policy immediately trigger our final tier 3 sickness absence meeting with governors with dismissal being a possible outcome. We work on the Bradford score so my score is actually not particularly high (28 i think) whereas if I ignore the gp fit notes and then have to be off as i can’t cope my score will rocket. They said OH can override any GP fit note if they disagree with findings.
So so stressed.

Are you in an Academy?

Even more, are you in a union?

Good grief, that's extremely stressful.

Absolutely get the union involved. You've been extremely ill and I agree with your Gp. They're also giving you a lot of extra unnecessary stress. You risk more long term illness by going back too soon.

Also you may find you need to trial different asthma medications to get fully well which takes time. I found a combination inhaler much better than the normal brown one. Winter won't help that either.

OH are usually very supportive; an OH Gp told my school I wasn't fit to work along with letters from the Gp.

I have only spoken to OH twice, but they were more medical than school if you see what I mean - it was like speaking to a nurse at the GPS, not management at school. Aren't you entitled to a certain amount of time off on full pay for certificated sickness? This sounds really unfair. A union, definitely. But don't assume OH will not be understanding about the impact of your illness. Your employers sound awful by the way.

I have been informed by HR if this was the case I would according to our sickness policy immediately trigger our final tier 3 sickness absence meeting with governors with dismissal being a possible outcome.
They have to tell you that. It doesn't mean it's what will happen.
Go to occupational health. They are medics. They will review your medical info and suggest adjustments based on that. Schools sometimes try to use them as a stick to beat you with, but my experience with them was positive.
But you must speak to your union ASAP.

^This

This is a fairly standard HR letter for sickness. They have to write that but you should be fine. It’s clear you’ve been genuinely ill and this will be backed up by the GP certificate and OH. Don’t worry.

I had what at the time was just diagnosed as “virus” then “post-viral fatigue” but in hindsight was probably “covid” then “long-ish covid” and found a staggered return really helped. I went for KS5 and KS4 but that depends on the class I suppose. Often absence letters are sent by admin staff who just copy and paste but the actual people in charge ie the head and governors are sympathetic. Don’t go back before your sick note expires as you’ll just exhaust yourself and make yourself ill!