Civil Service - Occupational health phone appointment

[civilgal]

Hello. I wasn't sure where to post this. But I always find useful threads on Mumsnet so thought I would sign up and ask.

Sorry for the long post ahead I wanted to cover everything just incase. Also sorry for typos/grammar/etc writing this on an old phone and also left my glasses at work!

I have an occupational health appointment over the telephone next week. And I am not sure what to expect.

I work in an AO job in the Civil Service and I've been here for 2 years now. I've worked mostly part time because of uni but recently finished my Masters and I'm now full time. Seeking a very specific grad role but because of covid, I may not be able to pursue that for another year or so. I'm technically 'fixed term' - I was employed as an AA on a temporary contract and got another temporary AO role before that one expired, my contract has also been extended further and I've heard through the channels it's probably gonna be made permanent. If not, I feel confident I can get another role in my work without too much qualms - I'm quite active in the workplace.

Anyway. I've reached my absence trigger for the year. I've been off 5 times since starting with the civil service, all for very minor things but things that have made it impossible for me to come in. I will normally come in when I am sick. If I can, I've also took half days annual leave to leave early if I'm quite unwell. This will be important as I go on.

I will recount my absences:

• Few months in the job, I had proper flu, came in as wanted to give a good impression, was sent home as I was obviously unwell... took the next day off but then I was off on prebooked annual leave. I didn't cancel it as I knew about the triggers and was only off on annual leave anyway as I had essays to submit.

• Was off with a random migraine for one day about 6 months later. Light hurted me. I couldn't think straight. Almost went to A&E but strong painkillers helped. Was so bad I had to get my partner to phone in for me and take a call from my boss later on. I am not prone to migraines. When I was a teenager, I would get them after my menstrual cycle but this stopped when I was about 18. This has been one of about 3 migraines I've had since turning 18 (I'm 23 now).

• (from this point on, these all count as current triggers) I came in with really bad period pains in August. Again, tried to come into work even though I could not stand and was crying with pain. My period pain is not normally this bad, idk what made it so bad this day. Had to be sent home but made it through half the day so it didnt count as an absence. Was still unwell the next day.

• In December, I had what I suspect to be food poisoning. Was unwell on my days off and had not recovered by my next day at work, took the day off as I didn't even think I could travel in without needing to run to a toilet.

• Was off for 11 days with a sick note, as I was paranoid so went to my GP to get one when I noticed this was getting worse not better, with a sinus infection that turned ear infection I was hoping I had covid symptoms so it could go down as that type of absence but it wasn't, just crappy sinuses and earache that made me unable to hear properly for over a week. Had went into work with it for a couple of days but it got worse. But that put me over my trigger.

None of these things are major absences or really linked. However, it now means I have reached my trigger because of how long my last absence was. I need to go through formal absence proceedings.

Luckily my line manager is a gem and a union rep so is very understanding but this is still scary to me. So, he suggested an OH appointment so we can see about reasonable adjustments.

I have depression and anxiety, I've suffered since my teens and I have been medicated for this for about 10 months now. My manager knows this as I let him know when I started medication incase I had side effects. I never mentioned it before and until I reached my triggers, it was never mentioned. I never take time off for them - I did in my old work, I had a month off once. I strongly believe they maks my immune system shit. My doctor even said something similar. When I am more stressed, I am more prone to illness. I get the cold countless times throughout the year. Hell, as I am typing this I have sniffles! I believe because of how long I've suffered it qualifies as a disability under the Equality Act 2010 (and been told this by university and also my old work, who had informal reasonable adjustments in place).

As well as this I've been in and out of the doctors all year with some health issues. I've been suffering chronic pain in my shoulder for about 18 months and it just keeps getting worse. I am hypermobile but we are unsure what is causing this pain and I'm yet to have an xray as they need to 'rule everything out' first. I have flare ups/down. There is a history of arthritis in my family that sets in about 30, I'm 23. One of my siblings also have ME/CFS and a hypermobility disorder. I've been referred to physio, although it's not started yet but I dont have a diagnosis as such. I've had a few blood tests but nothing has been conclusive. I told my work about the blood tests but not the shoulder pain as it's not diagnosed so dont wanna start a fuss for nothing.

My formal absence meeting has been pushed back for my OH appointment but ive never went to one before and want some advice on what to mention. It's over the phone, I believe cos of COVID19.

I've written a lot that I may mention but it would be good to get some advice on what to expect from (1) the OH appointment then (2) formal absence meeting.
.............

Before anyone points out the obvious yes I am in the Union and I am quite active in the Union. I know they are there for me.

Also studied the attendance management policy but still unsure what action may be taken.

Stories for OH at different workplaces would also be helpful but mainly looking for civil service stories.

I really wouldn't worry too much, sounds like your manager and organisation are doing all the right things. The best way I can describe an OH appointment is like a slightly more in-depth and more work focused GP appointment. It will be with either a nurse or doctor (more likely a nurse as a first appointment), both will likely have trained in primary care/GP work and then have done further qualifications to specialise in OH. It will likely take 30 mins - 1 hour, they will ask you some general questions about the state of your health, then about the specific issue(s) you have been referred for. Bear in mind that just like your GP, they aren't specialists in mental health or MSK issues although as these are common workplace issues they will have experience of them - but if you are already under the care of a psychiatrist and/or rheumatologist you will likely find they can't add much in terms of your treatment plan etc - that isn't really their role. Their role is more how these things interact with your ability to work/be healthy at work and ways to improve that.

After your appointment, the OH person will then write up a report for your manager with recommendations (depending on the process your department follows you may or may not see this before your manager does but you should definitely get a copy). The sort of recommendations they may make are special seating or equipment to use with your computer for your shoulder, referral to a workplace physio to do a full assessment of your workstation (if your dept has this service), referral to workplace counselling (ditto, may or may not be appropriate for you depending on what other treatment you are currently on for your MH), recommendations for you to do specifically such as exercise programmes, taking regular breaks at work/changing position, or things to take back to your GP for follow up, and/or what they call 'management actions' which are things they can't directly say management must do as they may or may not be practicable in your job, such as reducing or altering your workload, allowing you flexible working, reducing your working hours, doing a stress risk assessment. These are things you then need to discuss with your manager.

OH may also suggest that leniency is applied in following the sickness absence policy if some or all of your sickness is considered directly related to a disability (but making a direct causal link between e.g. depression/anxiety and getting the flu can be quite challenging). In my opinion although understandably employees often want to get this agreed and it can help reduce anxiety around taking time off etc., this can be a bit of a red herring in discussions with management, particularly when you haven't had a lot of sickness to start with (and although you have met the 'trigger' point you haven't actually had a huge amount of sickness in the first place). As really what you want to focus on is preventing and reducing the sickness, and getting your manager to agree to measures that will help with that, rather than getting sucked into what can be circular/unproductive conversations about what level is 'acceptable' and whether or not it is possible to predict whether or not you'll be sick in the future - just my personal opinion and see what your OH/union have to say about it, different organisations have different policies.

Usually where you have a good and supportive line manager, the first stage sickness meeting should just be an open, informal, supportive conversation about your health and what the organisation can do to support you. Appreciate it's scary to be on the first step of a formal process, but you shouldn't feel like it's a hugely negative thing, more a necessary step to get you the support that will help you. You will have the OH report and recommendations to base a discussion around by that time, and you can also look at using tools like a stress risk assessment to guide your conversation. And do feel free to bring your own ideas/suggestions to the table as well, even if it's not something specifically brought up by OH...

Good luck

Thank you so much @maxelly that really clears things up and helps with my nerves going into it. Yeah, I have it with a nurse. Sounds less scary than I imagined but good to have a further picture of it all beyond policy guidance! I think you're right about the triggers but I am unwell a lot and get everything going but still just go into work, although even if I had more flexibility with triggers I would never take time off for, say, a cold. Thanks again!