To be absolutely fed up with NHS staff off sick

[njg616]

I manage a small team and have had several staff take the complete biscuit with sickness.

One took a year off before retirement - we couldn't recruit until she handed in her notice.

One got a similar job while off sick for 6 months, she then went off sick in her new job

Another got the job 'to cover her bills while she recovered from bunion surgery'

Currently I have someone off sick with a history of long and short term sickness. Has been off sick for half the time she's been in her post- 6 months. I follow policy, and refer her to HR who keep giving her more chances.

I find many staff use their NHS salaries while off sick as their sponsorship to do other things in their lives. This cannot be a good use of public funds especially with how things are at the minute.

These staff would not last a minute in the private sector. Sickness records don't seem to matter which to me is a huge indication of a person's commitment and reliability

These are my frustrations too.

And I absolutely agree that as part of improvements in the NHS, sickness needs to be reviewed. It all adds to patient safety and service delivery risks

Have you asked yourself why so many people are off sick?

I could think of many reasons: short-staffing, poor management, low pay, bullying, burn out...

I think you are very unreasonable to just assume that everyone is faking it.

Also if they are following the sickness policy and have the backing of their GP who I assume are providing the right fit notes then it is your job as a manager to provide adequate cover and plan for staff sickness.

I hear you OP. Public sector here with similar policies to the NHS.

I job share with someone who goes off sick the same time of year every year for six months and then comes back, takes loads of annual leave, and then works for about five months before going off again.

She does about 10% of the job when she's here and claims she can't travel to our office because the journey is too far for her condition even though she has been witnessed shopping further afield. So she sits at home doing fuck all.

Absolute piss taker. And the employer does nothing. Total waste of tax payers money and not fair on me as I have to pick up the slack.

absolutely agree with this.

Same situation with civilian police staff. Management too scared/incapable to tackle the pisstakers

Oh heck this thread hasn't helped me - currently off sick following surgery and pressuring myself to go back before my sick note runs out as I know how busy my team are and i feel awful for leaving them in the lurch. The guilt is real.

Let’s be honest here. It’s totally false about nhs staff on burn out after covid. Some, definitely. The reality though is that most were not any busier during the covid outbreak. I know this as my sister is a nurse, and was barely touched by the covid outbreak, other than having to wear all the protective clothing/masks.

@Lzzyisgod
that is management's issue to rectify, not yours

but my friends friend is a nurse and says different

however covid is still ongoing and affecting the wards.

A new member of staff wouldn't be entitled to paid sick leave for half of their 6 month post surely? In my trust one year service equals 1 month paid sick leave, 2 years equals 2 months paid sick leave and so on.

Absolutely but even with a fantastic manager, recruitment is really tricky and can't get agency staff with the necessary skills for my job.

Although sick pay is generous in NHS I've always found any sick leave taken has been greatly scrutinised in the last few years - and I have know people dismissed for poor attendance in the last few years which was unheard of 10 years ago.

Are you my old NHS manager, who tried to put me on disciplinary for being off sick with a bacterial chest infection (that I caught at work), saying that I should have still been going into Neonatal ITU every day - despite the consultant paediatrician refusing to allow me into the unit?

Should be standard Agenda for change terms - I want to say a years service before you get full sick pay allowance but don't quote me on that

You appear to lack key qualities that make a decent manager (and human).
Maybe you should reconsider careers.

I worked in the NHs for 15 years and it was pretty much the same all that time to be honest. Staff would get reprimanded for things like drug errors or other misdemeanors, get the hump about being told off and go off sick for 6 months on full pay. One Nurse go told off for something which culminated in a sort of disciplinary meeting, she took a year off sick and then retired. One went off sick for nine months due to stress of caring for a relative but the relative wasn't even her relative but her partner's relative whom she had been with for just a few years. Also worked for an NHS abroad and you only got 5 days paid sick leave a year and funnily enough you didn't get any of this kind of malarkey. I do appreciate times have been very difficult for NHS staff in recent years ( covid etc ) but this has been going on for years. And yes as pp says they take six months sick leave, build up a load of annual leave which they then take , then come back on some kind of phased return so getting paid for 5 days whilst working 3 or half shifts. Glad I'm out of it.
All these staff off sick then make it much more stressful for the remaining staff who end up doing overtime etc just to keep the place going, then they are more likely to go off genuinely sick.

I agree. I worked in the NHS and it's an absolute piss take

Ah, well if your brother says it's made up then it has to be.

Your brother is very naive if he thinks these things aren't going on. I work in the NHS and it's well known that some staff take the piss.

I do advocate for good sickness policies and hope the NHS retains its generous sick leave entitlement so that when someone genuinely needs that safety net, it's there for them. But your brother is talking rot if he's saying that people don't take the piss.

I wish it was that easy to have well trained and experienced bank staff to plug the gaps. Planning for unplanned sickness just doesn't happen in the NHS. You work with what you have which is usually at full capacity.

I haven't assumed EVERYONE who goes sick is faking it. My op stated examples of the policy being abused

If they've got continuous NHS service, they will be entitled the the sick leave they've already 'accrued' elsewhere.

So nhs patients are allowed to be sick but not the staff

this is definitely headline grabbing thread

How do the staff with high sickness records get references? You need to be in the role 6 months before you get sick pay so I doubt the bunion op recovery story is real

you have to take sickness and annual leave into account @njg616

It’s not though. There is a 6 month full pay sickness policy. Id question, not knowing something so basic, what ‘works in HR’ actually means.

or even if he does work as HR, and not just an admin, his attitude is probably why so many staff are swinging the lead.

I think it is an issue. It is similar in schools IME. A lot of absence including lots of long term absence, then lots of people taking 4 days off then coming in for a day, then off again so never a need for a sick note. This isn't teaching staff generally, but the poorly paid, poorly respected and overworked support staff. I honestly don't blame them. They probably don't feel well due to stress and workload and I also wouldn't feel inclined to drag myself into work when the conditions are so difficult.

It's very difficult to recruit for these roles so taking a hard line on everyone who is sick too frequently would put head teachers on a hiding to nothing imo. They do address it from a welfare perspective if someone has had huge amounts of illness. I've known it to happen and they get put on reduced duties etc.

It's just a very hard place to work (schools and I imagine the NHS too). It can become a bit dog eat dog tbh.

I'm about to leave my current school as it is getting to a point where I feel I cannot take days off as there is nobody else who can do my job which is unfortunately critical to the running of the school. I'm taking a demotion and going to another school! It isn't right that I feel I cannot take a day off for genuine illness.

I realise I'm sort of contradicting myself in saying that there is a lot of absence among support staff but that I also feel I cannot ever be absent! But my job is quite specific (not well paid though, which is why I'm offski)!