# Work & Hospital Appointments



## ch1ps (Aug 29, 2013)

Where do I stand legally with work and going to the hospital to see DSN or consultant.

Do I have an obligation to make up the time?  Boss getting stringent.  Saying I might have to take these appointments as leave.  To me that is discrimination.  Or am I being touchy.

Does any one know the legalities surrounding this.

Thanks
Pauline


----------



## LeeLee (Aug 29, 2013)

Would your employer refuse antenatal appointments for a pregnant woman?  No, unless he wants to risk a court case for sex discrimination.  The DDA legislation may have a different focus, but the principles are similar.  For a proper legal opinion, try going to the CAB.


----------



## Aoife (Aug 29, 2013)

I believe they have to give you time off for appointments although that time does not have to be paid therefore you may well be obliged to make that time up elsewhere or take the hours as leave.

It is also not unreasonable to ask for appointments at the beginning or the end of the day to minimise disruption to your working day


----------



## ch1ps (Aug 29, 2013)

Thanks LeeLee

What has brought this about is a member of the team has gone off with a bad back and hence the crackdown.

I will contact the CAB tomorrow.


----------



## ch1ps (Aug 29, 2013)

Aoife said:


> I believe they have to give you time off for appointments although that time does not have to be paid therefore you may well be obliged to make that time up elsewhere or take the hours as leave.
> 
> It is also not unreasonable to ask for appointments at the beginning or the end of the day to minimise disruption to your working day



Thanks Aoife, I always get the earliest or latest so that it isn't as disruptive.


----------



## Lauras87 (Aug 29, 2013)

Ah a topic I know well....

Your employer HAS to make reasonable adjustments to allow you to attend doctors/hospital appointments.

As aoife said, your employer doesn't have to pay you to attend the appointment & can request you to make the time up or take it as holiday or take it outside of working hours.

Do you have your contract to check what it says?

Diabetes is covered under DDA & the equality act (even if you don't class yourself as disabled) - they can't refuse your appointments as they put theirselves at risk of action due to disability discrimination.

If you want I can pull all the case law I've used to fight my case.


----------



## ch1ps (Aug 29, 2013)

Lauras87 said:


> Ah a topic I know well....
> 
> Your employer HAS to make reasonable adjustments to allow you to attend doctors/hospital appointments.
> 
> ...



Thanks Laura

Might have to take unpaid, as I've no holiday left 
I will also have a look at my contract.


----------



## Lauras87 (Aug 29, 2013)

ch1ps said:


> Thanks Laura
> 
> Might have to take unpaid, as I've no holiday left
> I will also have a look at my contract.



I'd ask your boss about your appointments & what they would like to happen in terms of the time you take.

If you want any help or pointing in the right direction for info let me know


----------



## LeeLee (Aug 29, 2013)

ch1ps said:


> What has brought this about is a member of the team has gone off with a bad back and hence the crackdown.



A series of outpatient appointments that are necessary for you to remain alive and healthy cannot be compared to an episode of long-term sickness for a painful but ultimately not life threatening condition.  To attempt to do so is simply barking mad.


----------



## Caroline (Aug 30, 2013)

my firm gives time for appointments but asks as far as possible we make them as early or as late as possible to reduce the impact on the working day. You are allowed time off for medical things but I belive there has to be a bit of give and take on both sides. Might pay to check with HR what your firms policy is.


----------



## SimplesL (Aug 30, 2013)

In our office you are allowed time off paid for emergency doctor/dentist; but for planned appointments you have to cover in your own time unless you can show it is a specific clinic where you have no control over the time of your appointment.

So I cover my diabetic blood tests & follow up clinic in my own time but I make appt for early as I can; but I am also in the middle of 5 years hospital monitoring for an early breast cancer I was treated for in 2010. Those appt's as I have no control when they are (although I know the month in which they are due) are allowed & I am given time off to attend.


----------



## ypauly (Aug 30, 2013)

I would never expect my employer to pay me for appointment time and during busy periods I would be more than happy to make up any time so my appointments didn't have a detrimental affect on the business.

 I have worked with people that have demanded paid leave, shift changes and a whole load of other stuff that just puts managers off employing diabetics.

That said, my last employer paid for up to 4 appointments a year for everybody and the employer before that it was 6 and it didn't matter what they were for as long as they were medical and you could prove you had an appointment.


----------



## Caroline (Aug 30, 2013)

Each firm is different. To me as long as the appointments are kept early or late (not always posible I know) there should be give and take on both sides. It is as much in the emloyers interests to help keep you healthy as it is yours.


----------



## ch1ps (Aug 30, 2013)

Thanks everyone, I'm not bothered if I have to take as unpaid leave.  What I object to is that is was postured that we would have to take from holiday time (especially as I have no spare holiday left).


----------



## bev (Aug 30, 2013)

Hi Ch1ps,

http://www.tuc.org.uk/equality/tuc-20293-f0.pdf

If you read the bottom of this document in the Appendix part it shows that you should be entitled to 'DL' (disability leave) and specifically mentions diabetes. Interestingly it also says that it is illegal for an Employer to ask whether you have a disability.Bev


----------



## tejbat6 (Aug 30, 2013)

*strange tings managers*

before retirement my last manager and his sidekick, you know, the one that makes the bullets but hasn`t the b*lls to fire them, decided that our holiday time would be classed as `x` number of hours
so 10 days hols would be lets say 80 hours hols

THEN, any time you were not at work for appointments of any kind the time would come off your hols
ie  hospital 1.5hrs or/and dentist 2.5hrs meant you only had 76hrs hols left

as I was due to retire shortly I said a lot but it was pointless anyway
would have been interesting to take it further
I was employed under a different manager who was well aware of my D

WHO SAID SLAVERY WAS ABOLISHED


----------



## trophywench (Aug 30, 2013)

Our contracts at work changed when we were taken over and during that time my lovely mother in law died.  So I had the day of the funeral off and another morning when her ashes were interred with husband's dad.  We didn't have to do any of the running round as my brother in law and his wife did it all.

It transpired that we were now ONLY allowed such time for 'immediate' family, that was to say parents and children.  Not brothers and sisters, and defo not in-laws.  Just imagine saying to your spouse, sorry I can't come to your parent's  funeral dear, or when your own sibling died, not going.

I said well - you know what you can do with THAT rule, don't you? to which my boss man said, I thought you might say something like that! - and it was never ever discussed again.

I've known people take a fortnight or more off when a parent died (who was very elderly and  had had shedloads of strokes etc by then, for years - she lived with them, not like a house had to be cleared etc) and frankly, I think that was taking the hiss.  I mean if it affects you so badly you are ill yourself, then that's different - but really!  Not unless.

Hospital appts, you very often just don't get any choice of timing, no matter how you try and employers really should accept that, and I think as long as you explain this and do your part and try to play the game, by taking early or late appts where you have a choice, they should appreciate it and not be so stringent.  I think flexibility on both sides is what you need - when one side won't play the game then it wrecks it for everyone.

I know it isn't your business Paul, and that you therefore feel you shouldn't inconvenience them whatsoever, but you are a human being and should be treated with respect and YES!  a bit of TRUST frankly.  It's true it isn't their fault you are diabetic, but it certainly ain't yours either, or do somehow you think it is?

Isn't this the whole point of Disability legislation?


----------



## Aoife (Aug 30, 2013)

tejbat6 said:


> before retirement my last manager and his sidekick, you know, the one that makes the bullets but hasn`t the b*lls to fire them, decided that our holiday time would be classed as `x` number of hours
> so 10 days hols would be lets say 80 hours hols
> 
> THEN, any time you were not at work for appointments of any kind the time would come off your hols
> ...



I work in the NHS and all my annual leave is calculated in hours plus public holidays which count as 7.5 hours each as I don't get them off. 

We do "long days" which are 12.5 hour shifts, if I want the morning off for any reason or if we are over staffed (we do 1:1 care therefore there is ad hoc leave is going sometimes) or if I leave early then those hours come off my overall entitlement. 

Luckily work are pretty flexible and because of the long shifts I only work 3/week except for my nights so if I happened to be working the day of an appointment then it's easy to swap a shift for a day off to attend.


----------



## ch1ps (Aug 30, 2013)

bev said:


> Hi Ch1ps,
> 
> http://www.tuc.org.uk/equality/tuc-20293-f0.pdf
> 
> If you read the bottom of this document in the Appendix part it shows that you should be entitled to 'DL' (disability leave) and specifically mentions diabetes. Interestingly it also says that it is illegal for an Employer to ask whether you have a disability.Bev



Thanks Bev


----------

