Hospital appointments

postdoom · Post by **postdoom** » 08 Sep 2008, 19:02

Can anybody tell me what the situation with regarding hospital appointments? i have fairly frequent appointments at a hospital 40 mins away. The appointments are always in the morning and i usually swap my day off so that i can make it but should i really need to do this?? It seems slightly unfair to have to lose my day off this way

typically i get no sense from the DOM

hooniebagoonie · Post by **hooniebagoonie** » 08 Sep 2008, 20:05

At our D.O the dom allows us to have the time off but it goes on our sick record although we have been assured that it will not count or go against us concerning other periods of sickness that may trigger stage warnings.....so if thats true why bother counting them at all

Post by **darth** » 08 Sep 2008, 20:47

postdoom wrote:Can anybody tell me what the situation with regarding hospital appointments? i have fairly frequent appointments at a hospital 40 mins away. The appointments are always in the morning and i usually swap my day off so that i can make it but should i really need to do this?? It seems slightly unfair to have to lose my day off this way typically i get no sense from the DOM

how long are you at the hospital? can you finish off your round after the appointment?if you can chat with him and see if thats ok?as long as the work is done he shouldnt really have a problem.

postdoom · Post by **postdoom** » 08 Sep 2008, 21:00

Hmm not sure about the sick leave thing sounds a bit iffy to me. Anyway usually apps are about 10:30 but generally run quite late, a couple of weeks ago i had a 10:10 appointment but didnt come out till about 12:30 home by just after 1pm. So as we dont even get out on delivery till 10am i wouldn't even be able to start before having to leave work.

It was mentioned by somebody that a request to leave work for an appointment should be granted and it has been known to happen in the past. I thought maybe there was some official rule but maybe its just who you have as a DOM & whether they are willing to try and be helpful or not

BELIAL · Post by **BELIAL** » 08 Sep 2008, 22:10

I think TBT recently posted some relevant stuff. From memory, you must be allowed time off for appointments,eg dentist,hospital, GP. Not quite Belsen yet

norbert · Post by **norbert** » 09 Sep 2008, 00:44

hooniebagoonie wrote:At our D.O the dom allows us to have the time off but it goes on our sick record although we have been assured that it will not count or go against us concerning other periods of sickness that may trigger stage warnings.....so if thats true why bother counting them at all

careful on that one - it must be shown as a appointment - they had a case with a girl triggering a stage with maternity hospital visits and she refused to sign for the warning .

Post by **janitor** » 09 Sep 2008, 08:54

I think the union really needs to make clear what is the rule over this as we move closer and closer to a 9 to 5 service it becomes harder for people to make medical appointments outside normal weekly working hours, and weekend appointments if available are like gold dust or Saturday mornings only. The business really needs to sort this out.

postdoom · Post by **postdoom** » 09 Sep 2008, 18:23

BELIAL wrote:I think TBT recently posted some relevant stuff. From memory, you must be allowed time off for appointments,eg dentist,hospital, GP. Not quite Belsen yet

Thats what i've heard - unofficially though. cant find anything relating to this by TBT but maybe somebody could put a link to the post??

BELIAL · Post by **BELIAL** » 09 Sep 2008, 21:15

postdoom wrote:
BELIAL wrote:I think TBT recently posted some relevant stuff. From memory, you must be allowed time off for appointments,eg dentist,hospital, GP. Not quite Belsen yet
Thats what i've heard - unofficially though. cant find anything relating to this by TBT but maybe somebody could put a link to the post??

It's in the attendance procedure stuff ,no point in making it up, I can't be arsed ,but if it affects you,dig and learn,and trot it out rote

ROCKS · Post by **ROCKS** » 10 Sep 2008, 10:18

i have recently had 6 weeks off after an operation that has triggered a stage 2,is this correct when obviously it is a legitimate reason with doctors notes and confirmation from royal mails own medical staff that rang me (without my permission) advice please

BOF2008 · Post by **BOF2008** » 10 Sep 2008, 10:31

At my office you just show you appointment cards or letter for proof and off you go.This is a local agreament with union and management.

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 10 Sep 2008, 16:02

dog bait wrote:
postdoom wrote:Can anybody tell me what the situation with regarding hospital appointments? i have fairly frequent appointments at a hospital 40 mins away. The appointments are always in the morning and i usually swap my day off so that i can make it but should i really need to do this?? It seems slightly unfair to have to lose my day off this way typically i get no sense from the DOM

how are you lossing your day off?
a day off is where you dont work
whats your frequent hospital appointment got to do with work that you expect an extra day off.

Although I have some sympathy with DB views, although not the way he presented it, you may well be covered under the DDA rules, to be sure you would need to check on the regulations and probably get advice from the Doctor or Specialist.

ROCKS · Post by **ROCKS** » 10 Sep 2008, 16:47

what happens if you don't sign the warning?

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 10 Sep 2008, 17:01

ROCKS wrote:what happens if you don't sign the warning?

When you sign the warning you are not saying that you agree with the content merely that you have received a warning, at least that's the way I understand it. I am not sure if you can refuse, but if you did, all the manager would do in this case is endorse the warning with "Mr A B Postman refused to sign" and the warning would still exist.

If you disagree with a warning you can always ask advice from the Union, the CAB or even ACAS. At the later stages of the disciplinary process you can always opt for an ET but you would have to exhaust all internal channels first.

postdoom · Post by **postdoom** » 10 Sep 2008, 17:30

dog bait wrote:
postdoom wrote:Can anybody tell me what the situation with regarding hospital appointments? i have fairly frequent appointments at a hospital 40 mins away. The appointments are always in the morning and i usually swap my day off so that i can make it but should i really need to do this?? It seems slightly unfair to have to lose my day off this way typically i get no sense from the DOM

how are you lossing your day off?
a day off is where you dont work
whats your frequent hospital appointment got to do with work that you expect an extra day off.

I have no control over when appointments are set and it is not always possible to swap with somebody in fact its damn difficult

. In which case i do not want to be put down as sick, that is the issue really DogBait