Broken wrist

[WHOCARES]

Hello,

I was unlucky to be on my way to work, when my RM bike went off on some black ice, and me going to the local hospital in an ambulance.

I have broken my wrist and have on a nice cast on, with a sling as well, then some nice doctor who works in the fracture clinic tells me and writes out a sick certificate for to last 5 weeks...........then I get a nice call from ATOS who tells me that a nurse will be phoning me to discuss my injury.

This nice nurse, has recommended that i should go back to work, on light duties, so far I have had 9 days off sick, are the RM paid nurses allowed to overide my sick certificate?
I also keep getting letters from my DOM with things like...light duties, help will be at hand etc etc.

A-dvise please....

[k979aaa]

Tell them i will be back at work when i have recovered enough to work as i am incapacitated due too an accident on a royalmail bike. I will contact you when my condition improve's and i can work again any more phone calls would be harassing me back to work while unfit and i don't think your insurance would cover that would it!. IT IS NOT A CONVALESCENT HOME IT IS A PLACE OF WORK WHERE PEOPLE WORK AND I AM TO ILL TO WORK AT THE MOMENT. GOOD BYE :lfo & :cfo

[bogstandard]

have you handed in your cert ?
If you have tell your dom and the nice nurse that they need to speak to the Dr at the fracture clinic, the name is on the certificate. That should take them lot weeks.

[WHOCARES]

yes the DOM has the note, not due back until 8th December.

but, can they over-ride the doctors note?

[DGP1]

yes the DOM has the note, not due back until 8th December.

but, can they over-ride the doctors note?

A doctors line is a legal document (the doctor has to be prepared to defend that position in court) and therefore cannot be challenged but they will try to bully you back to work by using all those little tricks they like (ie. stopping your sick pay) so just go to the meetings and let them know that you are unable to work until your doctor believes that you can.

[bogstandard]

show the nice nurse this

You are in: PersonnelToday.com > Latest News
LATEST NEWS

Email a friend Printer Friendly Comment on this Article
Royal Mail extends occupational health contract with Atos Healthcare
10 January 2008 13:14

Royal Mail has extended its occupational health (OH) and welfare services contract with Atos Healthcare for another three years.
Atos Healthcare has been delivering OH services to the organisation's 185,000 employees since 2002, where it has helped to reduce absenteeism in the Royal Mail letters business.
The new contract incorporates a risk-reward model, with Atos Healthcare being incentivised to help Royal Mail further cut staff absence.
Atos Healthcare will deliver a full range of services, including a round-the-clock employee assistance programme, sickness absence management, pre-employment screening, driver medicals, health screening, vaccinations service, and progammes to educate and inform staff about health-related issues.
Steve Boorman, director of corporate and social responsibility at Royal Mail, said: "The co-operative and collaborative way the two organisations have worked together to make improvements has been a particular success of the current contract.
"We will continue to set high targets for Atos Healthcare to remain competitive and achieve our business objectives," he added.
Mike Berry


ask the nice nurse how this impacts on the consultation,?
how the high targets affect the meeting?
are they on a bonus ?
how striving to achieve business objectives compliments the meeting?
How much of their medical expertise they are compromising re the risk reward model and their incentivisation to cut staff absence?
and possibly the big one, how much financially, cash money is it worth for you to get me back to work ?

be interested to know how you get on.

[norbert]

yes the DOM has the note, not due back until 8th December.

but, can they over-ride the doctors note?

A doctors line is a legal document (the doctor has to be prepared to defend that position in court) and therefore cannot be challenged but they will try to bully you back to work by using all those little tricks they like (ie. stopping your sick pay) so just go to the meetings and let them know that you are unable to work until your doctor believes that you can.

RM's view is that don't giveATOS are occupational health " professonials " only they only can judge what you can and can't do and therefore apparently can overrule anyone from the NHS . as the GP apparently doesn't know what you do .

" Our new approach to absence - to remove the barriers " - RM do tend to stretch things to the limit legally at the best of times - and often put a very perverse , skewed and /or warped interpretation on things -

so it's "interesting " if RM / ATOS get things wrong / something goes wrong - plenty of ambulance chasing solicitors looking for work - NHS staff don't pay indemnity insurance and BMA/RCN dues for nothing - however the twist is , RM don't pay for high powered solicitors and Barristers for nothing either , when things go t*ts up for them

then the RM "system " can be even more brutal - it depends how the "negotiations" go as Linkin Park says about pushing things to the max



Best thing to do is report the accident to the Social as an Industrial Accident / Injury - RM/ATOS may ? be less inclined to close ranks and use bullying tactics - basically call RM's bluff
, report it to the Council - RM won't like it - you'll be seen as a loose- cannon / troublemaker but that's just unfortunate

RM cannot apply unfair detriment for H&S issues being raised or Public Interest Act 2004 Disclosure - RM can be taken to a IT for that -

[stokes11eg]

Tell them i will be back at work when i have recovered enough to work as i am incapacitated due too an accident on a royalmail bike. I will contact you when my condition improve's and i can work again any more phone calls would be harassing me back to work while unfit and i don't think your insurance would cover that would it!. IT IS NOT A CONVALESCENT HOME IT IS A PLACE OF WORK WHERE PEOPLE WORK AND I AM TO ILL TO WORK AT THE MOMENT. GOOD BYE :lfo & :cfo

Make a complaint to Atos health care about the nice nurse---Although I had nothing but praise for them
when I returned to work after a wrist operation, the same cannot be said for the consultation I had regarding
my present injuries. In brief, although their Own doc said I was unfit, one of their O.H.A, who obviously
hadn't read reports, dismissed everything that had been agreed between myself, Doctors, and Employers!
I complained to Atos, and they handled the complaint very well.

[brothermagrew]

A wee but very important snippet:

It is important therefore to clarify the status of the certificate that the employee obtains from the General Practitioner after they have been absent from work due to ill health for in excess of five working days. The normal certificate obtained is an FMed3. Also available from the General Practitioner is a pink certificate FMed5which allows the General Practitioner to sign an employee off work retrospectively. It is important to note that at the top of an FMed3 or FMed5 in red letters is the phrase “for Social Services and Statutory Sick Pay Purposes Only”.

The FMed3 Certificate is signed by the General Practitioner. It contains documentary information from the General Practitioner to his/her patient. The
information is not for the benefit of the employer. The employer is not bound to accept the information on a General Practitioner’s certificate if he can demonstrate that he has based any decision that he makes on informed advice that is of at least equivalent competence. The advice of an occupational health physician satisfies this criteria and in fact supercedes the General Practitioner’s certificate as will be explained later.

The FMed3 or FMed 5 is issued as the statutory requirement for the purposes of access to state benefits. Its primary purpose is not for assisting employees in
managing their attendance issues. The Department responsible for the legislation accompanying statutory certification in the United Kingdom is not the National Health Service; it is the Department of Work and Pensions.

Most definately an informative read for all CWU members linked below.

http://www.phcohealth.com/briefings/21December2005.pdf

[BELIAL]

Wow, what a can of worms. So when the statistically predictable mistakes occur some OHP's better have excellent insurance cover for the inevitable mega bucks claims.
Can see that it will not take too many incidents to drive up the cost of cover for this bunch,what a risky job

[POSTMAN]

s**t,this is bad news

[k979aaa]

s**t,this is bad news

Indeed it would make paid sick leave an impossible dream for most. As your employer could just employ people (ATOS) who agree to cut the wage bill of the sick and the needy most of which were injured through the course of their duty!. SO WHERE IS ROYALMAIL's DUTY TO IT'S STAFF NOW!.

[k979aaa]

s**t,this is bad news

It aint new its just firms as always finding loopholes and exploiting them with the law and the money it makes em! I truly believe thats how the UK is run. For the benefit of law and the wealthy that can afford it! And that is a multi BILLION pound industry in itself! Go see a lawyer and see how much it costs! get insurance and see how much of the cost is taken up by law or litigation as they like to say! How much do the CWU pay for its lawyers? You cant man a picket cause of BLAH BLAH its against the law! you cant strike cause its BLAH BLAH against the law! you cant be sick cause its against the law! You cant protest because its against the law! When People open their eyes it starts to become clear. In truth Billy Dave and the rest at HQ (that i hate!) are constrained by law but the thing that for me as a member is they are neither creative or brave they see the LAW and dont try to find another way forward because its law and written, no matter that its unjust and those laws hurt THEIR membership they try to work to the LAW and thats why we are in so much trouble, its called the LAW!

Well said and someone had to say this and speek out the TRUTH ONCE AND FOR ALL OF US!.

[Lounge Lizard]

s**t,this is bad news

It aint new its just firms as always finding loopholes and exploiting them with the law and the money it makes em! I truly believe thats how the UK is run. For the benefit of law and the wealthy that can afford it! And that is a multi BILLION pound industry in itself! Go see a lawyer and see how much it costs! get insurance and see how much of the cost is taken up by law or litigation as they like to say! How much do the CWU pay for its lawyers? You cant man a picket cause of BLAH BLAH its against the law! you cant strike cause its BLAH BLAH against the law! you cant be sick cause its against the law! You cant protest because its against the law! When People open their eyes it starts to become clear. In truth Billy Dave and the rest at HQ (that i hate!) are constrained by law but the thing that for me as a member is they are neither creative or brave they see the LAW and dont try to find another way forward because its law and written, no matter that its unjust and those laws hurt THEIR membership they try to work to the LAW and thats why we are in so much trouble, its called the LAW!

Very true, the trouble though is that people now aren't interested in how they are repressed by the law, all that matters is that they've got some food on the table and some crap to watch on the TV all night long.

[wolfie citizen smith]

Hello,

I was unlucky to be on my way to work, when my RM bike went off on some black ice, and me going to the local hospital in an ambulance.

I have broken my wrist and have on a nice cast on, with a sling as well, then some nice doctor who works in the fracture clinic tells me and writes out a sick certificate for to last 5 weeks...........then I get a nice call from ATOS who tells me that a nurse will be phoning me to discuss my injury.

This nice nurse, has recommended that i should go back to work, on light duties, so far I have had 9 days off sick, are the RM paid nurses allowed to overide my sick certificate?
I also keep getting letters from my DOM with things like...light duties, help will be at hand etc etc.

A-dvise please....

Hospital or GP certificates can not be overridern by Atos. i.e A GP/hospital will only issue a sick note if they feel it is warrented.... place a bullying and harassment in against a) Atos....b) your D.O.M....this is blantant victimisation