Hospital appointment

[postdoom]

Can anybody tell me if there is an official RM take on hospital apps? or is it just down to Dims discretion?

i usually go to a local out patients which means it doesnt really matter but i have to go further afield in a couple of weeks & i'm expected to swap my day off?

[fishtank]

Regular medical treatment and hospital appointments:
Where regular treatment or hospital appointments are occurring the employee should try and get appointments outside work hours and Royal Mail should help by arranging changes to working hours wherever possible. Managers should treat requests for additional time off with sympathy bearing in mind that a stoppage of pay may add to the stress of having to attend hospital for treatment or for hospital appointments. Individuals involved in hospital treatment or those attending a hospital appointment should provide confirmation of from their Doctor or the hospital, and absences should not count towards attendance procedure.

[montriff]

Whats wrong with using your day off? I bet most people on here make appointments for the dentist ,doctors etc on their day off

[clashcityrocker]

Whats wrong with using your day off? I bet most people on here make appointments for the dentist ,doctors etc on their day off

There is nothing wrong with using your day off when possible. You can normally make a dental appointment to suit you.
Some people however need to see a specialist at a given clinic on a given day.
Funnily enough these specialists don't tend to organise their clinics and appointments around a (rolling) day off.
Equally it isn't always possible to organise surgical interventions to coincide with annual leave.

[madmartin]

Regular medical treatment and hospital appointments:
Where regular treatment or hospital appointments are occurring the employee should try and get appointments outside work hours and Royal Mail should help by arranging changes to working hours wherever possible. Managers should treat requests for additional time off with sympathy bearing in mind that a stoppage of pay may add to the stress of having to attend hospital for treatment or for hospital appointments. Individuals involved in hospital treatment or those attending a hospital appointment should provide confirmation of from their Doctor or the hospital, and absences should not count towards attendance procedure.

A friend of mine had to take a week off for a minor operation and was issued a 1st stage warning because the week off pushed him over his "allowed" sick days. Is this right or should the warning not have been issued?

[postdoom]

Whats wrong with using your day off? I bet most people on here make appointments for the dentist ,doctors etc on their day off

i dont have a choice of appointments to see a consultant as you would do with GP/dentist, thanks for you input anyway

[clashcityrocker]

A friend of mine had to take a week off for a minor operation and was issued a 1st stage warning because the week off pushed him over his "allowed" sick days. Is this right or should the warning not have been issued?

Assuming the minor operation wasn't cosmetic surgery then his manager is a bastard.

[postdoom]

Regular medical treatment and hospital appointments:
Where regular treatment or hospital appointments are occurring the employee should try and get appointments outside work hours and Royal Mail should help by arranging changes to working hours wherever possible. Managers should treat requests for additional time off with sympathy bearing in mind that a stoppage of pay may add to the stress of having to attend hospital for treatment or for hospital appointments. Individuals involved in hospital treatment or those attending a hospital appointment should provide confirmation of from their Doctor or the hospital, and absences should not count towards attendance procedure.

I guess that means if the DIM can arrange a swap then so be it. Not really that fussed but it's a bit annoying as they are so quick to slap a 1st stage on you after major surgery yet i have to lose my rest day to suit them

[demon]

just tell them you will make the hours up later keeps them off ya back that way

[montriff]

Whats wrong with using your day off? I bet most people on here make appointments for the dentist ,doctors etc on their day off

i dont have a choice of appointments to see a consultant as you would do with GP/dentist, thanks for you input anyway

I know its a bit different but you wrote " i'm expected to swap my day off" i was just asking whats wrong with that? Isn't your manager helping you by rearranging your day off so you don't lose a days holiday or pay

[ElvisGaddafi]

I don't see a problem with swapping your day off. But while we're on the subject - a little bit of advice for anybody with a chronic medical problem, especially if you are likely to need an operation sometime in the future - make sure that any sick absences you have are all for the same reason. A few years ago I had to have a gall bladder op. The date I was given for the op was several months in the future and by the time I got it I had had so many absences that I actually triggered a stage 3 interview. I know if it had been up to my own DOM I would've been out the door but because it was a stage 3, the interview was conducted by a manager from another office. He had my sick record in front of him and when my union rep, who accompanied me pointed out that every single absence was because of severe stomache pain, culminating in an absence to have corrective surgery, he couldn't really do anything. If my absences had been a mixture of headaches, colds etc i would've been gone.

[postdoom]

Whats wrong with using your day off? I bet most people on here make appointments for the dentist ,doctors etc on their day off

i dont have a choice of appointments to see a consultant as you would do with GP/dentist, thanks for you input anyway

I know its a bit different but you wrote " i'm expected to swap my day off" i was just asking whats wrong with that? Isn't your manager helping you by rearranging your day off so you don't lose a days holiday or pay

No i think you'll find he's helping himself If for example nobody will swap a day off i would go to my appointment anyway & i certainly wouldnt lose any pay or have to use a days leave

[woofwoof]

Whats wrong with using your day off? I bet most people on here make appointments for the dentist ,doctors etc on their day off

There is nothing wrong with using your day off when possible. You can normally make a dental appointment to suit you.
Some people however need to see a specialist at a given clinic on a given day.
Funnily enough these specialists don't tend to organise their clinics and appointments around a (rolling) day off.
Equally it isn't always possible to organise surgical interventions to coincide with annual leave.

it isn't always possible to organise surgical interventions to coincide with annual leave

from the way forward agreement
Annual leave may not be taken as an alternative to sick leave (except where it runs concurrently with it in the case of extremely long absences in order to satisfy legal requirements). Employees who have been off sick must not start annual leave unless they have recovered, and should notify the office of their recovery before starting any annual leave. Annual leave cannot be recorded as sick leave if an employee falls sick during it, unless a medical certificate is produced.

[POSTMAN]

Regular medical treatment and hospital appointments:
Where regular treatment or hospital appointments are occurring the employee should try and get appointments outside work hours and Royal Mail should help by arranging changes to working hours wherever possible. Managers should treat requests for additional time off with sympathy bearing in mind that a stoppage of pay may add to the stress of having to attend hospital for treatment or for hospital appointments. Individuals involved in hospital treatment or those attending a hospital appointment should provide confirmation of from their Doctor or the hospital, and absences should not count towards attendance procedure.

A friend of mine had to take a week off for a minor operation and was issued a 1st stage warning because the week off pushed him over his "allowed" sick days. Is this right or should the warning not have been issued?

Depends on the manager,but more often than not they are issued.

[TeeferTiger]

A friend of mine had to take a week off for a minor operation and was issued a 1st stage warning because the week off pushed him over his "allowed" sick days. Is this right or should the warning not have been issued?

Assuming the minor operation wasn't cosmetic surgery then his manager is a bastard.

I know someone who was given a stage warning whilst still having chemo...