How is it possible to guarantee you will not be off work due to sickness?

caringa

My daughter has a job in the NHS she loves and has been there three months. She had a glowing 3 month review with the exception of her attendance which has been poor due to illness. She is now facing the possibility of loosing her job because she has just been off sick with gastroenteritis for 5 days. She had to attend a meeting to explain why she couldnt maintain the zero absence condition that she was set at her last meeting.

My question is - how on earth can anyone guarantee that they will not be ill? Even the Queen cant do that!!!! My daughter is worried "sick" (excuse the pun) that she will loose her job and not be able to get another because of this.


When she was interviewed, she was upfront about the fact that she had M.E. for 5 years as a teenager (she is 27 now). Although she has mostly recovered, it has left her with a low immune system and she picks up bugs very easily, despite eating a healthy diet and taking all sensible precautions to avoid coming into contact with anyone who is illl. However, as she works in an Outpatients Dept, this isnt easy!


Any helpful suggestions would me most welcome.

koloko

At what point in the process was your daughter asked to guarantee that she will not be sick in the future?

jacques_chirac

How much time has she had off in total?

Mojisola

caringa wrote: »

When she was interviewed, she was upfront about the fact that she had M.E. for 5 years as a teenager (she is 27 now).

Although she has mostly recovered, it has left her with a low immune system and she picks up bugs very easily, despite eating a healthy diet and taking all sensible precautions to avoid coming into contact with anyone who is illl.

However, as she works in an Outpatients Dept, this isnt easy!

Having a lot of experience with M.E., I've got to say that this wasn't the best choice of job.

The NHS is also very unsympathetic with staff who take time off for sickness.

She might be very disappointed over the way things have turned out but, if she was my daughter, I'd be suggesting looking for a job somewhere else.

caringa

koloko wrote: »

At what point in the process was your daughter asked to guarantee that she will not be sick in the future?

She was asked at her last meeting on 6 September when they set a target of no more than zero days absence in the next 4 months (ie the end of her probationary period. However, since then she has had the bout of gastroenteritus which resulted in 5 days absence.

googler

So this was a 'target', not a condition? Does she have anything in writing?

caringa

jacques_chirac wrote: »

How much time has she had off in total?

She started work on 1 July 2013 and as at 6 September has had 8 days absence over 3 different occasions and this has breached the Trusts acceptable standards. In actual fact, because she went back to work in the middle of a bout of sinusitus and was then off again, they count it as two occasions, whereas if she had taken the doctors advise and stayed home, it would have only been counted as one episode!


On the second occasion, she was sent home from work on the Thursday as she felt really nauseous and was off on Thursday and Friday. However this episode was counted as 5 days absence because they count the weekend and the Bank Holiday on the Monday.

caringa

googler wrote: »

So this was a 'target', not a condition? Does she have anything in writing?

Yes - the letter says "I will initially set you a target of no more than zero days absence in the next 4 months."

nonnatus

I agree with the others. The NHS are a nightmare. The Bradford scoring system is just awful and makes no concessions for Human beings.

Your Daughter needs to be 100% healthy for the next 3 years to wipe her record clean. How can any of us know what's just around the corner?

jacques_chirac

Thirteen days/ four periods of absence in four months is very high, and would warrant termination of employment (with relevant notice). Even discounting the weekend/ bank holidays, ten days in four months is equivalent to thirty days a year.

I would echo the suggestion that an outpatients department is not a suitable place for someone with a low immune system. Given the potential outcome of this situation, it would be worth her asking if she could apply for a more suitable (non patient facing) position.

I disagree with those saying the NHS are harsh on sickness absence, as a disabled worker I found them to be very supportive. However I cannot think of any employer that would allow such a high level of absence as this to continue.

Prothet_of_Doom

Mojisola wrote: »

Having a lot of experience with M.E., I've got to say that this wasn't the best choice of job.

The NHS is also very unsympathetic with staff who take time off for sickness.

She might be very disappointed over the way things have turned out but, if she was my daughter, I'd be suggesting looking for a job somewhere else.

My wife reckons that working for the NHS gave her ME, and she's definately not going back.

Problem is that unless she can get over the probation period, then she's stuffed. That's the point of it. They can't run a hospital with people who are genuinely off ill on a regular basis.


Yes everyone gets ill, and it is impossible to guarantee that you won't ever be.
I once had to tell a temp employee, that if he were off in the next 2 months I'd be forced to let him go. In the end he was ill and I did. Pity, but I followed a set of rules to the letter.

In his case I'm not sure that it wasn't self induced following a weekend of drinking, but hey.