Should I give consent to access medical reports

Sugar_Coated_Owl

In the team member handbook it says:

GP, hospital and dental appointments should whenever possible be made outside normal working hours. If you attend any such appointment during normal working hours that will be recorded as an absence due to sickness. If you have a sickness/attendance record which is not satisfactory we may require written proof of the appointment.

Savvy_Sue

OK, that's not so good for you then.

I suppose it was a very enlightened employer I had then: basically the same 'rights' for hospital appointments as women get during pregnancy, ie paid time off to attend.

Hope you are able to work things out. Be thinking of you.

pandas66

razorbladekisses wrote: »

In the team member handbook it says:

GP, hospital and dental appointments should whenever possible be made outside normal working hours. If you attend any such appointment during normal working hours that will be recorded as an absence due to sickness. If you have a sickness/attendance record which is not satisfactory we may require written proof of the appointment.

I accept 'routine' medical appointments should be kept as much as possible to out of work hours but these are surely a different case. I would try and get them on compassionate time or similar. I'll look on ACAS or similar if I get time.

As I say the guy who is here has had 1 afternoon off a week for 3 months ish, its unpaid leave I suppose. Its not going on his sick record though.

Larumbelle

Forgot to tell you a bit more about my experience of Bupa Wellness;

The doctor I saw persuaded my company to cough up for private psychiatric appointments for me. Once the psychiatrist had made her report she got me bumped to the top of the NHS waiting list as I was already receiving treatment, and also got better medication prescribed for me as they have a far better knowledge of what's available and are better at justifying the extra cost. So it could be very useful.

Have your HR been in touch other than to tell you what they want? They might be able to pull strings to ease the burden and maybe make an exeption for you to get paid.

Also have you considered getting in contact with Remploy? I found them very helpful even thought I was already in employment.

ben500

razorbladekisses wrote: »

In the team member handbook it says:

GP, hospital and dental appointments should whenever possible be made outside normal working hours. If you attend any such appointment during normal working hours that will be recorded as an absence due to sickness. If you have a sickness/attendance record which is not satisfactory we may require written proof of the appointment.

I suppose that's fair enough provided your not working hours that prohibit you from visiting your gp or obtaining other medical advice or treatment, given that your working 40.5hrs that should be ok for the gp and dentist but surely not for hospital visits? Assuming of course you are working Mon - Fri

Sugar_Coated_Owl

Pandas66, Thank you for the info. I am having a look at the info you sent. I think I'd prefer my hospital appointments to be entered as unpaid leave but my manager always seems to enter them as sickness. My sickness record must look so bad because I have at least 1 appointment a week with either the Doctor, social worker or psychiatrist.

silvercharming , Thank you for sharing your experience of Bupa Wellness. It's made me feel a lot better about the whole thing. As you say it might turn out to be quite helpful to me

Other than the form that I received from HR I haven't heard anything from them.

I haven't actually heard of Remploy. I'll have to look into it.

Thank you for the advice

ben500, I work Mon-Fri and Sat mornings, therefore any medical appointments that I have to attend always have to be taken during work time. I feel bad about having so much time off work but atm I don't really have much choice

ben500

razorbladekisses wrote: »

Pandas66, Thank you for the info. I am having a look at the info you sent. I think I'd prefer my hospital appointments to be entered as unpaid leave but my manager always seems to enter them as sickness. My sickness record must look so bad because I have at least 1 appointment a week with either the Doctor, social worker or psychiatrist.

silvercharming , Thank you for sharing your experience of Bupa Wellness. It's made me feel a lot better about the whole thing. As you say it might turn out to be quite helpful to me

Other than the form that I received from HR I haven't heard anything from them.

I haven't actually heard of Remploy. I'll have to look into it.

Thank you for the advice

ben500, I work Mon-Fri and Sat mornings, therefore any medical appointments that I have to attend always have to be taken during work time. I feel bad about having so much time off work but atm I don't really have much choice

If your worktimes are restricted to the same operational times as your practitioner they can hardly penalise you for seeking medical advice and or treatment, have you joined a union yet?

Sugar_Coated_Owl

I have looked into joining a union. I've looked at Unison but not 100% sure that's the right one. I know virtually nothing about unions

Savvy_Sue

Think it could be USDAW, although there have been several mergers lately so before long it may not matter which one you join ...

(DS3 spent last week doing work experience with Amicus and he says EVERYONE should join a Union and why haven't Daddy and I? Fortunately he says when he went recruiting he was a bit less militant than this because he didn't think anyone in a bank would listen to him. Surprised he thinks we do!)

meher

razorbladekisses wrote: »

I've had a pretty bad year so far. I've taken about 5 overdoses (3 required treatment for liver failure) and admitted to a psychiatric hospital twice. This has resulted in me being off sick for 7 weeks between Feb-Apr, a few days in May and another 2 weeks during June/July. So in total just over 9 weeks. I am currently employed as a dispenser in an pharmacy. As a result of my sickness HR have been informed and have contacted Bupa Wellness. I have received a form re: access to medical reports and I'm really not sure what to do. Is it best to give my consent for them to access medical reports or should I withhold consent? I am really worried about it all and just want to do the right thing.

I'm so sorry to find the predicament you're in - please feel free to speak to us when you're feeling low - do not suffer on your own - but then this belongs for a different thread.

I'm slightly concerned people who belong to a profession where you serve the community on such capacity do not belong to a Union - it would be in your own interest to belong to the Union for seeking professional and legal advice regarding your profession and on a legal capacity - that option should be considered at some point in my humble opinion.

Regarding the legal issue I'm thinking the occupational health could still release your records if the empolyer requests for it and still there's some chance that they would be protected by their justification that safety was their concern. They've also done the first right step by advising your rights on witholding your consent. You really need to seek legal advice as you need to have total awareness of the implications of deciding either way and of the consequences that you might have to anticipate.

In the meanwhile stay strong - we're with you - sincere wishes.