NHS conditional job offer withdrawn

CaronR

This is more of a rant than advice needed. I have been working for the NHS now for 18 months and was given a permanent contract 6 months ago. During this time my workload has gone down considerably due to certain changes and because of my concerns i applied for another job recently, same job different department. I went for an interview and got a conditional offer subject to checks, reference etc. As I already work for NHS and it was exactly the same job that I am doing now I felt confident about checks. I had had a few episodes of sickness, 6 days in total over a year, the last one whick had triggered me to be on sickness review but my sickness to my belief was nothing extortionate compared to other colleagues so I didnt think it would be a problem. Anyway they queried my sickness level and decided to refer me to OH. I spoke.to OH explaining that although I had triggered once there were no underlying health issues thinking this would satisfy their concerns. It came as a big surprise to me today to be told they had decided to withdraw the offer of employment due to my sickness levels. I appreciate the NHS have policies in regards to sickness but it.seems really harsh for.them to have withdrawn my job offer especially as I work there already!
Thank god I didnt hand in my notice but im now stuck in a job where i dont have enough to do so eventually they are gonna have to find me something else anyway within the NHS because i have a permanent contract. It seems to me there are too many managers making inconsistent decisions. This whole situation has really got me down and feeling deflated...any comments appreciated

Andypandyboy

"I had had a few episodes of sickness, 6 days in total over a year,"

I suspect it is not the number of days but the fact that it is several episodes. That is a trigger, rather than one episode lasting longer. It is harsh but the way is it in many places.

tomtontom

If your work dries up they'll make you redundant. You might get something else if your job is deemed at risk (you would have to apply, but would have higher preference than other candidates) but they're certainly not compelled to give you something else.

It's pretty standard for internal moves to be blocked where you are subject to disciplinary or performance management. Look to apply again when your absence rate has improved.

FBaby

As Andy said. If you had 4 lot of sickness in 12 months, each time a day or two, each time on Friday/Monday (or next to whenever you are normally off) and each time reported as cold/sickness bug, I can see how they would be concerned if you have no overlying conditions.

jamescl

Correction OP they don't have to find you something else to do, they could make the role redundant or just decide to let you go as you cannot be unfairly dismissed until you've worked there for 2 years. This means at any point they could just decide to let you go without having to give a reason.

Seems to me like the HR system has logged multiple (3 or so), meaning you're ill once a quarter or so. It's a shame, but generally employers are accommodating when staff have an injury or illness and are off for a little while to recover, but are less accommodating of more frequent (quarterly) call ins where managers and colleagues are left finding cover or struggling through.

ohreally

tomtontom wrote: »

If your work dries up they'll make you redundant.

At 18 months service I would doubt it.

Polarbeary

FBaby wrote: »

As Andy said. If you had 4 lot of sickness in 12 months, each time a day or two, each time on Friday/Monday (or next to whenever you are normally off) and each time reported as cold/sickness bug, I can see how they would be concerned if you have no overlying conditions.

In regards to the Monday/Friday absence - surely any day of the working week has a one in five chance of being the day you are off ill? Personally, I think an odd day off sick in the middle of the week is just as suspicious!

lr1277

One senior manager I knew was interested in using the Bradford score.

Essentially it is the number of spells you were off sick squared multiplied by the total number of sick days.
I am not saying this is what was used in your case, but lets work through this:
Let us say you had 6 one day spells off.
That is 6 x 6 for the number of spells, multiplied by 6 for the total number of days you had off giving you a Bradford score of 216.

I think this particular manager would have liked to have started taking a look at staff who had a score of greater than 60.

From the above formula, somebody who was sick for 180 days (6 months ish) would have a lower score than yourself and maybe under a different type of scrutiny. Obviously other processes would have started for such along absence.

I am not saying this is what happened in your case, but it is worth thinking about.

TELLIT01

Polarbeary wrote: »

In regards to the Monday/Friday absence - surely any day of the working week has a one in five chance of being the day you are off ill? Personally, I think an odd day off sick in the middle of the week is just as suspicious!

At the last place I worked, certain staff were famous/infamous for calling in sick on either a Friday or Monday and rarely being off sick on any other day of the week. It is that sort of pattern which tends to raise questions, and eyebrows.
In general, multiple single days off will tend to be looked on with less favour than a single longer period of sickness.

Polarbeary

TELLIT01 wrote: »

At the last place I worked, certain staff were famous/infamous for calling in sick on either a Friday or Monday and rarely being off sick on any other day of the week. It is that sort of pattern which tends to raise questions, and eyebrows.
In general, multiple single days off will tend to be looked on with less favour than a single longer period of sickness.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday is a good day for a skive. Not that I have ever done that.

ACG

If it was 3 instances of 2 days off at a time, thats 3 times you have called in sick in 12 months. Thats pretty poor. Anything more and it does look like you are taking the proverbial (in my opinion).

Personally when I have people working for me, I would rather they call in sick if they have a cold than risk spreading it around the office or worse...to me! :P But larger employers do not view it like that.

Stop being mard, if you have a cold you have a cold, get some barocca and paracetamol and go in to work.

The lack of work in your current role has nothing to do with the new job. They obviously do have work and they want someone who will not call in the slightest sign of not being 100%.