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Doctor's Appointments and Work
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in Work & Study
I'm about the start seeing a doctor regularly for appointments once a week, for around 10-16 weeks. I've arrange the appointments to be early morning, so I'll only have an hour off from work, but I'm just wondering if anyone has had a situation like this before and how employers view it? Will I have to explain to my boss what it's for? As with one off doctors appointments you can usually get away with not mentioning the reason, out of privacy. I work in an office, and I will offer to make the missed hour up by perhaps staying later another day in the week. I'm just slightly worried because its for mental health problems, and it may worry my employer as we've only recently had another member off staff off on long term sick leave for the same problem. I've been battling it for years though, and it really doesn't affect my work at all. Anyone else been in a similar situation, or know if there's some kinda policy on this kinda thing?
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Comments
If you've got one member of staff off on long term sick that might actually go massively in your favour because it should mean your employer is bending over backwards to prevent any more problems, thus be super co operative to your arrangements.
It's good to hear that you will be seeing a doctor every week and it's completely up to you whether you choose to disclose details about your mental health to your employer or not.
This is a really useful fact sheet about Mental Health at Work which will explain some of the legal stuff.
This Citizen's Advice Bureau Guide is also really useful as it explains that employers are not legally required to give you time off for doctors appointments, but that you might want to check your contract before approaching them.
Above all it's worth mentioning that any information you disclose to your employer about your mental health is confidential. It might be beneficial to talk to your manager so they can be as supportive as possible, but if you feel you can't do this then perhaps approach them and explain that you need to attend the doctors appointments and make an agreement with them about how you can make up the hours. You may like to weigh up the risks and benefits of telling your employer and this fact sheet might help.
Someone has also asked a similar question on TheSite which you can see here, it might be of use.
Hope that helps,
LauraO
I had to go to the doctors every 2 weeks. I got the impression that work was annoyed but I couldn't do anything about it. They seemed to get used to the fact that I had/have something wrong with my legs.
I wouldn't worry about it Kate.
I made the decision to go for it and ask, because I think the doctor's appointments may be really beneficial. I actually ended up crying because it's quite an upsetting problem and everything, which was all rather embarrassing! But she said it was fine, and seemed more concerned about how I was than the impact on work.
Keep us updated with how you get on
Laura