Dependants hospital appointments

[rocket scientist]

My wife is registered disabled and has irregular hospital appointments for her conditions - they can be as many as one a month for a couple of months but then she might not have one for 6 months. As her treatments mean that the hospital advises that she cannot drive after her appointments, I need to take her. Although he hasn't actually made a direct comment, I suspect this annoys my boss as he always makes a "joke" comment on me having the time off to take her.

So my question is: "is there a policy on taking time off for dependant's appointments" or should it be on the "work an hour late" principle?

Personally, as a SNEC I always let my lads have the time off for this sort of thing as I knew they'd be working late somewhere down the line, especially 1st line.

 

[Billy Whizz]

My wife is registered disabled and has irregular hospital appointments for her conditions - they can be as many as one a month for a couple of months but then she might not have one for 6 months. As her treatments mean that the hospital advises that she cannot drive after her appointments, I need to take her. Although he hasn't actually made a direct comment, I suspect this annoys my boss as he always makes a "joke" comment on me having the time off to take her.

So my question is: "is there a policy on taking time off for dependant's appointments" or should it be on the "work an hour late" principle?

Personally, as a SNEC I always let my lads have the time off for this sort of thing as I knew they'd be working late somewhere down the line, especially 1st line.

I have to take my missus to regular (weekly) appointments and no questions asked. I do try and catch up on some of the time but does mean I'm away more than I can catch up. I suppose it depends on your management. I have also got a flexi working agreement on JPA to cover different hours etc.

 

[justintime129]

Looking at it as a civvies, I don't think there should be any questions asked about taking time off for an important event like hospital appointments. Any boss who isn't happy about it needs to take a serious look at themselves.

 

[Downsizer]

I have also got a flexi working agreement on JPA to cover different hours etc.

As an aside, what have you got? Compressed hours? WFH? Genuinely curious as I'm thinking about if currently....

 

[Billy Whizz]

As an aside, what have you got? Compressed hours? WFH? Genuinely curious as I'm thinking about if currently....

Working hours of 7-4 and noon finish Friday so i can make any other med appts late in the day or Friday afternoon. It only legalized what I was working and what quite a few people do anyhow - just needed it agreed so did the flexi working on JPA - only needed LM approval

 

[muttywhitedog]

Can your wife not take advantage of the hospital transport that many health authorities provide?

 

[Billy Whizz]

Can your wife not take advantage of the hospital transport that many health authorities provide?

Nope cos it's a specialist facility outside the town we live - 12 miles away. No transport and she can't use public transport plus I have to be there too (long story)

 

[busby1971]

Legally you should be given time off, however, you don’t need to be paid.

However, any employer and manager worth working for should me more than happy to support your situation, especially when you put in the right amount of effort at other times.


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[muttywhitedog]

Nope cos it's a specialist facility outside the town we live - 12 miles away. No transport and she can't use public transport plus I have to be there too (long story)

I was asking the question of the OP who was enquiring about time off for taking her. My wife has been under the care of Addenbrookes in Cambridge for the past two years. Whilst I have endeavoured to take her to appointments (using my flex or leave to do so), there have been occasions where I haven't been able to, and she has called the East Anglian Trust who have arranged for patient transport from our house (55 miles away) to the hospital and back. She couldn't use public transport in case of catching a bug.

In regards to "time off", my employer allows time off for hospital appointments and we can claim it back up to our daily hours (7:24 or whatever it is for part-time workers). If the appointment is for a family member, then we use our own time/leave. I don't think that's unreasonable.

 

[penfold93]

The Equality Act 2010 says that on one should be discriminated against by association with someone that falls within the 9 protected characteristics.

Therefore you are entitled to any support , time off etc to allow you to look after your relative.

If that is not allowed and falls under discrimination by association. Service Complaint time

 

[busby1971]

Bit simplistic and generalized there buddy, the actions of an employer should fall within a band of reasonableness, how wide this band is, is often tested by the courts and most employers who are reasonable will win their case and employees who are unreasonable will tend to lose theirs. Generally employees will have to had been more unreasonable than their employers because there’s always a weighting against the powerful employer, however unpowerful they are.

As I said earlier, you’ve got a legal right to have some time off, you don’t have a legal right to be paid. If the Law started to demand that people should be funded then there’d be a lot more discrimination about.

Is it unreasonable to expect an employee to make up the time at other times, is it reasonable to give them unpaid extra time off when they should be productive, is it reasonable for the employee to rely on other relatives who might not work to do the running around or is it unreasonable for an employer to expect an employee to schedule medical appointments so as not to clash with work, there’s probably at least 10 other combinations that might or might not be reasonable.

If you’re looking for advice as a starting point the ACAS website is a pretty neutral place.


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[Stevienics]

The Civil Service would account for hospital visits as leave, though exceptionally as special paid leave on the approval of the LM if the individual was making a habit of it and a track needed to be kept.

It can become a problem though and its not right to play mother theresa all the time.