I wonder who thought up this bright idea! Who decides whether they are sick
enough to work or not? Who feels the pain and discomfort? Can anyone else
measure it? At the end of the day it is the individual who decides whether
or not they can carry on working. A doctor or nurse can only advise someone
if they believe, through their knowledge and experience, that it would
benefit the individual to rest. Only if the condition may be detrimental to
the health of the individual or others (other employees/patients) can the
employer insist for health and safety reasons that the individual stays away
from work. To force someone to work who does not feel well may amount to
bullying.
For you, as an occupational health nurse this is putting a great
responsibility on you and there is an ethical issue here. If a member of
staff wakes up with raging flu - do they have to phone you and talk to you
before reporting sick to their ward or department? (Will you be there in the
department before night duty or at crack of dawn?) I am sure the unions
would have something to say about such a policy - or is there a sickness
absence policy? Is there any strategy for managing absence - which as so
many people say is a management responsibility? Have you done a literature
search on managing absence or sickness absence? You will find quite a bit
written try www.personneltoday.com and hit 'search' and put in sickness
absence from 01.Jan.03 - This gives 158 results and some are from its sister
journal Occupational Health.
Good luck and you have my sympathies!
Greta Thornbory
Consultant, Occupational Health & Education
www.gtenterprises-uk.com
Tel: 01235 770156
Mob: 07778 518 027
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tracy Nicholls" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2004 3:59 PM
Subject: Sickness Absence
> Dear All
>
> I would appreciate your opinions, advice and experience regarding
> management of sickness absence as well as any details you could provide
> regarding any recent research into this problem.
>
> The trust I work for are looking at reducing sickness absence rates by
> introducing a new system by which Occupational Health either speak to or
> see everybody who is requesting to go off sick. The train of thought is
> that this system will stop those who are not genuine from going off sick.
> To say that we are not happy about this is an understatement. However, we
> are tring to look at this problem from both angles to see if this system
> could work, and if not what alternatives could be put in place. One ideal
> solution would be for the causes of sickness absences to be recorded and
> addressed, but apparantly there is not a suitable computer system
available
> to do this.
>
> As we are trying to build up a evidence base regarding this problem,
either
> supporting it or opposing it, I would appreciate any assistance or advice
> anyone could offer.
>
> Many thanks
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Please remove this footer before replying.
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