Not getting breaks at work.

[GavinG]

Hi all, im type 1 and work in a very busy hospital performing tests on wards , clinics and in A+E. For the past couple of months we have been very short staffed, meaning I usually have to cover extra areas that would normally be covered by other staff. Sometimes, because of this, I dont get my breaks or have to cut them short. For the past few Friday afternoons however I have been left alone to cover ALL areas on my own. This is a huge area to cover and ive not had any breaks in theses instances, usually end up with bad hypos. I have said to my boss about this before but she seems disinterested and hasnt made any accommodation for it. The exact same thing happened today and to be honest, im really fed up with the whole situation. I just want to know if anyone has experienced this themselves and what steps I can take to make sure this dosent continue ?. Many thanks ;-)

 

[lessci]

Not only are they breaking the law re advisability discrimination, it's also illegal under the working time directives, you MUST have a minimum 20 break after 6 hours of work

 

[GavinG]

Its just the sheer amount of running about I have to do....I tried twice today to get a break at 3 o'clock but was urgently paged both times and had to run....by the time id done all tge work my blood sugar was in my boots and my head was banging....I hate feeling like this when I know it could be avoided!!!

 

[copepod]

Of course you should get breaks, but situation doesn't sound likely to change. So, you need to lessen chance of hypos by reducing insulin doses before days / afternoons you expect to be busy.

 

[GavinG]

I have reduced my insulin. ..and I can never know how quiet or busy its going to be. ...thats out of my control. I carry emergency beeps and have to cover a request printer from wards. I tried to contact my colleagues this afternoon to see if they could help me out but no one would answer their phone. As far as im concerned it was unrealistic to expect anyone to cover this amount. I need to talk to her on Monday about it...but im just not sure how to go about it or exactly what my rights are as i was diagnosed only 2 years ago. Ive never been in this position and dont want raising the issue to be detrimental to me in my job role.

 

[AndBreathe]

I have reduced my insulin. ..and I can never know how quiet or busy its going to be. ...thats out of my control. I carry emergency beeps and have to cover a request printer from wards. I tried to contact my colleagues this afternoon to see if they could help me out but no one would answer their phone. As far as im concerned it was unrealistic to expect anyone to cover this amount. I need to talk to her on Monday about it...but im just not sure how to go about it or exactly what my rights are as i was diagnosed only 2 years ago. Ive never been in this position and dont want raising the issue to be detrimental to me in my job role.

I wouldn't like to advise on how to handle your employer regarding breaks, but when an afternoon goes out of contrrol, as you describe happened today, could you not eat a couple of sweets or glucose tablets as you move between wards, or whatever? Bearing in mind you suggest you are left with a banging headache and feeling off, could a modest rise in glucose level make the whole situation better?

I appreciate you would rather have a break, but don't needs must sometimes?

 

[GavinG]

Yes, I could do that. My hypos seem to come on pretty quickly these days. ..especially ehen im running about. ...itd be worth trying over the next while. ...thanks @ AndBreathe :-D

 

[Robinredbreast]

I have reduced my insulin. ..and I can never know how quiet or busy its going to be. ...thats out of my control. I carry emergency beeps and have to cover a request printer from wards. I tried to contact my colleagues this afternoon to see if they could help me out but no one would answer their phone. As far as im concerned it was unrealistic to expect anyone to cover this amount. I need to talk to her on Monday about it...but im just not sure how to go about it or exactly what my rights are as i was diagnosed only 2 years ago. Ive never been in this position and dont want raising the issue to be detrimental to me in my job role.

Hi, I can understand you are anxious about saying something, but honestly your health and safety come first. Why don;t you just say most of things that you have said on this thread, about no one answering their phone and how unrealistic it is to cover the amount you are doing. I would of thought as it's a hospital they would know of the possible risks that you could be put under. The problem is, If you don;t say something again then nothing will be resolved. Something like " I have noticed I am covering a lot of wards on my own" and take it from there, if your boss still ignores your concerns, then go higher up, HR department possibly, or an equivalent. Good luck and all the best. Best wishes RRB

 

[GavinG]

Hi, I can understand you are anxious about saying something, but honestly your health and safety come first. Why don;t you just say most of things that you have said on this thread, about no one answering their phone and how unrealistic it is to cover the amount you are doing. I would of thought as it's a hospital they would know of the possible risks that you could be put under. The problem is, If you don;t say something again then nothing will be resolved. Something like " I have noticed I am covering a lot of wards on my own" and take it from there, if your boss still ignores your concerns, then go higher up, HR department possibly, or an equivalent. Good luck and all the best. Best wishes RRB

Thanks Robinredbreast.....I would have thought that theyd understand too but some of the things ive been asked are pretty silly...like " if you pass out ill just inject you with insulin??? :O"....I think ill take your advice and run with it from there. Thank you :-D

 

[Robinredbreast]

Thanks Robinredbreast.....I would have thought that theyd understand too but some of the things ive been asked are pretty silly...like " if you pass out ill just inject you with insulin??? :O"....I think ill take your advice and run with it from there. Thank you :-D

I really hope you can get it resolved Gavin. Good luck.

 

[Robinredbreast]

I'm with @Robinredbreast - you need to tackle this with your line manager at the earliest opportunity! If you allow it to continue it will only degenerate and could lead to god knows where. You owe it to yourself, your health and also your employer.

Your employer has a duty of care to you and is putting your health and safety at risk. I would suggest you document everything that goes on so you can reference it - a simple diary will suffice. If you're in a union get them to advise you.

The first step is to have a civil polite discussion with your line manager be firm but, fair with them. An informal discussion is all it should take to sort it out or at least get the ball rolling. If nothing comes of that then you have to escalate it.

Reading between the lines - your line manager and colleagues seem to be putting on you because they know they can.

God forbid - you don't want to experience a hypo where you need assitance and not have anyone available to help you!

Take action - it cures so much!

Well said, an excellent post.

 

[GavinG]

I agree. ...thank you all so much...youve put my mind at ease....ive been worried about this for ages. ...now im not worried at all. .. ....I agree with Robinredbreast. ...excellent post :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

 

[Gilljackso]

I have to go to a capability meeting at work due to my diabetis I get my breaks late have also had my lunch late which has had a knock on effect on my diabetis work have said that if I need a break that would be ok but one time when I was at work and was having a hypo and took a break so I could check my blood sugars my manager told me to stop sitting around and get on with your job I told her I trying to raise my BS and she gave me a look

 

[GavinG]

Lol @Gilljackso I wish they could experience it just once so they had half a clue how awful it feels.....then they might not be such smart asses....onwards snd upwards eh ;-) :-D

 

[GavinG]

Will do @nomistheman...and again. ...many thanks :-D :-D :-D

 

[Robinredbreast]

I have to go to a capability meeting at work due to my diabetis I get my breaks late have also had my lunch late which has had a knock on effect on my diabetis work have said that if I need a break that would be ok but one time when I was at work and was having a hypo and took a break so I could check my blood sugars my manager told me to stop sitting around and get on with your job I told her I trying to raise my BS and she gave me a look

Sorry to hear what happened, some companies and the staff are just( excuse me) idiots. How some of these people get their jobs in the first place is quite unbelievable. Because diabetes is hidden and not seen, I do think some people think we are making it up, so shirking our duties and a diabetes hypo is neither here nor there. If we had a broken arm or foot, they would probably be more sympathetic because they can see the medical condition
Best wishes RRB

 

[Brunneria]

I realise that the longterm solution is adequate staffing and breaks, but in the short term you need to adjust your insulin (not something I can help with, being T2).

And in the very short term, I suggest very regular blood glucose tests and a pocket full of jelly babies. It would be a simple matter to pop one or two in your mouth as you walk between tasks.

As a type 2, my response would be a good sustaining meal before going on shift too, but I'm not sure whether that would be another variable to factor in with your insulin doses.

I have learned, over the years, a number of hypo-preventative techniques, but in your circs, the jelly babies is an almost instant short term fix.

 

[GavinG]

:-D im happy to try to sort it out the way @nomistheman advised. This issue,in my eyes ,is totally preventable and I will be following his advice. I have reduced my insulin both basal and bolus and do eat a substantial meal before my shift. I carry glucotabs and do eat some when im starting to feel low...but these are short acting. I need the opportunity to eat something after this to maintain my levels, which im not getting. I'll feel a lot happier after I talk to my boss on Monday.....I don't think im asking for anything unreasonable. ...thanks for the advice @Brunneria :-D

 

[GavinG]

Lol @Gilljackso I wish they could experience it just once so they had half a clue how awful it feels.....then they might not be such smart asses....onwards and upwards eh ;-) :-D

 

[RAH79]

Hi GavinG

This is very difficult for you, because your Employer is not making the reasonable adjustments you require in order to manager you Diabetes. I used this Case Law in another post and I thought it may be useful to you because it identifies the risk to your Employer if they fail to take your medical needs seriously. Not only could this Employee in this case claim for Disability Discrimination, but he could claim for personal injury as it led to him having a serious head injury >

In a BT case involving a contact centre employee, (British Telecommunications plc v Pousson UKEAT/0347/SM)
it ended where he could never return to work because BT discouraged him from testing his blood sugars, and colleagues where offended because he was testing his BG in front of them. This cause him to avoid testing altogether and it ended up where he hypo'd hit his head on the floor and suffered a serious head injury! The Employment Tribunal found in the Employee's favour as the Company failed to put the reasonable adjustments in place such as providing him with time to check his BG, access to regular food and water. You could use this case to show your Manager how important it is the ensure you are given reasonable adjustments such as a quiet room to allow you to take your medication (I have attached a link here in case you need to print off the full case notes, or you can simply google the above case law and there are loads of Law Firms and HR websites that provide discussions about it- http://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/markup.cgi?doc=/uk/cases/UKEAT/2005/0347_04_0508.html).

From your Employer however, as we all know the Government are making cut backs and the first thing that gets streamlined to save money in Business is jobs. In this day and age this means far less resource and is potentially causing dangerous situations like this where it is impacting on your health. Regardless, you manager still has a legal obligation to put adjustments in place to support you to manage your Diabetes and also ensure that there is adequate cover to manage the operation of wards. As a reasonable adjustment could they not move you to a quieter ward with a less demanding role until you can get your BG under control? That way it doesn't have to be permanent, but ensure that they manage any risk on your health and any risk of patients? Take Diabetes out of the question, what would they do if a member of staff on the ward had to suddenly go home because they weren't feeling well?