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Medical Retirement

Do you mean being retired because you are an insulin dependent Type 2?
Or are you being medically retired for another reason?
 
Yes. I feel that it is becoming more and more difficult to carry out my job with the pressure of the work and manage my diabetes. Long hours and unpredictability is difficult at the best of times.
 
I have no experience of it but fear it is unlikely that you would get a medical retirement on those grounds..If anyone else there can prove me wrong....
 
Roscoewalford said:
Yes. I feel that it is becoming more and more difficult to carry out my job with the pressure of the work and manage my diabetes. Long hours and unpredictability is difficult at the best of times.
Click to expand...

Roscoe, I can't tell much about you from your profile, so could you help us understand a few things better?

Could you tell us your age, if you suffer from any other medical conditions or diabetes complications, and whether you would have an expectation of taking any available occupational pension?

That clarity would help me make a response to you. I haven't taken any form of medical retirement, but I could offer you a view from an employer's perspective.
 
Hi,

I am 47 and have 26 years service in the Police.
I hold a fairly senior rank (CI) our conditions of service are very complicated.
So in short I have pensionable service.
I now have maculopathy, although I have reasonably well controlled diabetes.
The question that will be asked is 'can I carry out the office of Constable?'
Or what would be expected in that role?
They are good employers and talk about reasonable adjustments etc.
So to that end I was wondering if anybody had taken early retirement due to diabetes and added complications. My fear is that within the work environment it is hard to effectively manage the condition and I'm really conscious of it getting worse. Hope that makes sense?
 
Roscoewalford said:
Hi,

I am 47 and have 26 years service in the Police.
I hold a fairly senior rank (CI) our conditions of service are very complicated.
So in short I have pensionable service.
I now have maculopathy, although I have reasonably well controlled diabetes.
The question that will be asked is 'can I carry out the office of Constable?'
Or what would be expected in that role?
They are good employers and talk about reasonable adjustments etc.
So to that end I was wondering if anybody had taken early retirement due to diabetes and added complications. My fear is that within the work environment it is hard to effectively manage the condition and I'm really conscious of it getting worse. Hope that makes sense?
Click to expand...

I think your challenges would be around your pension, as 47 is quite a significantly early retirement, with 26 years service.

From discussion with someone I sometimes attend meetings with, I understand a little about the working lifestyle of a police officer of a similar rank to yourself. He retired a couple of years ago, and was diagnosed T2 not long afterwards. Whilst he was then overweight and had a few other markers, he is certain his job drove some lifestyle behaviours that were certainly not helping his health.

I can't think any employer would be interested in offering anyone medical retirement on the basis of their treatment becoming insulin based, unless their occupational conditions excluded insulin dependent diabetics. Even some of those only exclude at the point of recruitment.

How long have you been insulin dependent and what insulin regime are you on? Some regimes offer far more flexibility than others. Secondly, how long have you been diabetic, in total?
 
Hi,

Been diabetic for some 17 years. Insulin dependent for about 5 years.

My pension is based on 30 years service and I am due to retire in 2020 anyway.

My pension contributions are huge.

I am to see occupational health and my manager has asked the question about whether I can realistically still effectively carry out the role.

As my role is management there is an expectation I can carry out the full function. This is something I've found very few people in my organisation know anything about (diabetes).

It's the long term implications I'm worried about.
 
Roscoewalford said:
I'm on fast acting (novo rapid) and levemir (background), metformine.
Click to expand...

Most medical retirements mean one of two things in final salary pension schemes - either a discounting is applied to the pension you receive (meaning at day 1 you receive less, and usually then increased in line with whichever inflation measure they use, from that reduced starting point. Alternatively a pension is granted at the full rate, reflecting the accrued service and the terms of the scheme, but no increases are granted until the normal retirement date is reached. In each case, your pension would be based on today, whereas in three years your salary would likely to be higher, which would reflect in your pension and indexing. Over time the amount of difference really can add up, as your remaining life should be long.

If you haven't already, I suggest a good, thorough read of any pension scheme booklets or websites you have access to, and get the calculator out.

From the insulin you are on, I'm assuming to vary the amounts of novorapid to match your foods?

These days, final salary pension schemes are expensive, for both the employees (particularly when benefits are available, by right, so young), and for the employer, due to the fixed nature of the benefits and the inbuilt increases, but they are a very valuable resource.

What are the two things you find hardest? There are some fab people on this site, with so much experience in dealing with diabetes. They may have something that could be useful to you.
 
I have embarked on a low carb diet with some variety.
Getting into a regime under pressure is what I find hard.

Thinking about work issues, deadlines etc. while simultaneously remembering to eat, inject, test BG and the feeling (that's all it is at the moment) being left on the shelf with regards to progression.
I think I would find it hard to prepare for a promotion board, keep performing as I am, be posted elsewhere and effectively manage my diabetes.
I know a lot of people feel the same in other occupations as well, but it's the first time I have felt this way.
 
a slightly different view from me......

diagnosed type 1 at age 14
I have never known any different in the work place -- I spent a fair bit of energy in being" in the zone" work wise as I did not want diabetes to be some sort of excuse................ I was rarely off work full stop and never missed a day to overnight hypos.

was I thought better of for being dedicated ( doubt it )
am I happy with my overall contribution and work ethic ( absolutely )

only you can decide where your conscience lies -- I gave it my all for the 38 years I was in full time employment
( retired 2 years ago aged 56)
 
Roscoewalford said:
I have embarked on a low carb diet with some variety.
Getting into a regime under pressure is what I find hard.

Thinking about work issues, deadlines etc. while simultaneously remembering to eat, inject, test BG and the feeling (that's all it is at the moment) being left on the shelf with regards to progression.
I think I would find it hard to prepare for a promotion board, keep performing as I am, be posted elsewhere and effectively manage my diabetes.
I know a lot of people feel the same in other occupations as well, but it's the first time I have felt this way.
Click to expand...
Your profile says you are Type 2 is that correct?
 
Roscoewalford said:
I have embarked on a low carb diet with some variety.
Getting into a regime under pressure is what I find hard.

Thinking about work issues, deadlines etc. while simultaneously remembering to eat, inject, test BG and the feeling (that's all it is at the moment) being left on the shelf with regards to progression.
I think I would find it hard to prepare for a promotion board, keep performing as I am, be posted elsewhere and effectively manage my diabetes.
I know a lot of people feel the same in other occupations as well, but it's the first time I have felt this way.
Click to expand...

Roscoe, I appreciate I don't take medication, never mind insulin, but when first diagnosed I wanted to get into a testing regime to understand what was going on. Anyway, I used to set alarms on my iPhone to remind me to do "stuff" - mainly the post meal readings, as I'd be distracted by other things.

I'm quite a driven, determined and ambitious person (in other words, a nightmare!), so I understand a desire to get on. If you were applying and preparing for promotion boards, how long does it take for that process to progress, then how long to get into the new post, then how long does that leave until retirement in 2020?

Please don't think I'm suggesting you shelve your ambition. It would be hypocritical of me to do that, knowing how passionately driven I am.

As you are already aware, your employer has some responsibilities in terms of looking after you, and allowing reasonable adjustments. Could you think about what adjustments you would like to make things easier, even for a period of time? Of course any adjustments would have to still allow you to do your job.

If you could find a way of giving yourself a bit of respite to get some form of irregular routine together, maybe putting in some safeguards to ensure you do the testing, eating and so on, your thinking might change a bit. Don't let a particularly rocky period influence the rest of your life.
 
Great advice.
I am ambitious and previously probably over ambitious to the detriment of my own health.
Many years later and health complications (eyes) it may be more a psychological barrier than a doing one.
My sickness record is exemplary.

So is type2 insulin dependency a disability under the act?
 
If your struggling have you considered getting a libre reader or CGM? I don't see my diabeties as a disability, seeing this im in france having been sent away short notice with work. its 7.10 and I haven't eaten this evening yet bloods are stable at 5.6 (yay!) and im doing the 'hurry up and wait for someone else' lol.
 
Roscoewalford said:
Great advice.
I am ambitious and previously probably over ambitious to the detriment of my own health.
Many years later and health complications (eyes) it may be more a psychological barrier than a doing one.
My sickness record is exemplary.

So is type2 insulin dependency a disability under the act?
Click to expand...

Whether type 2 diabetes is a disability under the equality act is s grey area. It really depends on how it is treated. Type 2 treated with insulin is probably a disability for the purposes of the equality act. Type 1 diabetes certainly is.

So a condition which is a disability under the equality act gets you reasonable adjustment from your employer to accommodate your disability. Youre a diabetic on a basal bolus regiem. The adjustments you might need would be 1) being allowed to test your blood sugar whenever/wherever necessarry and 2) being allowed to take on hypo treatment (dextrose tablets) whenever necessary. I can't really think of other adjustments needed with a well managed basal bolus regime.

A basal bolus regime shouldn't require you to eat/inject at a particular time - it should be flexible enough to accommodate shift work or long working days.

If you've got a day when you've been so busy you haven't had a chance to go for a wee, that will be a difficult day for managing diabetes, but if it's a day when you've had a cup of tea you should be able to squeeze on the diabetes management stuff in no problem. Yes it takes up a fair bit of room in your brain, but it is doable. Testing and injecting should really not take much though 5 years after starting insulin.

You've made vague mention of complications. Do you have diabetic complications that are impacting on your ability to work?
 
Roscoewalford said:
Great advice.
I am ambitious and previously probably over ambitious to the detriment of my own health.
Many years later and health complications (eyes) it may be more a psychological barrier than a doing one.
My sickness record is exemplary.

So is type2 insulin dependency a disability under the act?
Click to expand...

No.

You could argue you need reasonable adjustment.

But, you are a police officer primarily.
You expect to be abused, hit, spat on, occasionally stabbed, from there, being moved to an office would be classed as reasonable.
As to the injection, many type 1's are able to work effectively in high pressure environments, Teresa May I believe is type 1.
 
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