Breakfast break

Jaylee said:

Hi Sarah,

It does sound to me like your employer has made compromises on the break structuring in accordance with "reasonable adjustments in the workplace."

As regards the break it’s not standard the whole hospital has these breaks it’s individual to the ward. It was always 3 breaks when I started then my ward merged with another ward who had 2 breaks during the day and then the break system was voted on and at that time they voted for 2 so they are not put out by my having 3 breaks. Other wards have 3 breaks and also twice a day they have an extra tiny break for just a cup of tea, ours used to do this but it was stopped because some would have over 20mins just for a quick drink so I don’t think I’m asking for too much.


I do Lantus as my basal insulin.

I have to admit. Doing a quick (rough) carb count regarding just the yoghurts you have?
You mentioned earlier in another topic you like "Sainsbury’s Taste the difference Madagascan vanilla thick yoghurt."
At two pots looking at the nutritional value, comes in at just under 36grams of carb. (Most of which look like sugars.)

With my basal correct. I would need to bolus for the above.

Lantus is not designed to handle this by itself.. Lantus is technically a "liver dump fixer."

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KK123 said:

Hi there. Firstly, do your Employers have you recorded as having a 'disability' under the Act?, I know type 1s come under it automatically but you too are an insulin user (albeit Lantus only but this still could cause you to go low during the day of course). If you do come under the Act then you are right, they do need to make 'reasonable adjustments' but the question of what is reasonable is subjective to a large extent. You are asking for a longer time to eat your food because of your digestive problems, is this ANYTHING to do with your diabetes? If it is, and if your GP can provide the information to support this, then it is possible that your Employers would at least have to discuss the matter with you. This may consist of adjusting your 9.30 break to a 30 minute one and your lunchbreak to a 15minute one for example. IF you require extra time directly relating to your diabetes, for example you feel like you are going low outside of those breaks and need to do a finger prick test, then yes, they would most likely have to allow you to randomly check during those times.

The problem is that ALL of us would be deemed as taking the you know what if we sat there slowly eating 3 bananas and 2 yogurts whilst our colleagues were getting back to work, any extra time we take usually means less time or extra work for others. Please don't get me wrong, of course we may need extra time to take our insulin before our food (although you don't take bolus) and subsequently extra time to check our glucose levels after but to be honest, this for me means a few extra minutes.

Either way, maybe you could arrange a proper meeting with HR and get it all written down, that way it doesn't become a battle every time you have your break. I think most of us have found that there really is a balance between what we may feel we are entitled to and the reality of what we're likely to get. I would say it really is give & take at work and you wanting to 'take your time' to eat would really annoy me as a Manager too, UNLESS there is a medical reason associated with your diabetes in which case get it all recorded.

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Mr_Pot said:

I expect most people faced with this problem would eat less or eat faster, maybe use a bigger spoon for the yoghurt. I expect a break at 9:30 is designed for tea and biscuits rather than breakfast. Why not have a snack before you leave home, say a cereal bar, and cut down on what you eat at 9:30? Diabetics might be entitled to extra time for testing or injecting but not to slowly eat a particularly large breakfast.

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KK123 said:

Hi there, well you should check with them regarding whether they have you down as being 'disabled' for all sorts of reasons. Could you eat one less banana, would that help? I really think you are on a hiding to nothing by trying to explain that you require an extra five minutes to be honest. You say you eat 'normally' but if that was the case, others would also be complaining about the breaks being too short. Personally I would not be making an issue of this, even as a diabetic because it does seem to be trivial in the grand scheme of things and there are things you could adjust yourself to combat it.

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Mr_Pot said:

I expect most people faced with this problem would eat less or eat faster, maybe use a bigger spoon for the yoghurt. I expect a break at 9:30 is designed for tea and biscuits rather than breakfast. Why not have a snack before you leave home, say a cereal bar, and cut down on what you eat at 9:30? Diabetics might be entitled to extra time for testing or injecting but not to slowly eat a particularly large breakfast.

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Jaylee said:

Hi,

Do your colleagues structure two 0.5hour breaks during a 12.5 hour shift?

If so, would that work for you?

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Mr_Pot said:

Who eats 3 bananas!

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