Luckily for me my hospital appointments are usually before 10 am and I work 14-22 so need to worry about taking time off for those appointments however if there are appointmetns that are later in the day and makes starting on time impossible then I'll be given paid leave, usually 2 hours and start at 16:00. I have been given full shifts off work paid with no loss of holiday for retinopathy checks.
My employer/union classes diabetes as a hidden disability and is understanding to my needs and that I need to have time away from the shopfloor for BG checks etc. My absence in work has been vey good with no abscence/illness T1 related, the last period of abscence from work was cause of a cycle accident and the 4 week abscence was due to muscle injuries, previous to that I was out for 10 days with a bad cold. There are several other diabetics in work on different shifts so can't comment about them but the other on my shift had too many abscences in 12 months and had doctors notes to confirm these were down to diabetes for one reason or another and the union managed to get the trigger level raised to four abscences instead of three.
My employer/union classes diabetes as a hidden disability and is understanding to my needs and that I need to have time away from the shopfloor for BG checks etc. My absence in work has been vey good with no abscence/illness T1 related, the last period of abscence from work was cause of a cycle accident and the 4 week abscence was due to muscle injuries, previous to that I was out for 10 days with a bad cold. There are several other diabetics in work on different shifts so can't comment about them but the other on my shift had too many abscences in 12 months and had doctors notes to confirm these were down to diabetes for one reason or another and the union managed to get the trigger level raised to four abscences instead of three.