occupational health referral

Mogs,

Personal opinion and some experience;

If you are properly diagnosed with CS then you should be protected by the Disability Discrimination Act. The DDA covers chronic long term illness this should give you a level of protection. If you are a member of a union call their disability guy, all unions have them, and double check.

The DDA requires employers to make reasonable adjustments to your work and working environment to help you. After speaking to the union, if you can, discuss with OCC health the probabililty that you are covered by the DDA. If you are you might find that your manager suddenly changes their tune.

Ill informed, lazy and inneffectual people managers will do just about anything to cover their backsides. By referring you to OCC health they have bypassed having to deal with you directly, saving them the time and effort.

Occupational Health are there to protect you as much as the company. Whether CS would qualify you for early retirement would depend on the severity of symptoms and what you can talk the OCC Health advisor into. Only a doctor could decide that you are medically unfit and their report along with HR rules and regulations would decide whether you could retire early due to sickness.

Good luck

Paul

Hi Paul,

Thank you so much for that information.I have been diagnosed with CS by my GP and she has referred to a Neuro surgeon, I am awaiting an appointment date which I hope won't be too far into the future.

I am in a union so I will contact them and ask their advise too.

Will let you know the outcome.

Thanks once again,

Mogs.

hi mogs

i am going through the same thing at work i had an accident at work and jarred my neck resulting in cs . been on the pain killer merrygoround and

physio ,had to see my team leader yesterday i told him i want redeployment, they want a short statement from my gp to confirm this.

just play the waiting game now.

but if you nad an accident at work you can apply for industrial injurys disablement benefit try your job centre plus for the form if you qualify

its paid for life good luck

Hi there,

I've had my CS for many years now but it wasn't the result of an industrial accident. However I had an appointment with occupational health this week and the nurse told me that CS is a condition that qualifies under the Disability Discrimination Act and that my manager must make reasonable adjustments in order for me to continue to carry out my duties. I think when she receives the report from OH, she will change her attitude.

Also I had a call from the hospital and I have an appt for an MRI scan next Sunday morning follbefore seeing a neurosurgeon so it will be interesting to see if there's anything they can to do .

too hopeful, I think it will be something I'll have to learn to cope with along with the evergrowing mountain of painkillers!

It's nice to know there are other people out there who actually understand what this condition feels like.

Have just re- read my last message and seen all the typos in it....sorry, I'm not really thick, just a bad typist!

Hi

Iv just read your post, i work for a local autority as a HR Officer and have twenty years expereince of employment law. Just a word of warning, your manager does have to look at reasonable adjustments in the workplace, however an assement will need to be completed on whether the adjustments are reasonable for the business. Been covered by DDA does not automatically give you the right to have adjustments made but they do have to look at it. in the event they say no they must put a business case together to explain the reasons why. chances are they will make the adjustments. I am also going through a similar thing in that my cs is causing me more pain when sitting and typing. i have asked for reasonable adjustments to be made. heigh and low rise desk. you would think id asked for a million pounds. how did your MRI go iv just had my second only to find i also have ddd in four other areas of my spine. its great isnt. Pilates helps. let me know how you go on at work.

I only work 3 days a week. On days 1 and 2, I work in an area that doesn't cause me too many severe problems as I am able to sit/stand move about as and when necessary, however day 3 is an absolute nightmare for me and I finish the day in agony. The only request I've made and Oc Health have suggested is for me to work all 3 days in the same area. This would have no impact on anyone other than myself, nor would it affect the logistics of the service we provide and would be so simple to implement yet it seems to be taking an age to sort out, but hey ho that's life as they say!

I have to go for my scan on Sun 7th March so I'll let you know how I get on with both issues.