Categories: swansea
Tags: Rant
Date: 30 April 2007 15:07:28
Very hard. Trust me.
Let me take you through the annoying stages of this saga:
* I'm off work for 2 weeks because of X problem, I ring up the placements office to let them know and I'm told I'll need a doctors note. Fine, I say. As long as it can wait till I'm well enough to get to the doctors, then I'll bring it in.
* When I'm back on my feet again, I go to the doctors, explain that I need a sick note for those 2 weeks. Friendly doctor, trying to be helpful, but really not, insists that the sick note should cover the 2 months since diagnoses of X problem, to cover stress, etc. I explained that I didn't need it for the whole time, only for those 2 weeks, but she really did insist.
* So I pay £10 for this doctors note and toddle off to the placements office to hand it in. The specific woman I'm supposed to hand it to is on annual leave on that day, but another lady ensures that she'll give it to her.
* At the end of my last placement, I hand in my time sheet form, which indicated the time that I was off sick. The following day its returned to me in the post, with a note saying that a medical certificate is required for that amount of sick leave.
* I go back to the placements office and explain that I've already handed in a doctors note some weeks ago now. Lady in placements office apologises and says she'll have a look for this doctors note.
* About half an hour later, I get a phone call from the placements lady, saying that shes found it, but that because the form signs me off for 2 months, instead of 2 weeks (like I've indicated on my time sheet), then that will all go down as sick on my records. We're only allowed 21 days off in 3 years. With those 2 weeks, I am just under 21 days. There is no way I can afford to have 2 months written off on my record, when I was actually in!!!! I'd have to make it all up after my summer holiday, before starting a job. Which looks bad for employment, would be difficult to sort out acommodation and isn't fair on me when I haven't actually had that time off!!! I explain to the placements lady that I did only have the 2 weeks off, and the doctor just wrote in 2 months to cover for the stress factor. She said that didn't make any difference and I'd have to get a new doctors certificate, only covering the 2 weeks.
* This is fine in theory, but in practice, it means paying another £10, which didn't seem fair to me, when it was the doctor who got it wrong in the first place and didn't listen when I said I only needed it for 2 weeks. So today I went back to the placements office to ask if I could have the orginal doctors certificate back, to take to the doctor, with the hope that they will see the problem and change it for me free of charge. Placement's lady looked briefly for the doctors note and then recommended that I came back later, as she couldn't find it straight away.
* After my lectures finished this morning, I went back to the placements office. Placement lady now says that she doesn't have the orginal certificate because that is with our course secretary, in my folder. Placements office only have a copy of it and the lady had tried contact our course secretary to get it back from her, but shes off work today. Sigh.
So, tomorrow, I have to go to the course secretary and explain everything to her, and hope that she'll give me the orginal sick note back. And then take it to the doctors and hope that they'll change it free of charge. Although quite frankly, I'd prefer to pay and get it sorted than not have it sorted. And I've got lectures from 10-4, so quite when I'm going to do all of this, I don't know.
Sorry for the rant. Its just annoying. Its another thing to have to sort out this week. Todays lectures were basically 3 hours of explaining everything we've got to get done in the next 3 months, in order to qualify. Information overload springs to mind. Its just stupid amounts of essays, evidence collecting, mentors signatures and scary ward management stuff. And, unlike most people, I haven't finished my dissertation yet - thats another big thing I need to do this week.