ignorance

I work for NHS and im going through a bad patch with hypos, today I asked my manager if instead of having a sick day, could I work my day off instead and she said cant you go to doctors and get some tablets to stop you having hypos, does she know something we dont.

Oh Good Lord.
Is she serious? Unless she is thinking of glucose tablets.
That's so shocking, its the second story like this I have come across form within the NHS... And they wonder why people lose faith... Unless of course I am completely wrong and some miracle cure for hypos exists....

Ax

I agree with the fact that you can't know everything about every condition.
What I am saying is that it is ignorance, there is no running away from the fact that many many people, whether they are working within our healthcare system or not are completely unaware of how having diabetes affects someone.
The fact that people still think stuff like you can take a pill for hypos is shocking because it proves my point education within employment about diabetes is not upto scratch and there are lots of diabetics out there...

I agree with you ariane, it is ignorance and as a manager managing someone with diabetes they should be supportive, and if they dont understand they should get their facts right before saying what she did, after all they get paid for managing and should know there stuff, she dhould have took advice.

I can also confirm having worked for the general medical council, several schools and organisations that provide healthcare training for businesses and the NHS, that legal support systems are in place for employers and managers are required to know how to deal with employees with medical conditions. As far as diabetes is concerned there are specifically designed medical and first aid courses designed for employers. Because whilst no one is denying that a diabetics health is their own responsibility , not only do things go wrong sometimes but they can be made worse as a result of a lack of knowledge, understanding or compassion on behalf of senior management.

Trish Skidmore said:
I work for NHS and im going through a bad patch with hypos, today I asked my manager if instead of having a sick day, could I work my day off instead and she said cant you go to doctors and get some tablets to stop you having hypos, does she know something we dont.

I have to admit I would not expect my manager to know how to deal with Diabetes or any other condition, You didn't say if you work in a role that requires medical expertise. There are many many administration roles in the NHS that do not involve any medical training.
I would not necessarily call this ignorance more lack of sensitivity, I take an interest in my staff and their issues but doing this is just a personal thing not a requirement of my role. To get the best out of your team you need to understand them however other methods are available and work in different scenarios.
I don't think this is a diabetes issue more of a general issue and personally I always make sure people I am with understand my condition and what it means.
they don't always remember but at least some of it goes in. Maybe you have already tried and this person is a lost cause, some are. I don't think we need legal support to make people understand medical conditions we just need people who WANT to understand.

Well said marke.

Do all of you know everything about the treatment of every other disease/condition that exists? I doubt it very much so why expect people to know all about ours? I agree that a good manager would take some time to understand the issues affecting their staff but even then confusion and lack of knowledge will always be there, especially in large workforces.

I firmly believe that it is all our respopnsibility to ensure that those around us know what they need to know and to help de-mystify things and correct any innocent mistakes that are made.