School of Health, Community and Education Studies

Transcription

1 School of Health, Community and Education Studies Appendix 1 SICKNESS ABSENCE POLICY 1. Introduction 1.1. This policy sets out the rules and procedures which apply to the notification of sickness absence: the potential effects on course completion and bursary payments and any necessary subsequent action by Programme Managers and Guidance Tutors. 2. General Policy 2.1. All students are required to notify their absence owing to sickness and to produce where required, evidence of incapacity (see 3.2) Failure to comply with notification or evidence of incapacity could result in the loss of bursary payments and disciplinary action, including discontinuation from the course Guidance Tutors and Programme Managers will monitor the sickness absence of individual students and in accordance with the pattern and level of sickness of these individuals, will initiate and follow procedures relating to persistent short term sickness and long term sickness absence (see 3.7). 3. Policy Provisions 3.1 Notification Students are required to notify either personally or through a relative or friend, their absence owing to sickness before 10am by contacting the School Administration Office at Coach Lane Campus (messages can be left on ) AND, when on placement, the person in charge of the ward or equivalent. When notifying such absence, students are required to give the following information: i. full name ii. Programme/branch and month/year of cohort iii. Current module and (if appropriate) current placement iv. Date of first day of incapacity If a student does not attend placement for a planned span of duty, the practice staff should contact the School s dedicated telephone-answering ( ) service for sickness related messages Seconded students in addition need to adhere to the relevant Trust Policy. 1

2 3.2. Evidence of Incapacity If a student is sick/absent for more than five consecutive days, then on the sixth day, he/she must again notify the Administration Office and Practice Placement (if appropriate), giving further details of the nature and probable duration of their illness If absence continues for five consecutive days, a self-certification certificate must be completed. These forms are available from GP Surgeries and/or Health Centres If a student is sick/absent in excess of seven days (including weekends/rostered days off) he/she must submit a medical certificate issued by a registered medical practitioner. This certificate must be received by the Programme Administration Office by the tenth day of absence (including weekend/rostered days off). The student, or student s representative should keep the Placement Area informed as appropriate Any subsequent medical certificates must be received within three days of the date of issue. 3.3 Return to Duty On the last day of sickness/absence, students must notify their fitness to return by giving the information listed (i) to (iv) in paragraph to the School Administration Office, and placement area as appropriate Failure to do so before a weekend/rostered days off or annual leave will result in all such days being counted as sickness absence (note sickness absence is counted in calendar days) Students who have been absent for more than seven days (including weekends/rostered days off) must ensure they have been declared fit to return by a registered medical practitioner The placement area, if appropriate, must be informed by the student of his/her intention to return to duty Seconded students in addition need to adhere to the relevant Trust policy. 3.4 Payment of Bursary Payment of bursary will continue during periods of continuous sickness up to a total of 60 days (including weekends/rostered days off) When the period of sickness (including weekends/rostered days off) exceeds 60 days, payment of the bursary will cease, except in very exceptional circumstances. 3.5 Suspension of Bursary for Continuous Sickness Absence When a student s continuous sickness absence reaches 55 days, the Senior Administrator will write to them explaining that if their sickness absence continues over 60 days, their bursary will be suspended. 2

3 3.5.2 In this letter, the student will also be advised that they should contact the Department of Social Security to ascertain what State Benefits they may be eligible for during the period of bursary suspension Once the student has reached 60 days of sickness absence and there has been no notification of return on the next day, the Student Finance Officer will notify the Student Grants Unit that the student s bursary should be suspended from the date of the 61 st day It will normally be expected that following the suspension of bursary the Programme Manager, after a period they determine as appropriate, will contact the student to enquire as to their welfare and intentions regarding their course of study. This information will be communicated to the Principal Lecturer Admissions/Widening Access. 3.6 Extension of Education/Training Period All students undertaking pre-registration programmes are required to meet minimum programme hours. Depending on the total of sickness/absence across a programme, students may be required to make up time in order to meet Professional Body Requirements to enable registration This time will be required to be undertaken at the end of the programme and will be determined by the Programme Manager in consultation with the Placements Officer If the making up of lost time involves extending the length of the course, there is no guarantee that bursaries will be similarly extended. 3.7 Persistent Short Term Sickness and Long Term Sickness Guidance Tutors and Programme Managers are required to follow sickness and absence procedures when dealing with individual students If sickness/absence is sporadic in nature, or 50% or more of theory/practice time is not completed, refer to Programme Manager. 3.8 Failure to Notify Sickness Absence If a student fails to notify their sickness absence from placement and/or University (as per paragraph 3.1) the days of non-attendance will be recorded as unauthorised absence. Please refer to the University Student Disciplinary Procedure for further information Only in exceptional circumstances, if it is determined that there are reasons why notification was not possible, and if medical evidence is produced, will the unauthorised absence be recorded retrospectively as a sickness. This decision will rest with the Programme Manger or Associate Dean. 3

4 PROCEDURE FOR DEALING WITH PERSISTENT SHORT TERM SICKNESS 1 Criteria for Action 1.1 Where the sickness absence of an individual student amounts to 7 days or more (including weekends/rostered days off) comprising of at least two separate episodes of absence the student s Guidance Tutor (GT) must initiate the Formal Procedure given below. This process must be implemented in conjunction with the knowledge of the Programme Manager. 1.2 It is also open to GT s to begin the Formal Procedure for periods of absence of less than 7 days where, in their opinion, the frequency and/or pattern of absence warrants such action. 2. Formal Procedures 2.1 First Phase Where suspicion of a student s level and pattern of sickness falls into that outlined in paragraph 1.1, the GT should record and monitor sickness and absence at regular intervals, ie at the end of each trimester, via data obtained from the Student Admin Office Where a GT has been notified as described above, or feels that a student s level and pattern of sickness absence falls into the category described in paragraph 1.2, they will arrange a meeting with the student; a) to discuss the reasons for the absence, and b) to help the student identify ways of avoiding further similar absences It is important at this meeting that the student and Programme Manager/GT clearly establish whether the reasons for absences are solely medical or have personal, social or training course issues as their main underlying cause (i) Where the student maintains that the absences have a purely medical basis the GT should normally refer him/her to the Occupational Health Department. (ii) Where the student agrees to such a referral it is advisable for the GT to hold an informal discussion with the Occupational Health Department to ascertain whether or not in their opinion a referral at that time would be productive It is, however, open to GTs not to refer students at this stage where in their own opinion, given the particular context of the individual student s absences, referral is not appropriate. A note to this effect, giving reasons, must be sent to the relevant Programme Manager Where a referral is made its purposes are for the Occupational Health Physician: (a) (b) To undertake an assessment of possible underlying medical problems, To advise students on what they themselves can do/should do to cope with or eradicate their medical condition. 4

5 2.1.7 The Occupational Health Department, within the bounds of patient confidentiality, will notify in writing the GT whether or not there is a discernable medical condition, and the likely duration of any course of remedial action embarked upon before improvements can be expected If the reasons for sickness absence are personal, social or training course related, GTs will seek to explore the issues fully with the student and help him/her identify ways of overcoming these difficulties, and where possible provide help and assistance If a student is uncooperative, including refusing to be referred to the Occupational Health Department, the GT should point out that he/she is, therefore, not in a position to try to provide assistance, and this could seriously limit the student s ability to avoid further absences At the conclusion of discussions (which may involve more than one meeting) the GT will determine a suitable period during which there is expected to be no further similar absences. This period will, however, be of at least 6 months duration. 2.2 Second Phase Where a student fails to make and sustain the necessary improvement in attendance a review meeting (or series of meetings) will be arranged At this point the student should be advised in writing that, if they so wish, they can be accompanied by a relative, friend of staff representative. They should be advised that while the meeting is still relatively informal, depending on the outcome of discussions the situation may be referred to the Programme Manager under the Disciplinary Procedure The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the reasons for the lack of improvement and to determine whether of not any kind of further assistance, including referral to Occupational Health Department if likely to produce better attendance If further assistance or possible solutions are agreed upon then another time period during which an improvement must be sustained will be established by the GT Where a GT feels that further assistance or a further time period will not produce any improvement the student must be informed that if more absences occur during the remaining period of the training course the matter will be referred to the Programme Manager under the Disciplinary Procedure, which could ultimately result in the discontinuation of their course Similarly, if during the further time period described in paragraph 2.24, there is no improvement in attendance the student must be notified in person by the GT that if there are more absences the matter will be referred to the Programme Manager under the Disciplinary Procedure, which could ultimately result in the discontinuation of their course. 5

6 3.1 Third Phase On referral by a GT, the Programme Manager will arrange to hold a Disciplinary Hearing to consider the student s absence levels and reasons for lack of improvement At the conclusion of the Hearing it will be open to the Programme Manager to: a) Give the student a further period of time to improve attendance on the basis that the case will return to be heard by the Programme Manager either at the end of the period or if there are any further instances of absence; OR (b) Issue a formal disciplinary warning; OR (c) To recommend to discontinue the student s course In the case of (c) a hearing will be set up by the appropriate manager within the University. 3.2 Informal Arrangements Nothing in the above Formal Procedures prevents tutorial staff from holding frequent periodic discussions with individual students about actual or potential attendance/absence problems. 6