Sick Days Reporting Trustwide

Reference: 24-25238

Date response sent: 11/09/2024

Details of enquiry

1. Sickness absence: The Bradford factor is a formula used by HR departments to calculate the impact of employees’ absences on an organisation.

• Does your Trust/Board use Bradford Factor scoring as part of monitoring sickness absence?
• Does your Trust/Board’s sickness absence policy include a threshold at which sickness absence triggers performance management action?
  1. If yes, what is the threshold? (either days absent or, if used, Bradford Factor score)
• Does your Trust/Board’s record disability-related absence separately from sickness absence?

2. Disability Leave: Disability leave is a period of time off work for a reason related to an employee’s disability; for example, to attend hospital appointments or to receive treatment, usually agreed in advance.

• Does your Trust/Board have a disability leave policy?
  1. If yes, please provide a link to/copy of the policy.
• Does your Trust/Board offer paid disability leave?

3. Championing disability: Disability champions are people in roles that provide a personal lead and commitment to championing accessibility and opportunity for disabled people within their organisation.
   • Does your Trust/Board have the following available to doctors and medical students:
     1. A disabled staff/student network
     2. A disability champion at a senior/Board level *
     3. Disability advocates/champions with lived experience
   • Do you have anyone who is employed in a paid role specifically to ensure that disabled doctors receive workplace support?
4. If yes, please provide a brief description of the job role
5. Reasonable adjustments process
   • Does your Trust/Board have a reasonable adjustments policy?
     1. -If yes, please provide a link/copy
   • Does your Trust/Board have a centralised budget for making workplace adjustments for disabled doctors/medical students?
   • Does your Trust/Board have a single point of contact/centralised process for disabled doctors/medical students to request reasonable adjustments?
     1. If no, please provide brief details of how individual employees can make requests for adjustments (e.g. via their line manager)

 

Response sent

1. Sickness absence: The Bradford factor is a formula used by HR departments to calculate the impact of employees’ absences on an organisation.

• Does your Trust/Board use Bradford Factor scoring as part of monitoring sickness absence?

No

• Does your Trust/Board’s sickness absence policy include a threshold at which sickness absence triggers performance management action?

Yes.

1. If yes, what is the threshold? (either days absent or, if used, Bradford Factor score)

• 4 episodes or 6 days in any 6-month period (whichever threshold is reached first)
• a regular pattern of health-related absence (eg regularly sick on Mondays or Friday or following a period of annual leave)
• absence of more than 28 consecutive days (for long-term absences)
• Does your Trust/Board’s record disability-related absence separately from sickness absence?

All absence is recorded on the electronic staff record (ESR) which has a facility to record whether absence is disability related.  Managers are encouraged to distinguish disability-related absence episodes from those which are common and incidental.

2. Disability Leave: Disability leave is a period of time off work for a reason related to an employee’s disability; for example, to attend hospital appointments or to receive treatment, usually agreed in advance.

• Does your Trust/Board have a disability leave policy?

No.  We are currently incorporating disability leave into our overall leave policy, but this is not currently available.

1. If yes, please provide a link to/copy of the policy.

Not applicable.  See above response

• Does your Trust/Board offer paid disability leave?

We are reviewing this as part of the policy development work (see Q4).

3. Championing disability: Disability champions are people in roles that provide a personal lead and commitment to championing accessibility and opportunity for disabled people within their organisation.

• Does your Trust/Board have the following available to doctors and medical students:
  1. A disabled staff/student network

Yes

1. A disability champion at a senior/Board level *

Yes

1. Disability advocates/champions with lived experience

No

• Do you have anyone who is employed in a paid role specifically to ensure that disabled doctors receive workplace support?

No.

Please note that we are not a hospital.  We are a small NHS Mental Health Trust, which employs a small cohort of around 50 doctors at any time.

The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust is not a hospital.  We provide outpatient, and mainly psychological, services.  We do not provide acute services, nor inpatient patient services, nor detention facilities, and do not have an  A&E department.

1. If yes, please provide a brief description of the job role

Not applicable.  See above response.

5. Reasonable adjustments process
   • Does your Trust/Board have a reasonable adjustments policy?

The Trust has just signed off a new reasonable adjustments policy and procedure which will go live shortly

1. If yes, please provide a link/copy

This has not yet been published, and is therefore not currently available.

• Does your Trust/Board have a centralised budget for making workplace adjustments for disabled doctors/medical students?

Yes

• Does your Trust/Board have a single point of contact/centralised process for disabled doctors/medical students to request reasonable adjustments?

Yes.  Requests for reasonable adjustments are made via line managers.

1. If no, please provide brief details of how individual employees can make requests for adjustments (e.g. via their line manager)