New diagnosis

JudeS14

Good Morning , my name is Judith and I’m 57, I’ve recently been diagnosed with Osteo Arthritis and degenerative disc s , I work at the local hospital well at the moment I’m of sick I’m a HCA I’m unable to do most of the work as it requires a lot of physical movements ,my line manager did try and get me back to work but I had another flare up and signed of , she wants me to go back and try again but I know I’m not going to be able to do just even simple jobs on the ward so I’m thinking that I need to be re deployed as I’m worried that if I’m not able to work on the ward then they will start to try and phase me out of the hospital , I am also a Branch Secretary for Unison , but they don’t seem to want me to do this though would be ideal as it’s Office based

anyone got any ideas I’m worried I’ll be out of a job and the stress is making me very down ,crying for no reason etc any help would be appreciated

thank you xx

anneb82

Hello @JudeS14

Welcome to the online community and thank you for joining us. I hope that you will find this a safe and secure space.

So you have recently been diagnosed with Osteoarthritis in your hip and you also have degenerative changes in your discs. You work as a health care assistant in a hospital but are currently signed off. You are also the branch secretary for your union. Due to the changes in your health you feel like you need to be redeployed to a office based role. The stress and worry is making you feel very down and cry often about the situation.

Firstly, it sounds like you have had a lot going on, so feeling stressed and worried is perfectly natural. Try not to beat yourself up about it all though.

With regards to work, have you tried contacting occupational health? Your workplace have to make reasonable adjustments for you if you are unable to do aspects of your role anymore and occupational health or your manager should be able to arrange this for you. Your union should also be supporting you work wise, regardless of you being in a high up position with them.

The following links are about osteoarthritis of the hip as well as Versus Arthritis' information on work which I would recommend having a read of.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/osteoarthritis-oa-of-the-hip/

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/living-with-arthritis/work/

I hope these will be of help to you. Please do keep us updated on how you are getting on and please feel free to join in on any of the other conversations that are going on in the community.

Take care

Anne (Moderator)

ReactiveSunflower21

Hi, I also work in a hospital in a health care support worker role. Occupational health be a really good help they can arrange for a workplace assessment. Your manager will need to make a referral and Occupational health will assess you on the ward while you work. They will discuss with you and write to your manager any recommendations and adjustments or any aids that might help and support like resting in between task. I hope you get the support you need to return ro work

PeterJ

Hello @ReactiveSunflower21 and welcome to the community. We are a friendly and supportive group and I hope that that will be your experience as well.

You do not say how arthritis is affecting you, though it is really good advice about approaching Occupational Health and getting an assessment. Thank you.

Our website has a lot of useful information on it and a good search engine as well so I would urge you to have a look around it. To help I've put a couple of links in below which may be of interest.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/arthritis/

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/reactive-arthritis/

https://www.versusarthritis.org/news/2020/august/everyday-tips-for-living-with-arthritis/

Please do keep posting and let us know how you are getting on and I am sure that others will connect with you to share their support and experience as well.

With very best wishes

Peter (moderator)