Originally Posted by Klaus

Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you. I'm working in a fairly full on healthcare environment as well (acute forensic mental health) and initially tried to just go back to work with PCS as I couldn't really afford the time off and didn't really understand what was happening to me.

My manager kept sending me home as I was clearly not with it, and I thought more than once I might have to just quit my job. It seemed so hard because when you're seeing patients with severe problems of whatever sort you can't expect them to slow down for you, or to stop being so demanding.

I was able to come back to work a lot quicker than I expected to because at least in my case the fact that I worked in a healthcare environment meant that my manager and workmates were a lot more understanding than I had expected (in general I would say that they seemed to understand my symptoms better than I did actually!).

So initially I was able to work a few days with no patient contact (just admin - boring but low pressure) and then was allowed to take lots of breaks, go home early etc. I'm now seeing the patients again but my weekly timetable's been tweaked so for a while I'll be doing less of the more demanding stuff (in my case group sessions and anything involving physical exertion) and more 1:1s, admin work and suchlike, still with extra breaks if i need them.

Sounds like this kind of grading might be harder in your job but may be possible in some respects - certainly here in the UK the employer has a responsibility to make workplace adjustments if they are reasonable. Surely when you're up to it (and that might not be yet) there is some useful work you could be doing which doesn't involve the kind of high pressure or overly stimulating demands which are likely to bring symptoms back?

I'd say working in healthcare must be one of the harder jobs to try and do with PCS but it's a poor show if healthcare employers aren't prepared to make more of an effort to look after their own employees in a situation like this. That said make sure you take as long as you need.

All the best to you hope you're back on your feet soon....