# Time off work to travel abroad



## charlottesweb

Hello everyone!

I'm not entirely new to this board although I am new to this area of the board. I have made the big decision to travel for treatment outside the UK for both egg and sperm donation (or embryo donation....not decided which yet). I am 42 and single.

I am currently emailing some clinics from Europe for information and have had a positive response, so far from Altra Vita in Moscow. One of the problems I have is with work and time off. It appears from my research that the clinics only give you 10(ish) days notice to fly over for a transfer and, as I work in education, I am not allowed holidays during term-time. 

I am trying to work out my options and would be grateful for any advice. My thoughts run like this:

1. Is there any way I can time the transfer visit to co-incide with school holidays?
2. Does anyone have any experience of sympathetic GP's who will write them a sick note (I could take time off then)? Can a private GP write me a sick note?

If not, I have two further options - tell my boss (who will, most likely be unhelpful) or leave (I am counting on the maternity leave but I will have to manage).

Obviously, I would like to look at the first two options before I hand in my notice, although I am prepared to do that if I have to. 

All advice will be gratefully received and I look forward to getting more involved in these boards in the near future.

Best wishes to you all.

Catherine


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## cb64

Hello Charlottesweb

The clinic I use in Spain (Institut Marques) gave us four days notice. In some cases they do try to work with women who say they are unavailable at certain times.

I would definitely try to talk to your doctor or even find a private doctor in your area and see what he/she says. If you don't want to reveal that you are having treatment to your employer they need to write a sick note which is vague.

I presume you have a long summer holiday and about 2 weeks at Christmas you could try for those dates.

best wishes
cb64


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## alanelaine

Charlottesweb,

I have IMed you with our experiences.

A&E


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## onelasttime

Hi Catherine,

Have you contacted any of the czech republic clinics? They will give you exact dates in advance. For example, I am going to Reprofit for EC on 8th October and transfer on either 11th or 13th October. I've also contacted other cz clinics when I began my search and they all seem to be the same (there's about 14 clinics in the czech republic).

If you check out the Reprofit and Repromeda threads you'll get a good feeling for the clinics. 

With Reprofit, you'd be unlikely to get a transfer arranged for the October holidays, but you might be in luck for Christmas.

Good Luck


SJ


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## charlottesweb

Thank you so much for your responses (I can't think of ANYWHERE where I can ask such a question and get a whole host of helpful suggestions). 

It looks like I may have some say in the timing of my treatment and I guess I will have to clarify this with the clinics before I decide who to go with. I suppose all I can do is ask the question and see what the response is.

Hi SJ. I just got a rather surprising email back from a Czech clinic today saying that single women are not allowed treatment in the CR. I was quite surprised as I got the impression from the boards that single women were being treated there (although I am still in a state of confusion over all this and may have got it totally wrong). Anyway, I started another thread about this on this section of the boards.

I will keep you posted.

Catherine


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## Izzy x

hi Catherine,

I also work in education and my GP wrote me a sick note so that i could have my 2ww off work (3 times). He wrote that it was gynae treatment. 

I know how hard it is to take time off and how much planning you will have to do. My treatment at IM was hard because i only had a few days notice but Ceram were able to give me dates 3 months in advance.


Best wishes on your treatment
Izzy x


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## ♥JJ1♥

Hi Catherine
My GP writes me a sick note off for the 2WW's from EC- end of 2WW so usually 3 weeks, and that is fine with my employers (NHS) who doesn't know why I am off although I think my direct line manager does (he puts gynae op under general anaesthetic and recovery) but our Hospital sick policy does have a clause in saying that if you are going out of the country during the sick time you must inform them, as you are still being paid we should be available to attend any occ health appts that they want us to when off sick.  Can you go to your occ health dept in confidence and explain why you will be off and away?

L xx


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## charlottesweb

Hi everyone

I ended up going to my gp (really had to pluck up the courage for that one). I explained what I was doing and she was great, saying "yes" immediately when I asked her if she would write me a sick note for travel abroad for ET when the time comes.

Initially I wasn't sure whether to get my gp involved but, in this case, she will make a huge difference to the whole process. I guess I was expecting more negativity and some resistance to supporting me as I have only been to see her once and we have no relationship at all. 

I'm happy to be surprised!

Cath
x


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## m1234

Hi Cath,
Glad to hear that your GP is being so helpful.  I am a teacher currently going through tx and though by pure luck I'm having it during the summer hols I'm pretty sure that there is actually an entitlemnent to a certain amount of time off for tx in a year - though I'm not being too helpful as I don't actually know how many days it is.  Good luck on your journey.
M1234


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## Womb with a View

Yes, I am also glad to hear your GP is supporting you.

I was too honest and upfront at work, because of the nature of my job (last minute travel, etc) and thought my manager was being sympathetic with the scheduling (I never went into detail about going abroad/donor IVF and never took time off sick, but got them to rearrange my days off to coincide with tx).  However, I learnt over the past few months that all wasn't well, the manager was infact very against supporting me and complained to my senior manager, who then made a real botch of dealing with this sensitive subject.  I am currently in the middle of a grievance procedure I've taken out against the company concerning their handling of it.  So, my advice to you ladies is try to keep as much detail away from your management as possible, get your supporting clinic in the UK to support you with a letter or sick note (yes, they can be vague and give you a sick note) or get your GP (if they're supportive) to give you a sick note, again stating gyny reasons, not specific.  However, as someone has said, if you're going abroad, you may have to tell your company, so check it out.

I'll step off my soap box now!


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