Okay, have finally got an interview, someone please tell me about working in the NHS

[nhshopeful]

Yes, after 7 years off work I have got an interview, and a typing test, at our local hospital next week. My background is project mgmt but I am going for a job in admin. The hours are great and I am genuinely interested in working in the NHS. Please can someone let me know what it is like and any tips about the interview/test would be very much appreciated. TIA

[TotalChaos]

I didn't have a typing test, but recently started admin work for the NHS. I would have a quick look at the hospital web site to get a feel for how they currently wish to present themselves iyswim. The questions I was asked were pretty straightforward - about my previous work experience, about how I dealt with stressful situations, about any situation where I had a devised a new system/way of working. If you have any experience of working for the NHS at all (including even odds and ends of temp work) they will probably be interested in that. In general - they are likely to be interested in your people skills rather than sales/commercial skills - i.e. able to deal with members of the public politely and in a caring manner, and to deal with staff of all levels. depending on the job you are going for, they may also be concerned about your awareness of importance of confidentiality

[TotalChaos]

PS are you likely to be working in an office or a ward or clinic? as if you are mainly office based then there will be a lot less face to face contact with patients.

[nhshopeful]

Thanks TotalChaos, this is really useful. I have had to deal with a lot of difficult clients but not members of the public. The job is in a clinic so I suspect there would be quite a lot of patient contact

[sunburntats]

yes confidentiality is a biggy.
NHS is a good place to work IMHO.

It is ever evolving and changing so you need to be able to embrace change.

best of luck!

[nhshopeful]

Thanks, love the name SBT's!

[TotalChaos]

I work in offices rather than clinics - but generally, as well as awkward patients, people who are getting impatient waiting etc, you may well get people who are confused - in the wrong place/at the wrong time, so need a bit of a helping hand, and random members of staff (people like me ) who need to get results/casenotes from you or have forms/paperwork for you to deal with. are you likely to be getting the casenotes yourself for the clinics do you know? if you have any real concerns about safety etc then it's fine to call security.

[TotalChaos]

btw if you are used to working on computers, it should be pretty straightforward learning the NHS systems.

[nhshopeful]

Will let you know how I get on! Fingers crossed