NHS internal secondments - anyone in the know?

[Basketly]

I’ve applied for a 6 month secondment, the role is a band up from mine and I’ve been invited to interview.

My manager is really putting the pressure on me not to go for it, they have nobody to backfill my role and it will cause chaos. Ultimately I’d like to know if she can refuse me to go? I’ve read our secondment policy in detail but it doesn’t cover this

Thanks

8c non-clinical manager here. In our Trust yes, you can refuse. I'd consider it incredibly short-sighted because the person is then likely to leave sooner or later anyway. Is it possible to involve your grandparent manager? They might have a broader perspective.

Yes I have known them refused unfortunately

Can you suggest they advertise for a
Secondment to backfill you?

8c....oooo a proper grown up 😉. Thank you for your reply!

Ultimately there is never going to be a spare person to fill my role so I’m not sure how long she would expect me to wait for. She is talking to her manager to see if she can refuse or not.

Thank you

@flumpybear, we’ve got quite a few empty roles they are struggling to fill atm, I’m not sure how much luck she would have trying to fill mine

I've worked my way from a band 2 to a band 6, so I'm not quite a proper grown up yet
Years ago I applied for and was offered a band 5 secondment for a 9 month Matty cover. My manager for my substantive band 4 post stated they couldn't accommodate the move as there was no-one available to back fill. In the end I did undertake the secondment but by the time a compromise was agreed there was only 6 months of the Matty leave left to run.

So in short yes I suppose they can refuse, but as thankyou says they're likely to lose you eventually anyway as other opportunities arise.

Good luck though, and please don't be put off applying.

Apply anyway, but I agree they can say no. One of my B5s was seconded for a year. It was awful as there was no cover but my manager insisted I just had to make it work as saying no to the secondment would look bad on us as a dept.

Oh god interview is tomorrow!!

I haven’t heard back from my manager yet, is it going to be really rude if I don’t tell her I have an interview?

Our trust stopped supporting secondments because it just moved recruitment problems around and caused issues, however I think this is short sighted. I would have thought that you would need permission to apply, but I guess not. I would ring your HR.