Pay with Dict8

[Chrissols]

Good Morning all Dict8 ladies

@carosel2 - well I have asked to change hospitals with Tpro as I get fed up (though did not use those words) logging in all the time and not seeing one single letter for any of my specialties after scrolling through 20 pages of 200 dictations.

Not sure if they have already allocated the groups as it looked the same as yesterday, that looked the same as the day before etc...I got a reply saying they will see what they can do...I did ask whether I should email the woman in recruitment who I presume matched me originally but at the moment every time I log in, I just want to log back out again!

I did also mention that I heard other people who type with them have over 1,000 letters waiting and so perhaps I might be better used elsewhere. The trouble is, having worked in the NHS since about 1989 (I think it was) I have dabbled in so much that I have coped with the other letters, but as I pointed it, I do spend a lot of wasted time googling unfamiliar terms and medications as with VR you do need to check it is correct. I did not mention they already dropped the pay down to rock bottom....

@Gally123 - im glad you have! I do hope they can accommodate you. I find the VR difficult as it puts gobledegook in terminolgy phrases and I struggle to put it in the right text as I just see these weird phrases and my mind cant get away from them! Lol. I do think matching transcriber to speciality is far the best. The rate of pay is not good and I feel isn't fair when others are getting double as I find it can be more time consuming than actually typing but unfortunately I dont understand enough to delete completely on the subjects Im not familiar with. I do find what helps though is looking back into previous correspondence on that particular patient if there is something I really cant grasp as you can more often than not find the drugs, terminolgy, diagnoses etc on them and you can copy and paste. Fingers crossed you get lucky.
On another note Accuro have emailed AGAIN! saying work on for this evening ... I dont think so. Their rates are an insult. Xxx

@carosel2 - sometimes the VR can be quite funny - one of my faves so far is - "On examination he smelt today" when it should have been "On examination he was well today", but I did point out when I asked that as these are unfamiliar specialties I am spending so much time googling and checking (there are not always previous letters) terms and drugs as VR is very good at confusing like sounding names. So far though there has been no difference, the specialties I have seen all day today have been the same as yesterday, the same since they reduced them 2 weeks ago (my suspicious mind wonders if they were working on this then). However, I have managed to type some other new doctors today okay and did better than I thought I would, the unknown and all that, but I am still unhappy that all my specialties have gone and I am left with 100% new stuff. And, at the lower rate, when I was initially told the higher rate until my application was put on hold, but I don't think that's the hospital's fault, as that is Tpro.

@Gally123 - that is hilarious!! haha. Oh dear, not been on anything today, having grandkids for next few days so not sure what the work load like on both. You are right about the time spent on google trying to fathom out things plus they have different ways of saying things and medications different to get to grips with. I have found odd different speciality easier than my own too but those dissappear pretty quick as others snap them up also. The rate does niggle me and Ive questioned it but have been told that's the rate for VR only and there isnt the need for joint typing/VR at the moment. So its either the low rate or nothing but then its still better than Accuro

@orangesmartiesareace who pays the secretary's electric bill ?

Hi Meha5a, the secretaries have filled in a tax form regarding utilities. I believe this is new. They have said it is worth around £300 rebate. I can't confrm the amount as I haven't filed one.

The consultants did discuss this issue at the start to ensure that no-one was out of pocket but every secretary said they were financially better off with off-setting travel expenses particularly petrol, against heat and power.

Should a secretary wishe to work full time in the office again if they felt they would be better off then that is fine, but no-one has volunteered to do more than the 50% required - all prefer the flexibility.

@Meha5a good point, but I know when I was a med sec if I had been given the choice to work at the hospital or at home but pay my own electric I would have chosen home hands down. I still don't see how a med sec can carry out the role in fullness from home though, especially if they have children/husband at home, visitors - it just does not fit with me no matter how I look at it. Are they all going to be provided with all the equipment, scanners, printers, fax machines, access to other department's notes when they need them, and just hope on a bus when the consultant needs something in clinic like now??

I wonder how the NHS secretaries' hours are regulated - i.e. time sheets? Set number of letters to type, etc, amount of work completed - The concept sounds good but, of course, that is not good for us self-employed transcribers. Also, would that mean they have access to the system all of the time with the equipment hence doing overtime ? and how is that managed. All sounds a bit of a collaborative money spinning (can't put it into words LOL)!! adventure. ????????

@Chrissols. I doubt they would need printers - surely the letters will be sent to the back office for printing/signing and sending out - but as orangesmartiesareace writes: The letters are being attached to an e-mail so, in fact, would they need printing/faxing?? The Consultants can sign the letters on line and forward them back to the PA to forward to the back office for printing or sending out. Hence NHS saving on postage/paper/ink/envelope costs.

Visitors haven't been an issue for anyone since lockdown but in future, with flexible hours, similar to you working for dict8, it would be prioritising work over visitors or logging in and out accordingly. If home life was too distracting at home, the option is there of working fulltime at the hospital. Parents would have to find childcare anyway but most say it is a bonus not having the pressure of getting from A-B for school pick up some gain 2hrs a day from the lack of travel during that WFH week.

Phones and laptops are provided. Nothing gets printed off everything is virtual. Scanning has been replaced by importing. Fax machines are not used now, even by many surgeries replaced by nhs.net Email address for transferring information. Secretaries have an identical views and access at home as in the hospital. The consultant has the same view and I believe often can access other hospitals labs and imaging, with a password. So there is nothing we have access to that they don't.

I am heading toward retirement. The changes and pace over the last couple of years has been astonishing.

sorry, cross posted. I suppose if someone was inclined they could log in and not do any work but everyone feels quite lucky to have the option of WFH besides, all are aware that managers receive an audit trail of every ones output.. call logs, Email activity and letters typed. They are still responsible for typing that clinic within a few days. Clocking in and out is the same as in the office.

For me, nothing beats working in a busy office with colleagues and I am so glad that for my career, I experienced it all old-school but with such busy lives now, COVID came at a time where technology could enable everything from home.

Dan. There is no overtime pay in our department. All extra hours are taken as flexible hours within a month. I think if someone started to build up hours, their workload would be assessed to see if support could be provided.

Dan - sorry, I confused matters - external letters coming in are attached via Email. Letters from clinics within the hospital are typed on line and the consultant virutally signs it. Secretaries who are in the office distribute any approved letters that have not gone electronically eg Insurance companies, copies to patients, other countries.

@orangesmartiesareace do the secretaries have set hours for homeworking after which they are unable to log into the hospital network ?

I would have loved this set up when I was a single working mum it would have meant 100 % independence and cut my stress levels in half !

Hi there, yes, set hours per day but those hours can be worked within the flexible hour boundaries, they will be credited. Phones are covered by one another and the secretaries have made it work between them. Access to the system is 24 hours so they can log in at any time, and many do for their own job satisfaction but only get credited flexi within the flexible hours.

I agree about it coming along too late. A 50/50 work balance would have suited those early years. I had to fight traffic jams both ways in my commute when my children were young, running to the car after dropping them off to get to work. Then taking a long phone call just as I was about to leave to pick them up again using up your precious minutes to get there on time.

Can I ask if anyone has had problems/hassle etc over changing dictation? I am getting a bit fed up with DICT8 at the moment apparently changing things without giving any notice.

For years and years I have abided by their rules of not typing contractions - ie typing "could not" instead of "couldn't" and not typing slang words changing instances to more acceptable words such as "kids" to "children." Mostly this has been second nature to me as when I trained we were taught that each medical letter was a legal document between the hospital and the GP and also as these letters are (mostly) to the GP doctors do not usually use such terms, however I have recently been pulled up and told a word I had marked as slang was not slang, but in fact an "informal" word in the dictionary, and not to do it again. So where do we stand with words such as "poo" or "pee" etc? (which when I was at school we were told these were offensive language).
I have tried googling as to whether these are "slang" or "informal" and got various answers, some dictionaries list as "slang" others as "vulgar" or "less offensive than " (but therefore still offensive) etc. Got so fed up I just marked one word as "unsure." I am sure a doctor would not write such a thing in a letter but these days who knows?

@Gally123 I think there may be some new proof readers, I got pulled up the other day for typing 'letter to GP' when that is all that was dictated. They did not say what I should have put though, so I am still typing 'letter to GP' when dictated with no further information and have not been pulled up on it since. Do you think proof readers are a bit like traffic wardens in that they have to give out so many tickets a day 😂😂

@Chrissols - no this was she who must be obeyed.

@Gally123

Hi Gally, I tend to type pee and poo, wee, weewee as that is what is dictated. I change couldn't, wouldn't etc to could, would as we were told to do. I never change kids or telly etc if that is what has been said. I have never been pulled up about this.

@musicismagic333 how are you finding it now, is it becoming easier?

@flutterby18 - even in letters to GPs as opposed to parents of small children etc?

@Gally123 - yes, even though it goes against my better judgement I type what is dictated even though I cringe every time

@flutterby18 - talk about a lowering of standards....just about sums up DICT8 I think.

@Gally123 - Oh I forgot, and bogies and snot also

@flutterby18 - thanks for the laugh!!!