If you work in NHS Admin could you help me please..

[Alrueb]

I used to work in Care until two years ago, when I developed a health condition (prolapse from childbirth and subsequent surgery) which means I now cannot - ever - lift more than 5kg and cannot be on my feet all day, although some being on my feet is okay. I probably shouldn't lift anything more than say 3kg regularly either. I've been told in no uncertain terms that I risk undoing surgery if I lift more than 5kg.

Anyway, I decided to re-train with a view to working in NHS Admin. I've finished a two year course in Medical Administration.

I've started to look at applying for these jobs, only to find the job descriptions say things like -
"Elements of bending and lifting (e.g. when producing documentation in bulk via photocopier, moving equipment, set up of meeting rooms etc)
Carrying files"

"Manual handling : lifting patient files"

For Ward Clerk - "Standing or walking for a significant part of shift"

What does this mean?

Do you lift anything heavy in your work?

I am really hoping this is just over-cautious wording.

I am so despondent now and worried about what to do next 😥😥

It’s manual handling just part of the NHS mandatory training as well as fire training and equality and diversity. Depending on your job role you may need to do safeguarding. It’s no big deal you will do most mandatory training via e learning in your first couple of weeks of starting role.
The most I lifted in an NHS admin role was a ream of copier paper and patients files.😀
I hope this puts your mind at rest OP

One of the Ward clerk rolls includes walking with a trolley loaded with patient notes on from ward to ward I believe.

I cannot think of an admin role where you will be on your feet all day, but some will involve more walking than others. As for lifting, you need to make it clear at your interview that you have a disability and you cannot be penalised for that. It would be a case of the Trust getting guidance from Occupational Health as to what reasonable adjustments need to be made, and it sounds as if you would need no more adjustments than somebody who is pregnant, and there will be loads of those.

I was a band 5 NHS Exec Admin, and truthfully the heaviest thing I lifted was my mug of coffee… but I worked in primary care and worked from home and not in a hospital trust

They have to make reasonable adjustments. You'll do an occ health assessment before joining anyway. Just apply and deal with it if you get offered the job. Raise it then.

Med sec here. It is decades since I worked in the NHS but have been an in patient a fair few times more recently. Patient files can be very thick and so heavy. (mine are).We used to have to carry a lot of them around but some lucky med records people had trolleys. If you csn lift them one at a time, no problem. Time did not allow in my day.

Increasingly now hospitals are using electronic patient records rather than paper notes so that the need to handle paper notes so much , so worthwhile checking at hospitals you are applying to what the situation is

^This I have a chronic health condition and I require some smallish reasonable adjustments mainly regarding the hours I work which is agreed with OH. Not doing it would be considered discrimination.
Some admin staff especially ward clerks do lift notes etc although where I am we are increasingly going paper free but most don’t do a lot of heavy lifting.

I was a medical sec for a year and a half and didn't lift anything heavy. I would also think your condition could be considered a disability so if you tell them there will be no expectation for.you to lift things

the notes might be heavy but there are rules in place, we have electronic notes anyway.
so no heavy notes.

Those bits are very dramatic. I’ve got warnings all over my job desc about long periods of time concentrating at a pc. I’d not read too much into them.

Totally depends on your role - if your trust has an electronic patient record (and most do these days), the heaviest thing you will be lifting is probably a stack of paper when the printer needs refilling.

If you are a ward clerk in a trust still using paper notes, then yes there would be heavy medical notes to lift. So don’t apply for those jobs! There will be other jobs in the same trust with no heavy lifting.

Elements of bending and lifting (e.g. when producing documentation in bulk via photocopier

Does anyone actually still print that much these days? 🤔

My (major London) teaching hospitals trust does still have paper notes for your full records ( they are held centrally at one of the hospitals so there is a bit of a wait for them if you are admittedas an emergency to one of the others in the trust.

Thanks everyone, it does put my mind at rest a bit. Those phrases were listed under "Physical demands"
Stuff like
Manual Handling of heavy caserecords. Lifting, bending and stretching.
Pushing trolleys.
Standing for long periods filing investigation reports into caserecords held in ward trolley.
Walking frequently up and down stairs
Doesn't sound like something I could physically do, but hopefully it is just covering all bases

Maybe ward clerk is out, unless I could load the trolley slowly!

I have no experience of this and I just assumed that until you were in the job for two plus years, they could just not hire you because of it, or redact the job offer. I will look into this, really hope you are correct that they would offer me reasonable adjustments. I just hope I can still fulfil the job roles I re-trained for.

Its the casenotes. I was a med sec/support sec/medical audio typist for years. Had to leave due to fibro and arthritis. I was expected to fetch all the clinic notes (trolleyfuls) of huge casenotes, walking them all over the bloody hospital, then they all need tracking in and putting on the shelves. Same with note requests, we had loads in the dept I was in and I do that too all day. Played havoc with my hand and I ended up having a bone removed due to the arthritis.

and yes most of the admin is done on the computer but paper notes are still used in the clinics. Not to mention the notes that arrive in the post too and there were a couple of clinics held off site every week and the next day a load of plastic boxes of notes would turn up which again needed unloading, tracking in and putting on the shelves.

It is a very physical job and I notice that now in the job adverts at my local Trust now mention this.

Not a job I would be getting back into in a hurry

@IDoNotMoisturise I'm so sorry. I'm okay with most things, but lifting over 5kg ever is completely out. I'd have to break up the loads into say bundles of 2kg. Not sure if that would be feasible or not. Do you think it would have been in your job? Walking is okay, if say like a third of the shift, just not the whole day. It's so difficult, I never thought I'd be in this position. How are you now if not too intrusive a question?

Maybe a GP receptionist job would be better? Seems like it could be really stressful though.

I do not work at all now, I physically would not be able to do it.

I am not sure how practical it would have been to take things in smaller bundles, the job is just not like that, you have to collect the whole clinic from Records, take it back to the Dept which was some distance away. There was also other competing demands, you have to be in the office to deal with phone calls, emails too etc.

@IDoNotMoisturise Ah, I'm sorry to hear that. That's what I am scared of, if I cannot get back into work then having to fight with the benefits system.

Have a look for Healthy Child Programme admin jobs or similar community-based programmes. Absolutely no heavy lifting, and no need to walk miles with a trolley.

@Umph Thanks for this. Do you need a drivers licence for these positions? I currently don't, but am trying to save for lessons.

@Alrueb wouldn’t have thought so. Certainly not for my area. Mostly office based and some scope to WFH occasionally for our admin.

i imagine they jsut havent updated their job descriptions