Working for NHS is AWFUL

[Bugtimefedup]

I know people moan about using the NHS as a patient but as an employee working for them it is horrendous.

I know the only way out is to get a new job and I have been looking. Just need to vent after having another request for annual leave rejected.

I work in a large hospital as clinical admin support. Staffing has been cut to the bone. What staff we have left are being asked to do more and more and more til we’re all burnt out.

Full time staff who leave are being replaced by part time staff. I can never have a Monday off as leave as we have so few staff.

Reception staff used to just have to check patients in and rebook for very busy clinics and deal with queries which is a full time job in itself. Now they have to do that plus answer the phone, input referrals, monitor and action a department inbox, cancel clinics and book interpreters.

I am not a receptionist but due to lack of staff I have to now cover reception and all the above work PLUS do my own day job.

I am stressed and de-motivated. We are worked to the bone for a low wage. We are not allowed time off for NHS appointments. If we’re lucky enough to be given permission we must then make up every mi it’s of the time taken.

My manager messages me in my day off with changes to my work day for eg telling me to travel to a different clinic the next day with no notice.

If we are off sick our manager calls us sometimes twice a day and demands to know if we’re going to be in the next day. I have been off sick in the past with a sick bug and woke after a sleep to numerous text messages and missed calls from her.

We have no union so nothing we can do. If we complain our manager treats us worse and punishes us ie refusing our leave, not letting us have time off for training.

I don’t know if most people realise what an awful employer the NHS can be.

You have management issues, not NHS issues. For a start, I’m sure its against the law to not give time off for doctors appointments (although if you are part time it is reasonable to expect you to make them for you days off). Do spend some time investigating this. Go and see HR and talk about this. Ask for a reasonable period of time for rota/location changes to avoid contact during days off and establish a means of contact with which you are happy (email may be less intrusive). Staffing is an issue, but none of this is being well managed.

This is not just an NHS thing unfortunately, many companies now operate on the absolute bare minimum of staff. On a ‘good’ day where everyone is in it’s bad enough but if one person has a day off - sickness or holiday - it’s horrendous.

You ate obviously stressed. You can book a Monday off if you book the week off as lots of people go away and wouldn't be able to come back. Your line manager is a bully. You do have a union its called.UNISON. You need to be more assertive I'm afraid.

Be careful about leaving the NHS altogether as the pension and, annual leave, sick leave and maternity benefits are exceptionally good.

It is tough in the NHS atm. I’ve worked for them over 20 years.
There are non clinical unions , Unison is good.
You can have a Monday off if you book the week off.
Your manager sounds awful , they are supposed to check if you’re off sick but not harass you twice a day.

We have no union so nothing we can do.

You can join one though?

It sounds absolutely shit though OP. Best of luck in your new endeavours

If management issues are NHS wide, then don’t they become NHS issues?

I tried to book a week off which was rejected because no staff working on the Monday.

Yes it is due to poor management which is endemic in the NHS. They all cover each others back.

HR works for the interest of the organisation not the employee. I have looked at Unison but not sure what support they can/will offer. I need to be more proactive and look into it further.

I work for the NHS, was clinical now management. I manage a small team of 12. We have none of the issues you have mentioned.

You have a shit manager.

Join a union, NHS is hugely union heavy!
book the time off you are entitled for! I've never heard of people not being able to ever book a week leave . It's ridiculous.
Move to a different team. Your manager is crap.

Join unison.

You have a bad manager. I've worked in the NHS for 25 years and in that time I've had a few bad managers - they poison everything. However, they've been in the minority.

Right now I'm in an excellent team, with an excellent manager. I'm non clinical admin and the pressure on everyone is enormous because we aren't allowed to recruit for admin who leave - and we were understaffed to begin with! - but we all pull together, we cross cover and we support each other. I haven't got school age kids so I tend not to take leave during the school holidays (except a week in the summer) but we all plan our leave well in advance and discuss it so it works for everyone.

And no, my manager doesn't expect us to make up every minute of a GP appointment because she knows we routinely work over our hours anyway. You're in a bad situation, but it isn't the whole of the NHS that is like that.

Tbh you need to put your foot down.

If they are as short staffed as you say they won’t sack you.

Only do what you feasibly can - if it doesn’t get done escalate to your manager and say you have not been able to complete x because of your workload.

Speak to your manager once to inform them when off sick and to tell them about your return then turn off your phone. Speak to HR about being harassed when off sick.

Request you are informed the day before any location/shit changes as you have had a change in circumstances and now cannot guarantee you will be able to make any changes of location/shift if not given adequate notice.

I left 15 years ago for similar.

it wasn’t direct management in my case.

the nhs relies a lot on the goodwill of it’s employees stepping up to cover gaps and the mindset that it’s all for the greater good - you are doing the job because you’re a lovely person that cares. It’s a very martyr yourself to the cause ethos.

it’s counterproductive though because we all step up for sick leave, maternity cover etc. then a person leaves and HR or whoever won’t authorise the budget for a replacement as it’s not needed, because we’re managing on the existing staff. So we step up and cover the gaps. Then someone else leaves and the same happens. Then people start burning out as per o/p, more leave, and the remaining staff are at the end of their rope, but if anyone else leaves the department cannot

the best people leave as they can find new jobs, which reduces the quality of the work done as well.

If you want a promotion or a move you can’t as it managers know it will leave your existing dept in the shit.

when I left if was a massive culture shock. Being able to phone someone and ask for help or pass on a case, and get a cheery reply instead of huffing and attitude because don’t you know how much I’ve got on and this is just too much. Having superiors offer to find me other departments to sit with, to offer interview practice for internal roles. The organisation I work for also has massive funding issues and staff shortages, and people will go above and beyond to get the work done, but we get overtime and managers and co workers will try to get you your time off if they can.

this is the main issue with the nhs I think. They need more staff. Sod computers and managers and hi tech whatever to replace staff, we need more nurses, doctors, admin and support staff. Lighten their loads to they can work better and focus on getting things right and I reckon things will start to improve.

@Bugtimefedup

Why do you think you have "no union"? NHS has strong unions. You can apply to join a relevant union of your choice in any event

It does sound like a bad manager but with the week off, if my team ask and it clashes with too many others being off I do sometimes have to say no… although we have a calendar everyone can see so generally nobody would ask to take a week when they can see that would take us below team minimum numbers. Unfortunately that’s all part of being in a team (exceptional circumstances excluded).

NHS has a mix of amazing managers and many shite ones who were good enough operationally so got promoted but terrible with people and not trained to manage. It is tough at the moment but the reality is we employ more people now than 2019 but are doing less measurable work. Something isn’t right!

yep, I used to be NHS admin, thank god I got out

I have heard this from a few people I know who used to work for the NHS.
Good luck with the job search. Hopefully you will find something soon.

Thank you for saying hospital and not “trust”

I sacrificed a percentage of pension to retire a few years early. Final straw was when I came back from a fortnight's holiday of a life time that I'd given them 10 months notice of, only to be told I'd never be able to take more than a week in future because the service couldn't manage.

My experience was pretty much the same as @Whatsgoingonherethenagain

I've stayed on the bank staff, but even that's getting unbearable now.

Ex medical secretary.

No sympathy from me until you join Unison- which you should have done when you first started working at the hospital.

I’m an NHS nurse with many years experience and I agree that management (in my case band 7s) can be variable. The attitude of the managers very much dictates how the dept functions.
Before Covid we had two very competent managers, strict but fair, happy to do clinical shifts to keep an eye on how the unit functioned and who pulled their weight/who didn’t, extremely high standards of care. They weren’t perfect by any means but most of us respected them. Sadly they retired to be replaced by hands off, office based, yes men. Huge exodus of staff and a drop in standards, favouritism, gossiping, no authority or respect, no forward thinking. Seem to be more bothered about sorting the ward social activities than anything else and schmoozing up to the consultants.

I don’t thinks that it is an NHS issue.

I’m clinical support/admin. I love my job. It’s busy, but we’ve got a great team and my manager is great. I had to leave early yesterday for an appointment and my manager told me off for going in early to make the time up!

They aren’t NHS wide… I work in the NHS. Our departmental managers are fabulous… there are always issues but they are incredibly supportive of the staff and fight back where cuts have had the potential to affect staff morale. Never had an issue with time off for appointments, to the point that they positively welcoming my maternity appointments being in ‘work’ time (same hospital). Our staffing levels are good and lots has been put into place in the last 15-20years to improve working conditions. I’m not saying these conditions are NHS wide either.

What might be an NHS problem is the inability to get rid of shit managers, but that’s another thread.

Okay, I was just basing it on the 13 hospitals I've worked in.

Forgot about this thread. Yes there are unions for clinical staff but less so for admin staff.

We had a meeting earlier this week to say we must now grass up all our colleagues for even the most minor clerical errors. They are setting up a new email account specifically for this 😦

My job hunt continues.

Atleast the maternity leave and pension is good!