To think you just can't say this as a public sector worker? Sorry, FB related.

[Famzilla]

Someone I have known for many years posted a horrid status on Facebook earlier, I won't repeat it word for word but the basic jist was that he was glad that a local MH charity was closing due to lack of funding and that suicidal people should just be left to kill themselves.. But not in public because that ruins everyone's day.

Obviously this turned into a bit of a bunfight and as an RMN it offended me greatly. I also work in the same hospital as him, he doesn't have a registration for his role but he still works for the NHS. He is arrogantly refusing to remove the status saying that he won't get into trouble with his employer because of free speech blah blah. Is this right? Can public service workers really say stuff like this publicly?

Please don't flame me if you think I should mind my own business or whatever, having suffered my own MH problems as a teen and I've read some stuff from people I considered friends which has really disturbed me today and I can't help but feel it shouldn't be allowed.

If he worked in my trust, he would be hauled over the coals for that. I would bring it to the attention of his manager.

What a disgusting thing to say.

we have a policy and I imagine that the nhs have a similar one where bringing the organisation into disripute is gross misconduct. not only that but if you are aware of someone comitting such an act and don't report it its also misconduct. I'm sorry but you must report this

Oh dear , he really is a prize knob . I would message him and be blunt , take the post down or be reported to your line manager . If you want i will message him , pm me your details .

He needs reporting. This attitude will impact on his work and the care he provides.

The thing is ,with facebook , unless you have your privacy settings set to kill , someone you dont know , but who knows a friend of yours could pootle along and see this and kick up one holy hell of a stink . He doesn't sound like the brightest , so you are doing everyone a favour by reminding him of his contractual obligation not to be a moron on social media

Yabu and overreacting.
People post a lot of gibberish on facebook. Can't take it too seriously.

Print and report.

No one should get away with that and it's something management in the public sector take very seriously

I reported an nhs staff member (unregistered) for something not as bad as that and they lost their job. So he can get into trouble.

He sounds like a complete arse but if he doesn't work with patients (by behind the scenes I assume you mean an office/lab based type of thing) I'd just de-friend and ignore him. If you're going to report him you need to be really sure you could cope with any potential fall out / feelings of responsibility etc.

Check if your employer has a social,networking policy. Mine does and they would see this as being in breach of it I'm fairly sure...

If his facebook page says he works for the NHS then bringing the company into disrepute may well result in a dismissal.
If you and/or other colleagues have posted on the status you are also at risk of disciplinary action.
Print the page and hand it to his manager. If you commented disaprovingly and do nothing you become part of the problem.

I think it's the responsible thing to do to report it. There's too much turning-a-blind-eye, don't be part of the problem.

Report it. He deserves to lose his job and the way he responded to your concerns was disgraceful.

The NHS has social media policies, as does pretty much the entire public sector. I don't work in the NHS but I can say there have been multiple cases of misconduct for social media comments across the public sector. It's an ongoing concern.

A big issue would be if he explicitly identifies himself as working for the NHS (posting repeatedly about his job, he has it on his profile etc). If he does neither of those things it would be easier to defend this as being the opinions of a private individual, although there is no guarantee this defence would work. If he has indeed identified himself like that, or if he uses his social media account for a mix of business and personal things, and he is regarded as having said something unacceptable - that is different ground indeed.

I wouldn't advise whether to report him or not, that would be a matter for you personally. But no, public service workers have no more freedom of speech than anyone else and in some cases distinctly less, depending on job, role and in the case of the civil service, the level of your political restriction. There is a myth that you can automatically separate the fact of your job from your remarks about that job - that works neither in the public, or increasingly the private sector.

IME it doesn't matter if the person has explicitly stated where they work, if they have colleagues on there, who might have seen the post, then it would still constitute gross misconduct.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone else has screen shotted it and will report to HR. The views are pretty awful even if he isn't client facing, and there would be a concern that, if he is happy to utter those kinds of thoughts in public, then does he carry those beliefs into his work environment? For eg, if he works in records, does he file those of people with MH problems as carefully as he would someone without, if he works in admin, would he discriminate there, iyswim.

Yeah, if his colleagues saw it, there is trouble. But with an explicit declaration, the defence (such as it is) collapses quite dramatically.

A quick check of our local trust site brings this up in a guidance note for staff:

"As a Trust, we have no wish to interfere with your personal life. However we would advise you, when
using such sites, to consider the potential impact on both your own reputation and that of the NHS.
Particular areas include:

• If you make personal (e.g. derogatory) comments about patients, colleagues, the Trust or the NHS

as a whole

• If you are pictured in activities, or make comments, that may be open to misinterpretation "

I cant find a specific policy, and obviously this isnt all the guidance note, but I would most definitely screenshot and send to his line manager (or the best fit to his line manager, even if it is someone above his actual line manager). He may not work directly with members of the public, but this attitude is not one his employers will look upon favourably.

The corporate sector has pretty stringent social media policies and 'free spech' doesnt wash there either, so he has no excuse. I probably would have pm'd to say 'hey, what are you doing?' but I see you've done that and got a mouthful for your trouble... So I'm not sure what you'd do next.

I would send it to hr. I don't think any interactions he has with patients can be trusted now, as he's made it plain he regards mental illness as something to ridicule and hate. ok he may have limited exposure to patients.

But to get someone rude, obstructive or unpleasant on the phone, well that could be enough to make someone feel very bad indeed, or stop them from interacting with the nhs again. Vulnerable people shouldn't have to run the gauntlet with that kind of person.

I work in a school and we recently had a meeting about Facebook, and being careful what we post.
Quite innocently, but awkwardly, one of the TAs put up a few not overly- but slightly-drunken pics from a wedding, a parent who was friends with someone else at the wedding saw them and (like a tw*t IMO) complained that she didn't want her child looked after by an alcoholic.
Which she's not, but anyway....It wasn't even in term time!
My point is that you never know exactly who is reading your social media posts and who might get offended by it so you should only post what you are willing to share in public.
If those are his views, he definitely needs to be pulled up on them, he's bringing his employer into disrepute, he's potentially putting people at risk and it's not fair on you to know his attitude and not be able to share it.
Definitely report him - if you are worried about doing so in person, maybe email a screen grab to HR.
If you've seen it, chances are others have and he would never know for sure who dropped him in it, it would serve him right to wonder for the rest of his life and might make him grow up as well.

I work in the public sector and it's been made very clear to us what's expected of us on social media sites. I'd imagine the NHS will have similar and not take kindly to that from an employee

DEFINATELY report him.

Not sure where the capitals came from but pretty apt.

I do think its an over-reaction on your part. Its like telling tales in school. No-one has been hurt or threatened, and running about reporting people on the basis of Facebook just seems a bit smug and do-gooder, when you are not actually achieving anything.

Or put it this way - I wouldn't consider yourself superior for possibly causing someone to lose their job or face disciplinary action, as compared to someone who posts a rant on social media. Your actions would actually have potentially dire consequences for an individual, while his do not. You come across as if you are out to get him, because he won't do what you say on his FB page.

He's quite possibly lowly paid and going through a bad patch in his life, who knows.

Why would you not deal with it simply by ignoring it and defriending him?