Why do nhs employment checks take so fucking long?!

[ItsLeviooosar]

Had the interview in April, got offered the job the next day. Did the dbs and occy health declaration the following week. 3 weeks later I got my dbs, a week ago I had a meeting with my new manager to discuss some sketchy details but that's another story..

At the meeting she said she happy and we were good to go.. I've emailed the resource person twice since then and she's been vague as hell about the start date. Should I just give up and look for another job? This feels ridiculous

Havingamoan - I take your point but I've just seen the other side. Seriously depleted and under funded hr departments where one member of staff can be working on 80 applicants at one time as well as setting up interviews and advertising posts and answering the million phone calls a day. In my experience they worked really hard but were demoralised and stressed with the forever changing demands.

Really glad found this thread- in exactly the same boat as you OP. Offered job in May, but still waiting for a start date. I currently work in a school, so I should aready have given my notice in if I leave before September.Feel like just giving up and trying to find something else.

I work in HR. I appreciate that it is frustrating but remember that the checks are designed to protect patients.

The process relies heavily on the co-operation of external party's to return information, so your referees, DBS, immigration status, professional registrations, your GP (through Occupational Health). This is all outside of the control of your new employer.

I work in HR. I appreciate that it is frustrating but remember that the checks are designed to protect patients.

The process relies heavily on the co-operation of external party's to return information, so your referees, DBS, immigration status, professional registrations, your GP (through Occupational Health). This is all outside of the control of your new employer.

Applied for the NHS job in July, started af the end of Jan. it’s a verrryyy slow process...

I understand from previous posters that it is a very time consuming process, but it was the lack of communication from them that I found frustrating.

For example, when I eventually phoned up (weeks after I'd been accepted) to find out what the delay was, I was told that the email address I'd given for the referee wasn't good enough. (It was for a vicar and they're self-employed [sort of] and don't have churchofengland.com email addresses.). Fair enough, but why couldn't they have told me that??? I suggested that they write to her instead at the vicarage address, which they were happy to do. Why did it take me to suggest that? I wasn't working at the time, and not claiming benefits, so that delay cost me hundreds of pounds.

3.5 months for me to get a completely non-patient facing role. My new boss was in touch constantly moving the process along, as fast as either of us could.

I've had 2 week elapse from offer to start in another public sector role. NHS is exceptionally slow.

Yes! It's the worst! The lack of communication is awful, they also wanted to know exactly what I was doing in the time I had off (I was mentally unwell after a rape) and I told occy health but my manager wanted to know exactly what the issue was, so I had to go into her office and tell her why I had 6 months out of work and then she asked if I was 'normal now'.. erm... and then the best bit was when she asked if I was on contraception now after having 2 miscarriages last year. Pretty sure that's not allowed but she said she wouldn't give me the job if I didn't tell her. So I did and there is Still a delay!!

@MrsBudd

I've worked in NHS HR and the pre employment checks are very stringent - a good thing given the working environment you'll be in! It's worth chasing up any employment references they might not have received back yet, in my experience this is one of the things that slows things down the most. Also check OH have all the information they need regarding your vaccination record. Hopefully things won't take much longer for you 😊

Could you please say why? There is enhance the DBS but what else is taking them sooooo soooo long? Everything comes back, ready to work but for months I hear nothing... I thought there was a staff shortages or was it just scaremongering? 🤔 Thank you

OP - I'm surprised you are still taking the post if the manager (not HR) was so unprofessional in their questioning of you. It is not acceptable to demand to know what contraception you are on.

NHS Employers outline a national guideline on references. There cannot be a gap going back three years. So if you are out of work during anytime of that three years the reasons why have to be documented. For example, 1 month out of employment and claiming universal credit - we needed proof. 2 months out to go travelling - the candidate had to complete a personal statement. This is as well as getting the relevant working references.

We had a recruitment system that applied for references so it would send these out the same day as the offer letter, based on the information the candidate had given. You can wait three months (with the system chasing the refs everyday) and then get the ref back to realise at audit that the candidate had not given their current employer but a colleague they work with. So you have to start again. Not ideal but when dealing with hundreds of candidates these things do happen.

By the way these are not 'HR processes' as I read upthread. They are processes that HR use as directed by NHS Employers (the organisation) and the Government.

OP that’s awful, are you sure you want to work there?

Why though, when I got another job within my own Trust did I have to have all the checks, enhanced DBS etc again, when I was already employed by them? I literally moved sideways into another role within the division I had already worked in for 3 years, yet had to wait weeks for checks to be done. Is there a reason for this?

OH and DBS have to be updated as they are only as good as the day they are completed

Your health has to be assessed for the new post you are moving to as it may involve procedures that your old post did not. For example. EPP .

Most Trusts will update DBS every three years anyway (although this does not always happen).

The Trust I worked for did not ask for references for internal candidates but most managers fought against this as they wanted to know about their new appointment coming from a completely different department and sometimes hospital (in the same Trust).

@letmethinkaboutitfornow I think @bakewelltarty has covered it in their post. NHS have to follow the NHS Employers guidelines to make sure there are no gaps in employment history, referees are from previous line managers (not colleagues or friends), all occupational health checks have to be completed. Then once everything is back there might be a wait before the next set of induction dates. It's worth contacting the HR team to find out what's still outstanding and whether there is anything you can do to speed things along, i.e chasing up references or providing further documents to prove your identity etc. Hope this helps a bit.

I'm waiting to hear back after my reference check on Friday.. The lack of communication is really getting to me now, I just want to know whether I'll be getting the unconditional offer or not! How long should I give it until I ask hr if my reference was satisfactory?