AIBU to suspect that quarantine checkers “from the NHS” are calling from an offshore call centre?

[ValerieMalone]

Apologies for such a long message. I am rushing so I hope it’s semi readable!

I recently traveled to an amber list country to deal with an urgent family matter. Each day since I got back I’ve been called by someone from the NHS to make sure I am aware of and following the quarantine requirements. Based on past experience I would guess that the calls are coming from an offshore call centre. The callers read from a script and do not deviate. Twice I have asked a fairly simple question about quarantining/testing and the caller could not answer and in fact their responses didn’t make sense conversationally. It could be just bad luck with those two but I wasn’t going to pepper them with questions just to test them.

Yesterday I asked casually where the caller was located and he said Newcastle. I asked which part of Newcastle and he read from his script replied “It is in the north of England.” I didn’t push it because it’s not the callers’ fault, they are just doing their jobs.

Is it crazy to think that callers purporting yo be from the NHS would be instructed to lie about their whereabouts? I don’t know much about these things but I would guess the NHS does not directly the callers. But I wouldn’t put it past Bojo and friends to turn a blind eye and contract with a company who contract with another company that does.

I have no problem with a private company using overseas labor to IF the employees are treated fairly. I suspect they are not but that’s a separate issue. But the NHS is not a private company. And there is a part of me that feels that under the current circumstances the NHS should be trying to employ workers who directly contribute to the UK economy. I know there are lots of companies that can’t find workers at the moment so perhaps that is related but I think at the very least the government should be compensating its employees attractively enough to fill the positions locally. Am I being totally xenophobic? It’s not like people in other countries don’t have families to feed too.

Or am I totally wrong about the whole thing and the NHS would never use offshore labor even indirectly?

OP i work in staffing in the NHS and the trust I work for certainly doesn’t employ people in “offshore call centres” and I have never heard of it.

The NHS uses a lot of what you call off shore labour already. But I did the track and trace service was run by the NHS, it's a government run thing.

And OH if people were really desperate for work. A colleague was interviewing for mid level admin post in NHS yesterday and today. Out of the 14 applicants shortlisted, 9 of them didn't turn up for the interview without letting anyone know.

T&T is a govt scheme but the actual work is outsourced to loads of different companies. It certainly isn’t all NHS employees www.cityam.com/opinion-we-need-to-stop-calling-it-nhs-test-and-trace/

I’ve seen documentaries about overseas call centres and the workers say they are indeed taught to have convos with callers that suggest they are in the UK, thought they didn’t say they’d falsify their location. Things like “isn’t it cold today? Did you have snow?” When they themselves are in India. And to generally converse in as “British” a manner as possible.

I find that quite sad. If a company decides to use overseas contact centres, and someone doesn’t agree with that, it’s not the employee’s fault and they shouldn’t have to pretend.

I actually work for the test and trace service you described, as far as I'm aware that isn't the case and I definitely live in England. However, there a lot of different companies which have these contracts and we do have a very strict script we must follow. 😁

The requirement that they pretend to be here is always weird in my view. I get a call every day from a call centre in India (sadly my lot are all scammers lying about everything under the sun) rather than NHS tracing. When I get a real one who is not a scammer the inability to go off scripts make you feel we might as well had artificial intelligence doing the calls as you cannot really communicate sadly with a lot of them.

What a horrible post. Even if the NHS used employees from another country why does it matter as long as they are well trained and doing their job?
Why are you so sure this offshore company (if it is one, and not just someone with an Indian accent living in newcastle) doesn't treat its staff well?

Yesterday I asked casually where the caller was located and he said Newcastle. I asked which part of Newcastle and he read from his script replied “It is in the north of England.” I didn’t push it because it’s not the callers’ fault, they are just doing their jobs.

😂🤣

Not their fault whatsoever, as you say.

I wonder what Marx and Engels would say about our modern world of work sometimes.

There is a big NHS call centre based in Newcastle and they do Test and Trace calls DB works there The reason there is little deviation from the script is because they have to control their call time to maximise how many calls they can get done in a shift, using the call type process (script) keeps the call moving and also makes sure they cover everything that needs to be covered (which in turn means they're more likely to get good marks in call evaluations).

@BlatantlyNameChanged

There is a big NHS call centre based in Newcastle and they do Test and Trace calls DB works there The reason there is little deviation from the script is because they have to control their call time to maximise how many calls they can get done in a shift, using the call type process (script) keeps the call moving and also makes sure they cover everything that needs to be covered (which in turn means they're more likely to get good marks in call evaluations).

Doesn’t really explain the robotic delivery. I suppose could be nervous new recruits?

Sheer boredom?

Maybe.

To be fair, I'd be bored too reading the same call process word for word upwards of 40 times a day.

I just can’t imagine Geordies being like that, but no reason to think a Geordie call centre would discriminate and only employ native Geordies, OFC.

The bloke that turned on our doorstep from there was definitely local - apparently everyone gets a surprise visit now..!

It’s not the NHS - the telephony work is contracted out to big suppliers like Serco or others.

They will be recorded and monitored too to check they are working efficiently. It's a shit job.

Offshore as in an oil rig? That’s what offshore is - or boats?