Give up NHS job to work in supermarket

[Agelikeafinebottleofblacktower]

I'm so torn.
I'm an unqualified NHS worker in a semi clinical role. My job is so stressful, there's so much to do and little help, all my colleagues end up staying late, working during annual leave, being essentially on call etc. I love what I do but it impacts on everything. If I take some time owing to sit in the park with my DC's I spend the whole time worrying about what be going on with my wards, whether the on call doctor will visit without me calling twenty times to try to locate them. I regularly stay up at night worrying about what I have or haven't done. My children just get the remnants of me in the evenings as I am emotionally done in.
I could earn 20p less an hour working nights at my local supermarket. I'm not at all suggesting this is easy but my best friend works in a similar role and listens to podcasts and stacks shelves, rotates stock, helps with online orders. She doesn't serve customers and says she never thinks about work when she leaves. She tells her boss she is not prepared to work any overtime so they don't ask her. It sounds like bliss.
My fear is that I will lose my pension. I will not be able to get back into it if I leave and miss it. I will not get the 'high' of genuinely helping a patient.
I have an interview tomorrow for the role and if, which isn't a given, they offer it to me I don't know what I would decide to do.

I spent 12 years in the Royal Marines, a tour in Iraq and three tours in Afghanistan. After being medically discharged I worked as a band 5 business manager assistant whilst I gained a master's degree, and then worked as a band 7 business manager for 8 years in total.

If someone gave me a choice of reliving the horrors of war or working in the NHS, I'd choose the former.

I quit in 2016 and took a temporary job at Costco for Xmas. As much as I find the work dull and the entitled arseholes/members a pain in the arse, I'm now at the top of my basic pay scale and with Sunday top up am on £30k+ a year, plus I now get yearly £4k bonus in lieu of a pay rise.

No more 60+ hour weeks, no more Matrons, consultants, consultants secretaries, 2 hour meetings were the only thing done is the decision in where that evenings cocktails were to be drunk, no more down branding band 4's, 3's and 2's in order to employ the HR/business/corporate managers niece/sister/next door neighbour as a band 5 because she/he/they/zee/zod graduated with a degree in English literature and can't find a job. Etc

@Agelikeafinebottleofblacktower, Im sorry you are going through so much stress. I worked for the NHS for 16 years and as a band 8 I was being paid for 7.5 hours a day but working from 7am to 10pm with a 10 mins lunch after 3pm.
The overtime work never ends, I used make sure my staff was not doing overtime and had their lunches and toilet breaks. Your line manager should help and make sure you take your breaks and help you so you don't take work problems home. Have you tried changing departments or transferring to a community role? I would ask different teams if they are looking for new staff and if possible would transfer. I find the community teams to be more flexible and relaxed. your mental health and wellbeing should be your priority. Good luck!

You can actually move your pension with you I believe. I'm sure I've been told you can move your nhs one with you?

No op. Do not do it. Nothing but abuse. Every single day. Lockdown and panic buying was hell last year. No matter what is out of stock I get grief. People genuinely think we are hiding it out the back for ourselves. Cash point not working? That’s our fault. Cigarette kiosk shuts at 10pm, that’s my fault. Self serve card only? Yes us on the shop floor take the blame. Staff have covid so not as many tills open? Yes it’s everyone else’s fault. Tea bags cost to much? Yes that is my next door neighbors cousins dogs fault. Broken fridges are my fault to, people are emailing the co of Tesco to complain. Don’t do it staff are leaving by the dozen

@Opaljewel

You can actually move your pension with you I believe. I'm sure I've been told you can move your nhs one with you?

That isn’t what OP means.

She means that she’s in a very good pension scheme and if she leaves, she will never get back into it.

Even if she re-joined the NHS, her newly started NHS pension would be on less favourable terms - paying in more to get less. (though still a good pension!)
Theoretically she could transfer out of her existing built up NHS benefits - but if she did, it would almost certainly be the worst pension decision of her life!

People who leave the NHS don’t transfer out of the scheme - they leave what they’ve accrued so far, then take that when they retire.

I would try and find an opportunity elsewhere within the NHS,. Not every department is like that. A friend of mine as worked for years in admin at NHS and although she has changed jobs a few times within NHS, if she finds she doesn't get on /doesn't like the new post she seems to find a better one quite quickly

The NHS pension is excellent and important to take into account. How much have you built up in it so far? Could you just do a few more years in the NHS and then retire and take your pension early?

Unfortunately I'm nowhere near retirement, I'm 32. I think it's partly where I am in my life that makes this job difficult, two young children in school, one being diagnosed for possible autism or adhd. All of my colleagues in the same roles as me don't have similar responsibilities at home and can stay late, start early and sort of dedicate their life to it. Also I worry that my willingness to learn new things has meant that now have more work compared to my colleagues who (quite rightly) have said that those tasks are not in their job description. Now I can't get out of them!

I think it would be a real shame for you to leave the NHS entirely. You sound so passionate about helping people, just understandably burnt out and stressed. Would there be an option to move to a different team? I know from experience that challenging inpatient wards for example are particularly stressful, so would it he possoble for you to move sideways to a different role (e.g in a specialist community team). I know that a lot of NHS is stressful but I've moved between around 4-5 different teams in the last 6 years (specific role requiring different experience) and it's very team specific how much stress is put on colleagues in the lower bands. If you are able to, I would definitely think about trying that before jumping ship entirely but you need to put your own wellbeing first. Best of luck

I spend the whole time worrying about what be going on with my wards, whether the on call doctor will visit without me calling twenty times to try to locate them. I regularly stay up at night worrying about what I have or haven't done.

Why are you doing this? If you’re not a registered HCP (I.e. a doctor, nurse, paramedic, OT, physio) then none of this is your responsibility. It’s the responsibility of the registered professional that you’re working under. Yes, you need to do your job properly when you’re physically there, but whether the on call has done whatever or any of that.

I mean this in the nicest way possible, but the ward or clinical area will continue to run without you there, you’re not solely holding the place up, it ran before you ever started, and it will after you leave. You need to put some healthy boundaries in place because you don’t have them currently.

Sometimes a willingness to take on extra responsibility doesn't really help anyone, your colleagues are right if they refuse to undertake roles that are not in the job description or are trained to do. Unless you are a registered hcp I dont understand why you are having to chase up the doctors.

@Agelikeafinebottleofblacktower

Unfortunately I'm nowhere near retirement, I'm 32. I think it's partly where I am in my life that makes this job difficult, two young children in school, one being diagnosed for possible autism or adhd. All of my colleagues in the same roles as me don't have similar responsibilities at home and can stay late, start early and sort of dedicate their life to it. Also I worry that my willingness to learn new things has meant that now have more work compared to my colleagues who (quite rightly) have said that those tasks are not in their job description. Now I can't get out of them!

If they are not in your job description then meet with your line manager and tell her That, moving forward, you won’t be doing the tasks anymore ...I’m a band 7 nurse and certainly wouldn’t be chasing up any doctors or worrying about it after 5pm when I finish.

Do NHS admin. Loads are work from home for the foreseeable.

My happiest job memory is 5 years working weekends in a call centre when D.C. were very young. I walked in at 8.30, plugged in my headset and cracked on with the day. The team was very young and at 35 I was very much the granny of the group. It was busy enough that the time went fast but we still had time to laugh and joke amongst ourselves. At 5pm I unplugged my headset and didn't think about work again until my next shift.

When D.C. eventually went to school I wanted something more challenging and moved on but at the time it was the perfect job for me.

There’s something to be said for taking a step back sometimes. I went from a stressful high pressure role to freelancing due to having a child with autism and needing lots of flexibility. It comes with its own stresses, but after I left I did feel a certain relief. I could breathe again. And while the work is boring it’s sometimes kind of nice to be bored at work and just get on with things.

Is it all or nothing though? Can you consider something between the NHS job and shelf stacking? If you came off the NHS career ladder would that really be it forever or could you potentially rejoin in a few years if you changed your mind? Once the kids have grown up you may feel different.

It sounds like you either need to move roles or have some coaching. I'm a hospital consultant treating some very sick and complex pts and I don't take work my home with me that much. I have to trust my colleagues and accept what is under my control. If you are plugging a gap by taking on responsibilities that shouldn't be yours you need to escalate it ( eg if a doctor not attending ward when the should be speak to the ward matron ).

I think many underestimate the stress of.working in the NHS many think we are lazy and consistently complain about waiting times like we are sat twiddling our thumbs. The reality is constant pressure from above, pressure and abuse from the general public and a uni.aginable workload that never stops. My DH is burnt out after this last year and if anything it just gets worse. Both I and DH barely sleep the night before a shift because we both know it's essentially firefighting and keeping people safe. Rarely get full breaks and the pay for expectations and responsibilities is crap. Regularly short of staff and the suggestion is training could be done on your days off at home. OP if I had a choice I would run for the hills and wouldn't look back.

@Stasiland

Lol wanting to work in the NHS

Some areas of the NHS are amazing to work for.

I work in a mental health team and can honesty say I’ve never had such an incredible job, workplace, or management team. Great pay, rewarding, fantastic support, pretty much left alone to do my job unless I need guidance, no micromanaging, weekdays only, never worked an hour unpaid in the five years since I joined. Good training opportunities too. I can’t imagine ever leaving when this job is everything I could possibly want and treats me so well.

I found working at Asda much more stressful, in many ways.

@BabyLeaf completely agree. I work in a well organised trust, in a great team. I learn evey day - my patients amaze (and occasionally amuse) me and I really wouldn't do anything else.

For an unqualified semi clinical worker you seem very invested in what is happening on "your wards" when you are not there. Surely there are qualified staff in charge who are ultimately responsible?

You do sound overly stressed for a non clinical worker. I would ask GP about stress management resources via mental health before leaving NHS with its pension to work in a supermarket. Simply because I have a suspicion you will also feel overly stressed when in a supermarket job as well. Try and tackle your unhealthy reaction to stress first.

I used to be on call 24/7 in a job I had. It was stressful, but I learned to switch it off when home and only switch on work thinking when called about something or called in. You need to learn to compartmentalise your work from your home life. Otherwise, no matter what job you have you will be thinking about it incessantly, worrying, not sleeping, dissociating from your children....etc

Do you work nights now? Personally I’d find it mind numbing and very difficult to be stacking shelves night after night and would struggle with the sleep patterns but if you think you can manage it, go for it.

[quote Annietheacrobat]@BabyLeaf completely agree. I work in a well organised trust, in a great team. I learn evey day - my patients amaze (and occasionally amuse) me and I really wouldn't do anything else.[/quote]
I worked in an awful trust prior to this one and almost swore the NHS off. Moved to my current trust and still can't get over how luck I am to work here. It's my absolute dream come true, career-wise. I do wish more staff who are happy at the NHS would speak up about it, it's incredible the number of people I've spoken to who think I'm lying or making it up when I say what a brilliant employer it can be!