To think NHS admin jobs are awful

[Whydoibotherto]

I hate my job. I’m a lowly band 3 administrator in a large London hospital and the work keeps getting piled on. I now have to complete triaging forms with patients which involve detailed medical questions, stuff like “can you get an erection”, “can you ejaculate”, “do you feel suicidal”. A job a band 4 health assistant used to do.

On the one hand I have quite serious responsibilities - I managed our reception staff when we had some, manage patient complaints, manage our referrals, manage the clinic diaries, arrange home visits etc but now I also have to sit on reception and answer our call centre phone system as our 3 receptionists left and will not be replaced.

Had a meeting yesterday with my manager who confirmed I will now be doing all of my own work whilst sitting on reception full time. It’s not possible!!

All this for lowly sum of about £21,000 a year and I work full time for this.

A few staff have been signed off with stress and despite me saying this will end up happening to me if they don’t get in some more staff, they just don’t care.

My daughter lives in Australia and I had requested some annual leave in April to visit and my request has been declined due to no staff. They will not even consider bank staff to cover. So basically I can never have time off.

I am looking for a new job. The NHS really is an awful place to work, they do not value their staff one bit.

matilda usual reasons I suppose, I had a great job but had twins and couldn’t afford nursery fees, wasn’t entitled to any help and no family support. My DH was out the house working shift work so I took the NHS job as soon as my twins were in secondary school. All that time out of the workforce meant I took what I could get job wise. At the time the job was better, more staff, less work, shorter waiting lists so less angry patients.

Disagree

I'e been doing NHS for 32 years and I love it. I would never do anything else.

I had that job 20yrs ago. In the end I was signed off with stress. I left and didn't look back. I earn so much more money now and same people are still there unfortunately. Get a plan together and get out as soon as you can. It will get worse.

You don't say how long you've worked there OP but I assume sufficient time to have relevant work experience on your CV to be able to move to something else. You have a degree, a masters and work experience and are in the huge job market of London. Why carry on in a job that won't even allow you have annual leave?

Not all
trusts are the same. public health wales would love to get people like yourself and is much easier (although still busy!)

Solidarity OP. I handed in my notice with no other job to go to yet. ECA Ambulance Crew. I'm now signed off with stress for my notice period. I'm burnt out and a fraction of the person I was before that job.

Minimum wage pay will be up to £20,000 odd in April. There are lots of vacancies at the level of pay you are getting. Get an easier job. That is a ridiculous pay level for that level of responsibility and work.

So sorry to hear that so many others are struggling like this. I’d counsel against thinking about Higher Education at present. I’ve just quit, with nothing to go to either; and also signed off sick for my notice. The work just keeps being piled on, and although I was on a reasonable salary, our G3 admins weren’t on an awful lot more than minimum wage.

Local government website might be worth checking.

That sounds like a very low salary for what you are doing.

Sometimes you are too exhausted to even look for another job seriously but I would look at registering with some organisations .Civil Service, Charities, Higher Education etc

Then complete one or two Specs - a matrix of standard responses that you can edit the responses depending on each job that you are interested in.

It will take time but it shouldn't be too hard for you to secure an interview. And then it's just interview practice - eventually a more rewarding role will be offered to you.

You have to take annual leave sometime so what is going to change if they don't have the staff? I'd point this out to them and say you are taking it as you are entitled to it.

They're hardly going to sack you if they are in such dire straits.

Have you looked at your local council/borough for admin roles? They are probably not brilliantly paid but you might be able to get something quite quickly. Even with cuts to local government, they do have jobs going.

Be careful! I was about to say 'same here, I'm a civil servant'. People leave, not replaced, doing a job that should be at least a grade higher. The grass isn't always greener, but I totally accept what you're saying OP.

Sympathies OP, I’m nhs admin band 2 in a hospital. Staff are leaving in droves. Sainsbury’s are advertising at more than I am being paid - I am now being made to process cancer referrals which involve speaking to the cancer patients. I have no training in this. All admin bands are being lowered in my trust, and everyone is taking on responsibilities which may be beyond their capabilities.

I‘m NHS, clinical band 7 and your workload is ridiculous.

Our band 3 admins don’t do anything like you are being asked to do!

What a disgrace! Can you afford just to leave?

@lieselotte they let you sell your annual leave now…

I agree with you. Had friends who worked in doctors surgeries who were getting peanuts, and yet had responsibilities far beyond their grade. Teenage babysitters were being paid more!

Oof, that'd be a no from me.

I dont know why you are doing it either. I'm a band 7 and our admin staff are hammered. I often find them crying. Start looking for a better job.

On the other side of the coin - I am a manager in an NHS trust and trying to get good admin staff is so difficult! I manage quite a large team of admin staff (mostly band 4) and as soon as one leaves it’s terrible trying to get a replacement!
’whydoibotherto’ - I love it if you would apply for a post in my team!

Definitely try university admin roles. Better pay, conditions and holidays. Nice working environment.

I’d guess it very much depends on the institution, and the role. It’s not my experience in recent years. I am a senior manager (for another 6 weeks…), but real problems with burnout at all levels.

This is me also. How long have you worked for the NHS? Have you looked at Band 4? That's 23949, not amazing but better than 21k

I’m very lucky with my NHS job. We have flexible working, usually get to take my leave when I want and can work from home but I am not patient facing and the money is not the best.

However I know a lot of NHS staff in a similar position. Our office cleaner who also cleans on the wards is in a similar position to you regarding annual leave. They are short staffed, cannot get new staff because by the time all the checks etc come back they’ve given up and got another job. All his annual leave gets rejected. He got signed off with burn out and anxiety in the end.

I have worked in nhs admin for a long time, some roles are really shit and some are less so, with your experience & qualifications I imagine you should be able to get another job quickly, even if it's in another department in the NHS

Definitely try another trust.

I'm also a band 3. Have you only been band 3 for a short while as the top of that band is just over £23,000 ?

I cannot disagree that at the mo NHS admin is shit. We have so few staff it is absolutely ridiculous. They refuse to pay for any extra but are happily creating band 8 posts all over, when it's people on the ground they need.

I am lucky though in that it would be very very rare for them to refuse any annual leave.

I am hoping to get a band 4 role this year as what I actually do in my day to day role is way above band 3 pay grade and it sounds like yours is too.