I am a band 7 in a corporate team for a community NHS Trust. I joined this Trust specifically for this specialty but actually, my background is acute based and I still work on the ward I used to as a band 6 on the bank from time to time. If I wasn't working in this specialty, I'd want to be back on the wards and in a patient facing role.
Due to a restructure I've been told my job is at risk; there are 5 of us band 7s and the Trust has decided it wants 2 band 8as and 2 band 7s and the band 8a roles are open to anyone to apply for, including a lot of already band 8as and higher who have also been told their jobs are at risk so there's a significant chance I could lose my job.
I'm not really interested in the band 8a; I'm not interested in management and frankly, for the (lack of) pay rise it's just not worth the extra responsibility to me so the best case scenario for me is I get to keep my current job.
However, if my post were made redundant, the Trust would prefer to relocate me than make me redundant. There's nothing else I want to do for this Trust; I'm not generally interested in corporate roles, it is this specific role alone that I came here for and if I couldn't do that, I'd really rather just go back to my old Trust which I absolutely could do in a heartbeat as they are always crying out for staff and they know me well and regularly ask me to consider coming back.
I don't want to volunteer redundancy (it's not actually been offered yet at this stage) as I love my job and this is what I want to be able to do, but if it comes down to it and they make my post redundant, can they make me relocate or can I refuse to and just take redundancy? I've been in the NHS nearly 20 years so the payout for me would be very good and more than make up for the drop in band if I returned to my old job anyway, at least for a few years.