...to keep coasting in my NHS job?

[Coa5ting]

NC for this.
I work 3 days/week as a maternity tobacco dependency advisor. As part of a push from NHS England they wanted someone doing this role in every Trust. The way it works is that the midwives ask each woman at their booking appointment if they smoke or vape, and if they do, they're offered a referral to me.
The problem is that there isn't enough demand for the service to fill my hours. So I spend a lot of my time on Mumsnet doing "busy work" or life admin.
Part of me wants to tell my line manager I need more work, but part of me feels like I'm fulfilling the role I've been employed for and it's not my fault they've employed me for more hours than they need.
I guess it's more of a WWYD - come clean or keep coasting - but for the purpose of the poll, AIBU to keep coasting??

You might find that with the number of correspondence for “mutually agreed resignations” and (currently) voluntary redundancies that your role isn’t funded much longer. So I would coast but be looking for other work.

Coast, and I say that regardless of NHS or not

Keep coasting whilst you can, I say. It won't last long.

No offense to you OP but just another example of waste in the nhs. Don’t tell me you’re a band 7 specialist nurse, please.
Your skills could be used so much better.

I'm interested in what band you are. I think 4 or below You should coast. Above you should say something imo

Jesus wept op. Speak to your manager about project work, upskilling staff, social media promotion, more intensive support for current clients, antenatal awareness raising, community work. If I were your manager you’d get a bloody fright.

I imagine at some point it will be reviewed and the funding will be pulled. So coast but I would be mindful it won’t last. I say this as an nhs nurse also.

Just keep coasting. Revel in your cynically indifferent attitude to the efforts of other taxpayers who can afford to keep you so underemployed.

Yes, I think those alluding to the role not being around for much longer are probably right. I am keeping an eye out for other roles, but there's very little about at the moment!
@nahthatsnotforme Definitely not! Band 3 😁 But agree that it's a really) poor use of money. When I applied I really believed in the role, but the women don't want it 🤷🏼‍♀️
@teenmaw The idea of going to my line manager and "getting a bloody fright" is one of the things that keeps me coasting! I've been in the role just over a year and I'm worried that if I put my hand up now he'll wonder why I didn't say anything sooner. SM campaigns and antenatal awareness (in the form of posters/literature in the antenatal clinics) are what I mean by "busy work". They're not really in the JD but they give me something to do that's relevant to the role. Training for staff might be a goer but not with the amount of red tape involved in arranging training sessions, getting staff to attend etc.

I don’t think the NHS is a shambles because employees coast.

I hadn’t used the NHS in 20 years until recently wherein I went for my first maternity midwife appointment (to get the elusive info pack from the midwife). They took 4 vials of blood…didn’t label them and asked me to come back in the week. I had these bloods done privately for £1000. I had cancelled my care with that NHS hospital as I was going private. FOUR TIMES they booked me for other maternity appointments with a strapline “if you are late or don’t attend, these appointments cost the NHS £179”. FIVE TIMES it took me to get myself finally removed from their system.

So, on quick maths, that’s the best part of £2000 the NHS systems nearly spunked up the wall.

This is not unusual in the public sector. Me and my team colleague enthusiastically volunteered to help out another team recently as neither of us have anywhere near enough to do...

Jobs which are part of 'initiatives' like this can be particularly bad. It was some bright sparks idea but no-one bothered to scope out what uptake would be like.

I attend very high level meetings with the Chief Execs of public bodies and the quality of decision making is shocking. I can quite see how your job was leapt on as a brilliant initiative with no real scrutiny as to whether it was needed.

Despite terrible funding pressures, there is still so much inefficiency in the public sector due to poor management, poor decision making, poor culture and initiative-itis.

I mean, I'm on about £13ph which is probably significantly less than the good folks bankrolling me.
And I do do my job, there just isn't enough of it for me to do.
I'm not cynically indifferent, just a bit stuck. I don't want to draw attention to the fact that my role might not actually be needed because I do need a job to pay my rent! But equally its not very gratifying to be wasting so much time, hence posting here for advice.

Coast, buy put cash away and be on the look out. And if team / managers ask for help in other areas - put your hand up.

Thank you, this is good advice about volunteering when help is asked for

I’d look for other things to do. If the funding stops and the post ends (highly likely in the current financial climate) then there’s more chance of redeployment if you’ve shown initiative and been proactive.

As for fessing up to your manager. S/he is your manager. Either they already know how little you have to do (and they should know because they should be asking you at regular one to ones) and they don't care.

Or they don't know how little you have to do because they haven't bothered to find out because they just don't care.

Either way, they don't care OP.

If you want to make something of your time there that you can sell at interviews you will have to find a way to create that work yourself OP.

I'd fess up that it has been quiet and ask what you can help with. Then you won't look lazy if they count up the figures at a later date. You'll need a reference at some point in the future I'd imagine, whether by choice or if the role is closed. It won't look good if you've sat doing nothing while others are overloaded.

If - even working few hours - you help a certain number of women to quit, the impact on their health and that of their child, and the knock on effect on NHS resources, is arguably pretty good. So maybe your role sort of pays for itself as it stands? Especially at £13ph. 🤷‍♀️

That said, with cuts looming I’d be getting more strings to the bow, OP, because it sounds like the sort of role that would get axed. Women’s health never seems to be a priority.

I agree with this. You’re doing an important role and offering a service, even if take-up is low.

I think if you’re showing willingness to get involved in other work if required and dealing with any referrals you do receive as a priority, then you’ve no need to feel guilty. The “busy work” you’re doing is a good use of your downtime as you are trying to raise awareness of what you do re SM campaigns. I think that shows professionalism and initiative - especially on £13/hour.

You don't need to fess up, there will be figures for use of your service, so management will know. Might be an idea to look out for other jobs or to do some courses which may be beneficial to you even if just the nhs online ones.

Coast , is it working from home?

How can you see clients if you wfh?

@yourefreetodowhatyouwanttodo @BIossomtoes I don't wfh. I could probably do 1 day/week from home - seeing clients is part of the job but part of it is also telephone follow-ups, and collecting data / maintaining spreadsheets. But I like the separation of home and work; I don't think wfh suits me very well.

It was perfectly obvious that you don’t wfh, it would be impossible. My post was meant to be sarcastic!

I agree with this. I've had quieter times at work before. I invested the spare time in improvements for the service or CPD. Not scrolling social media.