advice required on employment issues in nhs(problems with manager)

[nortonmumoftwo]

Hello, any advice on what I should do (if anything) in my role as non clinical in NHS.

Basically I have been in my role for quite a few years. I am not happy with the way I am treated with one particular manager. Every few months there is a "flare up" between myself and this manager. It can be due to something very trivial such as not filing something correctly or recently this person complaining to my line manager that I am not working hard enough and not getting through work quick enough. My role is part time and there is more work, as you would expect in the NHS, than people to do it. I work hard but am unable to work extra hours for time off in lieu due to childcare.

The reason why it is worse this time is that I feel my good name has been tarnished and also having child in hospital with a serious condition(ok now) and the worry and stress this caused.

I feel this is the icing on the cake and feel anxious, worried, can't sleep and am dreading our next confrontation. This seems to have got to me and I feel on the edge. Not really felt like this before in my life.

There is no talking to this person. I have tried before but am shouted down and the conversation is dominated not by myself. I am a nobody in the NHS and the other is a somebody. My line manager told me of the complaint and basically told me to watch my back. I feel this individual is trying to orchestrate/manage me out in favour of another colleague who is willing to work more hours than myself.

Anybody been through something similar in NHS?

P.S I am in the union

Hello norton - you've done the right thing so far in taking it calmly and keeping your line manager involved.

I'm a little confused about why this other manager is in a position to criticise you in the first place - you answer to your line manager, not this other person. ( although if you were in medical records, or coding, for instance, then you would have day to day contact with other managers elsewhere of course)

You can do a number of things here - you can go directly to your union for advice, you can ask for a formal meeting with your line manager and discuss it there or you can go to HR for help and advice. Your trust will have a big HR team and you should contact either the business partner for your area who can help you, or if you don't know who that is, go down there and ask to see the head of HR or his/her deputy fro advice.

You don't have to make it formal at this stage if you don't want to but you can lodge a grievance, for which there will be a formal procedure with stages of investigation. It could well be that this person is a known problem in the trust and there are other instances with other members of staff that are known to HR.

The trust should have zero tolerance towards this kind of behaviour - you will have a ' trust values' statement and I bet respecting each other at work features in there.

But what you don't have to do is sit tight and take it and you certainly don't have to 'watch your back' - that's bad advice from your line manager.

Hope that helps - I'm not a legal or HR expert but I do know the NHS procedures very well.

thank you it helps to talk to someone who knows nhs stuff.

I will consider my position and thank god I am part time so at least I get a bit of restbite OH very understanding and supportive also. So I am not alone.

Not sure I have the balls to do a grievance. If I did I would surely be moved I would think.

The person concerned is the person I work for - I,e medical person. My line manager is in charge of a group of us and non medical.

All so unnecessary and everybodies lives would be easier if a little respect and appropriate communication were given.

thank you it helps to talk to someone who knows nhs stuff.

I will consider my position and thank god I am part time so at least I get a bit of restbite OH very understanding and supportive also. So I am not alone.

Not sure I have the balls to do a grievance. If I did I would surely be moved I would think.

The person concerned is the person I work for - I,e medical person. My line manager is in charge of a group of us and non medical.

All so unnecessary and everybodies lives would be easier if a little respect and appropriate communication were given.

Speak to your union rep, its what they are there for. Your manager needs to be supporting you too. If the person you're working for thinks there are performance issues then your manager should be working with you to address them.

As for your manager telling you to watch your back, I hope you reminded her that that's what she's there for?

I'm not asking you to give too many details away, but if you are,say, an OP receptionist or a medical secretary these management arrangements make sense.

But I promise you that you are as entitled to a fair and respectful workplace just as much as a clinician. Consultants are just as much bound by rules of respect as the rest of us.

If you don't think your line manager is helpful - and she should be your first port of call - and you don't want to talk to HR even informally - what about the specialty manager who manages this clinicians specialty ( eg if it's an orthopaedic surgeon, the T&O manager; If its a dermatologist, what about the manager for general medicine?). As a first point of contact i would say go the administrator/ manager route rather than a clinical director as its more likely the manager will know immediately what the process and required behaviours are - clinical directors tend to be more variable in their experience, given the limited amount of time they spend on HR matters.