NHS- paid less, more work, more responsibility

[Elsiebear90]

6 months ago I applied for an external post at another trust which was a promotion to band 7. There is a set standard across the whole of the NHS for band 7 roles within my profession in terms of qualifications, competency and responsibilities. I was told there were four other band 7s in the team when I started, what has become apparent over time is that out of these four members of staff only one has the required qualifications for the job and is competent and can meet the person specification, and she is hardly ever here as she is studying for her PhD.

As such, because I am competent across all the areas and have the necessary qualifications for the role I am now not only doing my job, but am mentoring and training junior staff members (which is totally fine and something I enjoy), but I am also training and mentoring my peers who as experienced senior members of staff I would have hoped would be supporting me somewhat in my new position and helping me in training other staff.

And because this is the NHS and they have been in their positions longer they are paid more than I am, so I am becoming increasingly frustrated with this situation. I have now found out they are promoting another more junior staff member to band 7 and again she does not have the necessary qualifications and competency level for the job (this is not my opinion it is written clearly in the person specification and as her training lead and mentor I know exactly what her competency level and qualifications are) meaning she cannot meet even half of the person or job specification and is going to require significant training and support from me.

I don’t know how or even if I can tackle this and I’m becoming overwhelmed with the lack of support and responsibilities because many times I’m the only person in the hospital who can perform certain critical aspects of the role despite there being three other staff members there who should be able to as well, and this is causing me to become very stressed, frustrated and resentful.

My first thought was to train them to the standard required and support them in obtaining their qualifications, but there are just too many staff for me to be able to do this by myself and many are not motivated to learn (probably because in their eyes it just means more work for no more money) are are not picking things up as quickly as I hoped. As an example I spent a lot of time putting together training material for them with some questions to research and answer, but it’s been three weeks and despite numerous reminders only half did the work.

Other than finding another trust to work at do I have any other options? I have voiced some of my concerns to my manager, but I don’t feel like she’s taken it onboard because as I said she’s now promoting another member of staff who can’t do half the job.

Any advice?

I think there is a procedure to apply to have a post rebanded.

Otherwise, maybe make the most of the experience to gain training and supervisory experience (only bothering with the motivated ones) and then apply for an 8a?

Talk to your Freedom to Speak Up guardian or HR Business Partner.

Who is your manager's manager? Could you speak to them? Failing that, Freedom to Speak Up Guardian.

It sounds utterly ridiculous and poorly managed.

So my manager’s manager is the one who is approving all these promotions and often suggests them, some band 8s have expressed the same concerns and frustrations as me and nothing has changed. They’ve also gone above her to her manager and he’s not interested either. It’s that bad it’s well known in other hospitals in the area and with external companies we use that our staff are incompetent (unfortunately I didn’t hear about this until I started).

I’ve also heard concerns about fraud between my line manager and her manager regarding their bank shifts (they seem to do an insane amount of bank shifts, approve each other’s rotas, somehow also accumulate a crazy amount of toil which they take payment for and doesn’t add up, and despite this the work is still piling up and not done).

I just really regret taking this role tbh, but I’m stuck here for now until another suitable role comes up in a nearby trust.

Not sure how it works in NHS but is there a whistleblower procedure. Especially if they're being fraudulent?

I would get out as soon as you can. The longer you stay the more chance you will be tarnished with the same brush.

In the meantime, flag it with the Freedom to Speak Up Guardian.

I would ask for a job evaluation.

Find another job, you’re being taken for a mug!

If they’ve been doing the job longer then are you sure they’re incompetent or are you just seen as keen and new? My job is expected to have a degree (I didn’t complete for personal reasons) but got the job due to previous work experience and proved myself on a secondment into the role. I’d be really annoyed if I was seen as under qualified as I don’t have a degree.

There may be more going on here. Fraud is one thing but the manager can’t change a team member’s banding alone - it goes to a panel.

If you think there’s fraud you can anonymously raise it via the nhs fraud line or speak up to a freedom to speak up guardian.

My experience is some staff get lazy but aren’t bad enough to sack. They’re the worst.