Anyone else doing medical transcription at home?

[olddoglover]

Not much work and low pay but not much choice if you can't go out to work unfortunately.

Also - What isn't in the Employment Rights Bill?
Certain measures included in Labour's plan to "Make Work Pay", external, issued in the run-up to the general election, have not featured in the Employments Rights Bill.
For example, the "right to switch off" - stopping employers contacting staff out of hours on phones, emails and texts - has been kicked down the road.

The commitment to create a "single status of worker" is also not in the bill. This aimed to increase protection for people who are classed as self-employed, but largely work for one employer, but have fewer entitlements than other employees.

It is understood legal complexities mean this will have to be revisited at a later date.

@olddoglover @carosel2 I also think such messages about not typing tasks in green should be sent to all the people who type green ones in the evenings so that the decent stuff is gone overnight.

@Gally123 - yes I agree, I often start at 6 am and am faced with the same awful tasks at the front of the queue

@olddoglover - @Gally123 Yes I agree I see.all the horrible ones still in red in my specialtiy so I do attempt them as I have a good understanding of them but I have done lots today again across a few hospitals and this particular one today but then thought im going to do some nice ones and I saved 9 good ones and started working my way through them this afternoon. Id only done about 2 when I was told to put them back and given that message but tomorrow the good ones will have gone and the reds will still be there. Im getting flipping fed up with them being so unfair

I've just had a rather unpleasant surprise. The dictator directed me to copy and past the header from the last clinic letter, something often requested. I go into patient history and the last clinic letter has my name on it as being the typist responsible. I don't recognise the letter. The layout is completely alien to any we have been directed to use (I had various instructions at the start on layout so that all letters are uniform). Not only that but if I had worked on this letter the typing has also been changed, again not following the instructions given. When I started we were told all dates should be put as for example - 01/06/2024, the dates in this letter has been amended to 1/6/24. I was told not to use abbreviations - "Right" had been abbreviated to "R." There were so many changes that I hated seeing my name at the top as being responsible. I can only assume the doctor himself did this. I have half a mind to complain. Should I mention it to TL? What would she do? Tell me not to worry and make a cup of tea? It looked so amateurish, if you know what I mean. Grrrrrr.

@Gally123 yes I've noticed similar before - I think it's when the doctors add something when they get the letter for approval. I've noticed that they sometimes add headings, but I've not had the problem with the date. I haven't got off the first couple of pages of the main hospital today, so many tasks. On a positive note I am sure there would be an audit trail of who added what and when if anything were ever to be complained of.

@Gally123 - ive had that where I have gone in to a letter and it had my name above and the paragraphs had been indented and bold and underlined headings where it states not do unless dictated. Spelling mistakes galore and double spaces then single spaces after sentances, words missed etc and I felt embarrassed as hell as the doctor was a good consultant I typed for regularly and I thought what must he think when he sees my name on that letter where he is asking for things to be copied across. I messaged the TL and she said if they want to change at their end then its up to them which defeats the object of us lot typing to help them with the back log of work to save them time but as long as you do what you are meant to from our end dont worry about it ! 🙈

It happens a lot where my standard template has been altered when I go copy and paste things but I sometimes think is it the secretary that is miffed because we do a dam good job and wonder if the consultants praise the work and they dont like it.

@olddoglover @carosel2 thanks. I feel a bit better now, but it was, as I say, rather a shock to see such rubbish under my name. Put me off wanting to do much for the rest of the day. Also rather makes a mockery of them trying to get us all using the same templates, layouts etc and then doctors seem to be able to do what they want. I used to have one that would dictate "hyphen" for masses of words and I would think hasn't anyone told him they don't like to use hyphenated words? And one would say not to put capital letters for drug names, and it all rather puts us in a difficult position. I notice as well now more and more are dictating the header, background, diagnosis etc and then Dear Doctor when for my hospital nothing goes above Dear Doctor but they have obviously transferred from somewhere where it does. Very rarely do they get spoken to about layout (although one started her letters with bullet points everywhere but this only last one week, thankfully!)

@Gally123 - I agree why do we bother! but I still do what I am told and I still see many, many altered templates on letters I have typed.

Well what is the logic in this, I have just logged in today and seen all tasks I was told to put back last week as they are now in red and I can type today!! How stupid is that, they could have been done last week and I could have tackled others today. What a stupid rule

@carosel2 It is. Over the weekend nothing new turned red until late Sunday afternoon (and then only a few) this morning however red everywhere. I would have done much more at the weekend when it appeared that hardly anyone else was doing any work!

@deewu - yes and I have noticed in one hospital a full page of tasks in my specialty all with no VR on so I am not tackling them either

Really glad there is so much work at the moment and planning to make the most of it this month and November. Can anyone remind me when the work started slackening off last time - was it end of Jan? Just trying to plan ahead a bit better this time.

@olddoglover I think it was after Christmas that it does not seem to pick up. Then stays sparse until April although this year it stayed sparse until late summer I think!

There may be tons of work but not in my specialties, and still a lot with no VR, not sure if this is because the dictator has forgotten to switch it on (helpdesk told me that once when I asked if they could retrieve it as I lost the VR due to blip in my broadband when selecting a task, and they said the dictator had switched the VR off).

I mentioned to TL about seeing changes in letters I had worked on when going into history to check medication or to cut and paste diagnosis etc, and she said there was nothing they could do if someone does that, but said she was happy I let her know in case the hospital complained that the layout etc was not being adhered to, that it was not us at fault and that we typed as instructed to (ie, Dear Dr at the top of the letter and not underneath the lists as per some other hospitals).

thanks @Gally123 will have to work extra hard in November then. I know the VR situation is annoying. I messaged the helpdesk a while ago and said there were about 10 tasks for one dictator in the queue needing VR and gave two of the task numbers. Then he said one of the task numbers was wrong (which it wasn't) then he only did those two and wasn't interested in doing the rest. So I don't bother anymore as it is too time consuming conversing with the helpdesk and getting nowhere. I just leave them and the TLs can sort them out. I keep getting tasks with whole phrases being left out by VR that are absolutely clear so at least I don't think the VR can take over our jobs.

@olddoglover I just noticed another new consultant I am seeing for the first time today, and none of the letters have VR. It's about time that whoever is adding this new work (great!) actually ensures they are doing it properly, or the dictators trained, or whatever the lack is.

@olddoglover @Gally123 Just a reminder there is a bank holiday coming up on Monday but hopefully it won't make too much of a difference.

@deewu thanks! I'd forgotten that one!

Thanks @deewu I always forget the October one! Hopefully enough last work to last us though

Just looking at the messages re VR - I have done nothing but type the whole letter all day even with doctors that I don't usually have an issue with. I mentioned it and was told there wasn't a glitch in the system and cannot see a problem unless they have forgot to put it on. We should get pain more money when this happens - and this traffic light system, I looked at the hospital I was told off about yesterday and the best doctors typing were all going down fast! none of which were in red, so who was allowed to type them. I am staying clear of that hospital now as I really don't think it is fair that I get told I cannot type anything other than red

just sent a message about VR and was told no one else has reported any issues!!!

@carosel2 I didn't have any particular issues today with VR. There are always some without it but I just send them back to the queue

@olddoglover yeah but there does seem to be a problem with it missing now on a regular basis so to say no issues have been reported there is obviously a problem in general to me as it keeps happening. It never used to be this bad. Perhaps they need to educate the new docs what to do but then today ive had others that are not new and it has still happened. At least there is lots of work and lets hope it lasts so we can earn pennies for Christmas! 😊

I reported lack of VR today on four tasks and I was told it had been sorted. I have to admit I didn’t check on them to see whether they were okay as I had finished work and the reply can via messenger.