NHS burnout :( Everyone on my team struggling and going off sick :(

[gymbunnykt]

I've been in an NHS admin role for about 5 years. I'm early 30s, active, sporty, always been healthy, resilient but I'm really started to struggle with burnout and stress. Haven't had a decent night's sleep since before Christmas, due to worrying non stop about work. As are most other team members. Our manager is also feeling the pressure. We're a small, close knit team. We all get on well but the workload is overwhelming. There are couple of team members who are off long term sick a couple of times a year (chronic health conditions), another has just been signed of with stress after breaking down at work and I'm pretty much left doing the workload of these 3 colleagues as well as my own workload. It's not sustainable and I've been crying out for help but nobody seems to be listening. There seems to be no back up in terms of staff when out team members are off sick or an leave.
I'd heard about NHS workout but never really thought about it very much till it started to feel it these last few months.
In the Trust I work for, you're not allowed more than 3 bouts of sickness in 6 months (I think that's right, could be wrong). I had a sickness at the end of January (flu bug), so can't even really consider going off sick at least not for a few more more. But I'm really struggling. The burnout is making me exhausting, spending whole weekends in bed "recovering". I'm only 32! Shouldn't be feeling so exhausted at my age. I turn out social invites from friends and family because I'm just to knackered at weekends. It's only an admin job, Band 3. Do any other Band 3 NHS workers relate to any of this?

I’m so sorry it’s got to this stage, there is no way that you can sustain this much work. Manager is obviously aware but are they able to make changes to protect your team? I would advise the manager to have help from HR but I know that doesn’t help you directly.

Do you have a wellbeing team as part of occ health that you can speak to?

I would say to try to make peace with the workload being unachievable, Do what you can within the hours that you are there but no more than this. Ensure you take your lunch break away from your desk to get a proper break.

You are only one person, keep your boundaries of what is reasonable and sustainable and let the rest fall.. They will need to employ more people eventually… you cannot continue to absorb this huge workload.

I work in the NHS, is there a heath and well-being person you can talk to?
Id also put boundaries in place in terms of what you can and can’t do, it helps no one if you end up going off sick.
I say ‘I can only do what I can do’ a lot at work! Have you got some annual leave booked?

The issue is they will say there’s no budget to cover additional heads. Thats the issue with long term sick, they are still paying them and as long as they are off that can’t infill that head. I 100% agree there needs to be sick pay in all jobs private and public but in private you do get significantly less mine is 3 months full pay and then you go on statuary. At some point when you’re on long term sick a decision has to be made can you realistically come back to work. It puts so so much strain on everyone else unless they can bring in temps which I highly doubt they will do. If I was you I would go off on stress for a few weeks let your body catch up.

The more you try to do the extra work, the more your managers will assume there isn’t a problem and just let you get on with it, to the detriment of your mental health. No job is worth that! Work your contracted hours, show you’re a team player by trying to do a small amount extra work to help the team out and let the managers figure out how to get the rest done, that’s their job!

I’ve been in a similar situation and where I can see in advance that I can’t meet the workload/deadlines, I email my manager and tell them this and tell them what I think is a priority for me to tackle first and ask if they would prefer that I prioritise a different piece of work. Where deadlines are not being met I just keep them updated, make sure they know what the new estimated deadline is, and keep highlighting (in writing) that this is due to the current restricted resources. The managers are getting paid to manage these types of situations, not you!

I worked in a small team with similar issues.
The strain covering sickness absences became untenable and there was no money or people around with the necessary expertise to help. Managers made all the right noises about only do what you can but the patients were still needing triaged and seen.
The 2 of us who’d carried the workload of 5 people eventually made ourselves ill and left for other jobs as a result. This then left those off sick in a much worse situation to try and return as there was no-one there to share the load and so one of them also handed in her notice.
If only the manager, who wasn’t actually part of the small team as managed several services, had been as concerned about the health and wellbeing of the people covering as she was about those off (in fact should have been more concerned because this was WORK making these people ill) she may have avoided the shit show it now is.

Look after yourself. If your manager is not prioritising the health of those trying to keep the ship afloat then get out now to another team that does.

Agree with PP, you need to prioritise your own health this is not sustainable. Sit with your manager and ask for advice on what to prioritise, keep them updated regularly on what can and cannot be accomplished in your working day. Is there another team or department that can take on some workload?

You have my sympathy. I suffered complete burnout last year, although I didn't accept that's what it was for a while. The doctor initially thought I'd had a stroke. I had 4 months off sick and then resigned, because it was only getting worse and I had to prioritise my health. I was a band 5 but yes it was affecting all bands of staff in my area.

I have no advice, because it doesn't matter how many times you escalate to management or ask for priorities etc it falls on deaf ears. To be fair there is often nothing that can be done. For me the only viable answer was to leave

My sympathies, I'm also band 3 admin covering a ridiculous amount of colleagues off sick at the moment, including our band 4. Those of us who are in just say to managers that we will do what we can but I've stopped putting myself out to cover more as they just expect that. I've noticed that generally the managers barely register the problems until the shit hits the fan so get the basics done but other things are piling up.

Hopefully things are getting better for us but tbh the band 4 is a bit useless anyway..

Ridiculous. Who are these people off long term sick?
They need to find appropriate cover. Sorry you are going through this. Very unfair.

Yes you can have 3 episodes of sickness in 6 months but you can go over this - alls that will happen is they will refer you too occupational health and hold a sickness review meeting - you need to raise the issue the issue supervision re colleagues off sick - your manager needs to esculate it- let them know your feeling stressed and overwhelmed - only do what is reasonable possible in a working day - GO OFF SICK if it's too much - look after your own mental health.

It's not just NHS. I work for a charity and there is just no extra funding when someone goes off long term sick, the work in our small team just has to be covered by the remaining few. The other person on my project has been off for four months and due to have surgery and will be off for another four. Prior to Christmas we had two off long term sick for months out of a team of 5 ! When I try to speak to my manager about the workload she has no solutions.
I hope things improve for you soon op.