Pro's and Con's of working (full time) in the NHS?

silkyuk9

Cooper18 wrote: »

Silky, do you know anyone who has been in the NHS for more than 10 years who actually still loves their job?! I wonder if its just me and the folks I know who hate it!

Don't get me wrong, I love the job I'm supposed to do, but I'm not allowed to do it anymore. So overall I hate the place!

My wife has worked in the NHS for 14 years, (what is your job role) she is a healthcare assistant and loves, sorry wrong word likes her job a lot but its got harder and harder over the years in terms of labour. People getting heavier and staff levels not really great. Sickness is poor.

My job compared to my wifes is a doddle, im just chewing the fat, no job satisfaction, no prospects of promotion and really at my age of mid 40's there is no chance of retraining.

Basically I am only here for the wage, its not fantastic but pays the bills, good holiday entitlement and good if you are sick, no worries about getting paid.

Back in the early 90's it was bloody great, people were really friendly and nice, times have changed, people moaning all the time, lots of back stabbing, man never known so many people reporting people and causing trouble. If I could go back to the 90's instead of going there for an easy option I should have followed my fellow college students and gone to Harrogate or London and followed my dream. Just in a rut here now waiting for retirement

silkyuk9

LTL wrote: »

Maybe you both feel that way in regards to security/morale because it is worse than it was and that's all you've worked in. To a newcomer is still may not be bad, or as bad as the private sector.

I'm not one to comment as I haven't worked in both areas - I guess you can get good and bad experiences in both sectors still.

My view, for what it's worth, is that a public sector package is better than a private one.

Actually a newcomer can work side by side to me doing the same job same times etc etc and get less pay and less holiday entitlement

Errata

WantToBeSE wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the replies...not as positive as i'd hoped for, but i guess that's to be expected.

Errata-why won't I want to 'make a difference to the lives of a lot of young people'?

If the deeply embedded culture is that of demoralisation and demotivation you may find it beyond your skills, knowledge and experience to make any meaningful difference.

Acc72

silkyuk9 wrote: »

Back in the early 90's it was bloody great, people were really friendly and nice, times have changed, people moaning all the time, lots of back stabbing, man never known so many people reporting people and causing trouble.

Having worked in a number of companies over the years my experience is the same (I thought that it was me looking back through rose tinted spectacles !).

silkyuk9

Acc72 wrote: »

Having worked in a number of companies over the years my experience is the same (I thought that it was me looking back through rose tinted spectacles !).

People have changed over the years. 20 years ago my hospital was like a big happy family. Lots of social events and activities these days its department against department, ward against ward, slagging each other off. I'm sure this is natural all over the place workers !!!!!ing about each other. No one sticks up for each other anymore, workers moaning that you are getting something they aren't.


Here is a little example a work colleague of mine reported me to the union because I was on 10p an hour more than them, this is true. This was done behind my back so only came to my attention through jungle drums around the department. Obviously I was on 10p more a hour I had been there over 8 years longer than that person.

Ive known recently a female colleague wanted to go on a day trip, it was really short notice like the day before, but she asked another colleague if she would kindly do her shift. She stated if it was too late there was no issue, but this colleague said it was ok no problems at all. The lass went off but the other girl reported her for going at last minute.

These are not isolated incidents it happens all over the place, but what im trying to say is that its not a big happy family anymore. Most people would rather see you struggle and be unhappy in your work these days, makes their sad lives a little better.

WantToBeSE

Thanks everyone for the replies, it's great to hear some positive replies

Acc72-I wasn't expecting negative replies at all.

Punksparkle

I work for the NHS, and joined in 1989. There have been a lot of redundancies and my friend who is a redeployment manager is run off her feet! I do know that many mental health teams have also been heavily involved in this, or staff have been down graded.

Croatoan

I've worked as a nurse in the NHS and private sectors. The NHS is better in every way. Staff tend to be more skilled - not in every case, there are some very good people in the private sector, but overall staff are more likely to leave because pay, and definitely conditions, are poor in comparison. Staffing levels are almost always better (even if they're not always sufficient) in the NHS and patients generally get much better care.
The private sector is about one thing, and that's money. In the NHS I worked an elderly dementia ward with 9 staff to look after 14 patients (because those patients for their own safety needed one to one care). In the private sector I regularly work places with thirty dementia patients with exactly the same problems as on an NHS ward but they get a nurse and two carers to look after them all. If patients fall and hurt themselves or get attacked by another patient, it's just tough, the private companies generally won't pay for the extra staff unless the local authority (or patients' relatives) have stumped up the cash first.
Then again the way things are going, all healthcare will be like this soon.

And yes, sadly, nursing and healthcare contains easily the most backstabbing and needlessly vindictive people I've ever come across. Alongside some genuinely lovely and caring people, mind you.