registered nurse

trustee

occupational therapist

support worker

mental health technician

Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust

They promise you the earth in their literature and on interview. They constantly tell you how important you are and to speak with managers regarding problems - do not bother they are not interested. Training is very poor and confusing (one person tells you its done this way - by end of day you have had that contradicted) . Teachers not interested in any problems raised - stock "You will be OK, give it time" Then proceed to  allow you to look an idiot in front of whole class when you do not. Appear to be more interested in getting the boxes ticked for what they have 'taught' than the actual learning. Be prepared for at least 8 tests that have to be passed before you can be moved onto the next stage - failure can mean loss of your job. Same goes for on the job training - not enough qualified trainers so constantly been told to do things properly but to ignore what they do as its not correct - totally confusing. Failure to complete this period of training and you have an informal meeting with managers and told to improve. You get more training and maybe a change of trainer .If you fail second attempt you are then formally interviewed and you can add the pressure of your job being on the line if you fail.  
After all training be prepared to be constantly 'audited' on your work with a whole team of Quality Assessors on your case.
They have a 15 week relief shift pattern for new EMDs. with shifts different to main watch staff.  Be prepared to work 11am-11pm and 9am-9pm. The LAS also runs a relief week rota every 5 weeks - for this you have no actual roistered shift but are informed at short notice of what you will be expected to work -  expect lots of extra weekends. On interview and in training you are told that you will go onto the main watch rota after 1 year, but if they do not have enough more junior staff on the Relief rota you will not be allowed.
It can take ages for your uniform to be issued and once obtained they are worse than an Army Sargent  Major at enforcing the dress code. Sitting at a desk in boots for 12hrs a day  - why oh why?Not allowed to have any insignia showing when outside so have to wear something over uniform when popping out. Staff are promised a locker to store spare uniform, heavy map books, medical dictionary and resource files in - but good luck trying to get one. Carrying this stuff in everyday is not fun on a packed tube. 
You are told that after 6 months you will complete the second part  of your training and do a 3 day dispatchers course. You may be lucky with this but don't count on it. They are far too short of call handlers for this to happen in this time frame. Again you have to have confirmation work based training and again under the threat of failure costing you your job. After end of first year you will be again tested and again the pressure of failure is around. If you pass you become an EMD2 and get a pay rise.  If you do not do well with constant testing - do not apply.
Management, Trainers all say the right standardised helpful things to your face, but in reality do not care as long as their boxes are all crossed for their own quality assessment and key performance indicators.
It can take up to 6 weeks for you to receive your first pay, although they may allow a £400 advance to be paid after 4 weeks.  When starting your Work based training you are due to receive a shift premium, do not expect it in the first pay packet after you start actually working the shifts.
Sick leave is very harshly dealt with. As is lateness (even by a few minutes) procedure to be offered to make up time not followed as prefer to deal with formally.
Staff on main watches are generally very friendly and try to be helpful and encouraging, however call handlers do not last that long. 10 staff have left in last month alone. 1 trainee left after their first tea break on shift for work based training. 
Movement to other areas within the Call centre are a case of 'if your face fits' or management are desperate for staff. 
The way you deal with different calls is constantly changing and as each type of call is handled a different way his can be confusing and mean you are not complaint with quality assessment standards.
Dealing with the very high volume of calls and the constant flow of time wasters using the Emergency Ambulance service is quite stressful at times. However there is a real buzz when you have saved a life or deliver a baby by phone.

As part of the Joint Community Rehab Team, which covers a 7 day service, I assess both Rehab and Reablement clients with a view to short term rehab of up to 6 weeks to enhance independence and prevent unnecessary hospital admissions. I refer onto other agencies and organisations as necessary.

I work autonomously and as part of an MDT in managing my own caseload for complex and non-complex cases.

The clients have a wide range of non-complex and complex musculo-skeletal and neurological, sensory conditions, falls, dementia and palliative conditions. 

I assist in the referral duty role as and when needed.
I take part in carrying out rapid and urgent assessment as part of the weekly urgent OT duty role to respond to urgent and rapid cases, resolve crisis in the community and help prevent unnecessary admissions.
I also undertake working weekends on a rota basis.

I liaise with a range of health and social care professionals such as hospital OTs, hand therapists, GPs, district nurses, specialist nurses, advance practitioner nurses, tissue viability, specialist, MacmiIlan/ hospice nurses neuro OTs and PTs, learning disability teams, dieticians, SALT, social workers, senior assessors, support workers, rehab support workers, wheelchair services, care agencies and carers.

I assess clients for a range of standard and non-standard equipment including rails, ramps, shower-chair/commodes, glide sheets, mobile hoists, gantry hoists, stand aids, slings, Wendylett sheets, hospital beds,  riser/recliners, stand aids, banana boards etc. This involves completing clinical authorization forms request from when needed for non-stock items or same day or next day emergency requests.

I also complete wheelchair assessments and refer onto the wheelchair service as and when needed for more complex needs, which sometimes involves joint visits.

I complete risk Ax such a falls, bed lever and manual handling risk Ax forms.

I advise clients on pressure relieving techniques when necessary and liaise with the district nurses for anti-pressure care assessments and anti-pressure care equipment.

I refer onto other charitable/ voluntary organisations such as the Red Cross, Age UK and East Sussex Blind association as and when needed.

I have organised a case conference for a client in Nursing Home and I act as a key worker for several of the clients on my caseload.

I have completed the supervisors training and supervise students
I supervise a rehab support worker.
I attend monthly supervision

I have attended training sessions on end of life care and a specialist training day at Headway.

I assist to lead in-service training sessions which includes power point presentations.

I log client stats onto a database called J-core and have recently been training to use the Care first social services client database system.

TOMS outcome measure is used as well as completing Waterow and MUST scores.

I adhere to departmental policies such as the lone worker policy and help the buddy team lead when they are on annual leave to track colleague’s safety.
I complete safeguarding or clinical incident reports when needed via the online reporting system.

Adhering to legal aspects of OT such as adhering timely and accurate record keeping, gaining and recording consent for assessments, the Mental Capacity Act, the DDA, The Long term chronically Sick and Disabled person Act, national service frameworks especially surrounding falls and NICE guidelines especially around pressure care.

I keep an up to date CPD

I am a very trustworthy and reliable person and I am able to work on my own initiative as well as part of a team.

This has been demonstrated on a daily basis in my current role within the health records team for Medway maritime hospital. The role that I am doing has enabled me to develop both my communication and prioritization skills. In this role it has been my responsibility to ensure that patients notes are available for their appointments in a timely manner and an acceptable condition. This involves assessing my workload that is handed to me at the beginning of each shift. Having strict deadlines and targets to work to and complete, I quickly had to learn and understand the complex workings of an extremely busy department within one of the busiest hospitals in Kent. Although this was challenging my ability to pick new skills, learn new processes quickly and the excellent IT skills that I have enabled me to do this with the minimum guidance necessary. This has been demonstrated by the use of the Hospital’s internal Patient Administration System and the use of email in all correspondence.

Whilst working in this department the constant need to have excellent communication skills is essential and the ability to be able to use a wide range of communication skills including verbal and written are a must. This is even more so especially in the Health Records Environment as if notes were not going to be available for clinics it needed to be communicated and escalated quickly so that the patient’s pathway was not disrupted. Another main aspect of the role was the receiving, tracking and filing of notes once they were returned to the department. In undertaking this part of the role good team working skills were essential, the processes that was in place to ensure this was kept as slick as possible meant you would work as part of a team with one person tracking in, one unloading and one filing. In doing this I have learnt the importance of good team work and bonding as if one link in this chain did not work as efficiently as the others then the system would quickly suffer, so it is imperative that a good team ethos is promoted at all times.

I have very good communication skills. I am also very hard working and highly punctual. I am able to answer the phone in a consistent telephone manner. Welcoming clients into the salon buy offering them refreshments, seating them to run through the consultation of which they would like. Reception duties, answering the telephone booking appointments on a day to day basis. Keeping the salon tidy, assuring it’s nice and clean for the next client.

I am flexible in my approach to the jobs and tasks that I have to undertake ensuring that all jobs are completed to the highest standard that is possible. I'm very confident and up for a challenge, I had to use these skills when I took 2 months out to travel to Australia.

The co-workers and I work great as a team on which we have to do on a day to day basis, to ensure the patients notes are received for their right appointment time with the consultant.

I begin a typical work day by logging into our systems and onto the telephone. As soon as a call begins we take a couple of necessary personal details and quickly establish a call reason. Once we have completed our health assessment depending on symptoms and my outcome from what has been said I can gain further advice from a nurse if I feel it is needed. Then we confirm details before passing each patient into the correct direction whether that be a direct transfer to one of our nurses, their out of hours GP, in hours GP, wait for a nurse to call back, transfer to 999 or advise them to go to A&E.
I have learned patience in this role and to listen to the non-verbal cues where we lose sight. I have gained a better understanding of each person's health tolerance and how to critically analyze the information I am being given without making any assumptions.
The management here are varied with 10 team leaders having approx 20 staff each. They have to keep us within our agreed KPI's and SLA as an office and as a nationwide company. We have a monthly meeting 1 - 1 to discuss any feedback and complaints or compliments. This also focuses on keeping us within our targets which are monitored from 3 randomly selected call reviews. Our higher management are very supportive and offer incentives to improve our statistics and provide motivation.
I have friends that have been made through this job and some of them I know I will keep when we leave. NHS Direct has a high turn-over of staff due to the shift patterns and necessity to sustain a high call quality so some of my colleagues I may only meet once and not see again whereas there are others that have been here a while and we have gotten to know each other quite intimately.
The hardest part of this role is to remain professional and to not get personal with the callers. We are there to offer reassurance and this can become difficult when empathy and emotion are added to assist the call and help the caller whilst in our care. We deal with rude callers, mentally unwell callers, ill children and their worried parents and every patient problem you could ever guess. It is not always easy to forget the day’s problems when on occasion there are a few deadly serious calls such as when we have to phone 999 and send the police out for patients that have an added note of care such as to say that a patient may be violent.
The most enjoyable part of this job is the self- satisfaction you receive when someone is grateful for the service provided. We have the chance to talk with our colleague’s in-between calls and help ourselves to the un-limited supply of tea and coffee. We are free to do almost anything except use our mobile phones and certain websites.

I am almost myself until half three or four pm in the office everyday. As the some of the clinician do not come to office rather go to home visit straight away. Which is understandable because we are community worker.However knowing that those  people are deliberately starting after 9 am travelling because of their age which allowing them travel free. And then you are thinking how fair this is for the rest of the team like myself. As I can also pay less if I am allowed to travel after 9 am in the morning. We are already very short staffed, and plus this it is overwhelming. 
Some staffs t are taking regularly  long term sickness which is really demoralising specially myself.
Our job is really mentally and physically demanding but there are no one can take responsibility of physical aspect as they all are saying I can not do it, I have health problem. I also have limited left arm, and stress caused me IBS, and become pre diabetic last two years since I started working with this team.
So who will do it?
NHS is constantly hiring high wages manager with not enough quality staffs on the ground. And the reason is for that they do not have money in the budget. But they have budget to hire manager with high salary to make plan and allowing short staffing to work in a demoralised environment.
Did not have a manager a very long time. Had constantly cover manager one after another. At last we have now. Got worse. 
Enrolled me an apprenticeship no support by the Trust what so ever since I have started last four months of my training.
I am now break down, and made my biggest mistake in life due to working condition which didn’t allow me time to stop and think  about what’s going on in my life. 
Now do not want to go back to work, everything cost high specially travelling. What is the reason we are making commitment if you do not supported well! Or appreciated your hard work. A very few of staff works hard and rest take the benefit. This never ever appreciated by NHS specially . 
Something must change in the culture of NHS. Value the staff, pay a good salary and contribute to training to provide a good and quality services people deserved. As the health care worker I believe people put the trust on us and they deserve the best care and having well trained professionals to serve to the population. 


Whilst working within ward the morning starts with all team members including myself attending ward handover.Patients are assisted with personal care ,bath or showers either before or after meals .Assist with patients meals and record those in food and fluid charts. Ensuring special attention is given to those in Energy dense or diabetic diets. Taking patients 4hrly obs  BP,TPR,SATS and recording on MEWS charts. Attending to patients on radiotherapy or chemotherapy nursing care requirements. weighing, dipping MSU OR CSU checking for blood or ph level. Whilst working as part of team work together caring for patients bed bound, with bed turns to ensure no bed sore develop. Uplifting  Blood from blood bank and assiting patients to scans or radiotherapy units. Working with other nursing assistants to ensure stock is filled and all new stock is put away Empting and.replacing clinical bins and replemishing  new sharps boxes. Caring  and supporting for younger and older patients at difficult times ,using empathetic care skills.The hardest part of job involves those on palliative care especialy near end of life. This part requires ensuring all patients needs are delivered and supported .Supporting patient (and their families) during  illness to ensure they are treated in dignified manner. Assisting and supporting patients given bad news. Most enjoyable part of job is spending time with patients and supporting them when they are unwell ,listening to their own experiences in life, the more holistic side .I have a great deal of respect for patients having cancer treatment their attitude is strong as they try to keep their spirit high. The patients in the ward support one and other .Within the ward our ward sister ensure all staff are professional and respectful to patients and any information passed from patient are kept confidential as per NMC code of coduct. The  atmosphere within the ward is kept pleasant as we all work as a team to keep the patients spirit high.

I am an ambitious and dedicated professional with extensive experience in Risk Management, Patient Safety & Quality Improvement work streams. I have over fifteen years’ experience of working within the NHS. I initially commenced my career as a Paediatric Staff Nurse. 
I work with extreme tenacity, sharing knowledge and skills of the value of effective cohesive working. 

Currently my role (Datix Administrator) encompasses accurately assessing incidents and acting appropriately in a time efficient manner, applying my clinical skills and knowledge previous cases making conducive comparisons and confidently making decisions. A key component of my role is to ensure that Datix is populated accurately by ensuring that the correct codes are utilised to capture the incident accordingly. My role also incorporates, performing data and trends analysis, other duties include adding or revoking a Datix user; and assisting staff with routine queries such as nominating an investigator to their incident. 

Key concerns are escalated directly with the Clinical and Non Clinical managers, where any trends themes & hotspots are also highlighted. I also produce incidents reports as and when requested, by various matrons and managers.

As a Datix Administrator within Risk management I have been involved in escalating and assisting with the management of incidents needing further investigations. I provide advice to the reporters / managers, with regards to any queries relating to the completion of incidents reported on Datix. Other duties include adding or revoking a Datix user to the Risk management system, assisting staff with routine queries such as nominating an investigator to their incident; 

As a Datix Administrator I also run reports to check the completeness of the information entered onto Datix, and ensure all reported incidents are graded and that the grading is uniform throughout the Trust.

A major part of my role is to prepare all patient safety incidents that need to be uploaded to the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS). This involves checking that firstly the incidents do not contain any personal identifiable information, and have not been completed in upper case, and in sentence case. This is to prevent any delays when performing the weekly upload to the NRLS.

I have never worked anywhere as backbiting, nasty and demoralising as the NHS. I found no one takes responsibility for anything and no one helps each other out.
Typically I started at 0730 hours and worked until 2200hrs with no breaks or opportunities to eat and drink. I worked at least one hundred hours a week. Usually there are no lockers or staff facilities for junior doctors so often I had to carry my things with me or risk items being stolen (yes, really).
I was treated as the lowest of the low, everyone from admin and nursing staff to consultants took their frustrations out on me, usually because they were very stressed too. It is a very unhealthy place to work.
My experience showed me that most doctors do not care about their patients, which was a big reason why I left. From what I saw, the priorities of most people working in the NHS are to climb the career ladder and make a name for themselves, they do not care who they damage to get where they want to go. I am not a 'shouter' and if you aren't either this is not the place to work for you.
I found I COULD NOT be ill. Unfortunately, I was and was ostracised by my colleagues, and forever labelled as a problem by management and treated differently to everybody else because of this. Staff are so few in numbers that it just isn't worth taking time off to look after yourself, I was resented for it beacuse others come into work even if it meant spreading illnesses to patients (again, yes, really).
The only good thing about the job is meeting patients, I met some amazing people with incredible stories and life experiences but this for me was not enough to outweigh the fact, that other than work, I had no life. Plus, I found I could not care properly for my patients because there were so many demands on me - for example, as a ward 'on-call' you will be the only doctor on call for ALL medical or ALL surgical wards. I found the seniors in acute and A&E care were always to busy to help me even when I didn't have the necessary experience to treat someone. I was on my own and when I was getting a bleep every six minutes (on average) for at least 12 hours I found I couldn't provide proper care for people because I couldn't complete any task before being needed somewhere else.
My salary was £23,000.

A fascinating place to work...... But the management seem to often be a certain type of individual. 

Training is difficult to obtain. 
Breaks often missed, as not given as not enough staff and have no cover to take and when you do it leaves a detrimental environment for new staff, agency and permanent. A nurse to patient ratio can be very high. 

All grades expected to work above their grade but do not get the pay or band promotion for the work they are doing. 

If your get their special course it can be disorganised. Many leave once completed it, many fail it, many have degrees but the work on their self decided non university accredited course is deemed below their standards.
You get no support with training, or at work or with anything. It is very task and time orientated at All times. 
Have to pay for your uniform. 
No where to park. 
Poor pay as standard. 
Not wise to visit the cafe in the building due to taste, often inedible plus Seriously Expensive
Stock of provisions not catered for. 
Hard to find important equipment 
The department share one or two ecg machines 
 and it can take hours of your life looking for medications that you haven't got, even basic ones
Hard to find a blood pressure machine or tempanic
Life balance: the roster system means tiring excessive shift patterns. 
Annual leave near impossible to take as not enough staff and always agency heavy, so more work pressure on you to do even more. 
Rarely get the annual leave requested, and if you do not get to take it, you simply loose it all together.

No understanding or consideration if you have any ill health. Guilt if you take any sick leave. 
Many burnt out. 
Many become more and more horrid as they stay longer..... 
Offended by actions of most seniors in front of whole department
Seen people leave due to no flexible working once had family

Many lovely amazing nurses and technicians leave all the time
The most positive is that the Dr's are simply wonderful and amazing and all deserve awards and pay increases. The Nurses also have amazing ones stay.....but they are often treated very poorly and in the end leave even when they don't want to

I would say avoid, but their are some great staff westill. 
It also means that ANY job you go to after it will seem Wonderful and you will appreciate Anything.

In a typical shift, I would arrive at the hospital and immediately sign myself in and get to the ward. I then meet the nursing staff and receive instructions from the nutritional assistant on the ward. I then proceed to assist patients choosing their meals on the cards and return to distribute the meals to the patients. Once all the patients have been given their meals, I then return to the nutritional assistant to be advised of the patients which require assistance with feeding and any dietary requirements that must adhered to. I firstly assist the patient who requires the most assistance and make sure that they eat as much as possible through positive encouragement, that they are not distressed and they feel comfortable enough to inform me if they have any preferences on the service of the food and communicate any distress.

Once the patient has had a sufficient amount of food for their diet I then proceed to complete their patient food chart diary, enlisting the type and quantity of food and drink the patient consumed. From this, I learn a great deal about communication, empathy in particular with patients, but also team work through collaborating actions with the rest of the ward nursing team and listening skills from listening to and carrying out instructions from the nutritional assistant on the ward. Time management is another skill which comes hand in hand with the role as it is import to distribute time effective across the ward to ensure all patients are given the appropriate attention and support.

The management of the ward is performed very effectively and always ensures a smooth running of operations. As co-workers, the nursing team is an essential and elite workforce with plenty of experience to offer to the hospital and are a pleasure to work around. The hardest part of the job is remaining completely impartial and emotionally detached from patients even when they may be being unnecessarily poorly behaved. However, the most enjoyable part of the job is the satisfying and rewarding feeling obtained from helping people and knowing that you made a difference, no matter how small, to their lives.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Registered nurse 5493 salaries reported	£36,042 per year
Trustee 312 salaries reported	£55,480 per year
Occupational therapist 7823 salaries reported	£44,459 per year
Support worker 7625 salaries reported	£26,883 per year
Mental health technician 9908 salaries reported	£42,513 per year

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