It is a curse to live in interesting times. Strange as I am always living in interesting times. That happened just about that time I stood under a ladder and kicked those 13 black (sorry "Rainbow") cats while smashing mirrors.
So, the country is going to the dogs, a cereal has got the nation addicted* and all of a sudden people are worried about owing money. Seems now that while it was fashionable in 2003 to be arse uppers in debt, being skint is the new rich (or some other such twaddle that those media obsessed tossers who have been the ones both casing and being affected by the current climate can use). Well, I have been a busy bunny, and occasionally sort of working as a staff Nurse. I have realised one thing recently with the money I get paid. When I was on the Acute medical ward, I would be expected to work Mon-Sun, on either days or nights. There are 6 types of pay I could get:
1) Basic salary, taken during Monday to Friday, during office hours. This is my basic £20224 salary.
2) Night duty enhancement. Any night shift, which used to be 19:15-07:45
3) Saturday enhancement- Basically 1.25 times the wage for during the week
4) Sunday enhancement- 1.75 times normal wage for working on a Sunday
5) Bank holiday enhancement- Paid for working public holidays
6) Overtime enhancement- 1.5 times wage for working any shift not on my usual off duty.
When I went to Cath Labs, I knew that there would be a pay cut. This was because I was only getting payment 1. No nights, bank holidays, Saturday, Sunday etc. I make up some money by working on my old acute ward, and at a local primary care hospital on their rehabilitation ward as a bank Nurse. I realised something the other month. I was getting paid just as much for doing 2 Sunday overtime shifts (that's 23 hours) as I was for a full months worth of enhancements (which would be somewhere about half of my time at work). I have checked, and between May and December, I have paid £970 in National insurance, and £1778 in tax, making £2748 paid in tax, for earning to date £12742. So, that's roughly £3000 to the government, and £10000 for me, or just under a third to the taxman who gets money FROM me for doing f**k all TO me. Greedy b******ds! So, I can get just a much for 2 shifts as an entire month. No wonder productivity is down.
Well, I have had a sort of alright Christmas. My Nan passed away very suddenly in the hospital where I work at the beginning of the month, which has put a dampener on the season.
At work though, thinks have been looking up. I have been forging ahead after getting bogged down with some of the angioplasty work, and have made good inroads with my Pacemaker and ICD scrub procedures. We had the local news in a few weeks back with their cameras. The camera man put a camera down on my Charge nurses sterile angioplasty trolley and got a terse "What are you doing!" yelled his way from him (funny how they edited that bit out though). Thankfully I was next door in pacing with my hat a mask on. Don't want the high-ups recognising me. Specking of the high ups though, the health care commission visited the division last month (did not see them in the labs though). One of the consultants for a joke walked in with a large alcohol dispenser in his scrubs, and walked around dispensing gel into his hands in quick succession saying "The healthcare commission are coming, the health care commission are comming, clean hands, clean hands, the healthcare commission are comming". His "More hot towels" joke about the latest project for the labs I found very amusing. Especially when in a procedure he said "More Vycryl...more hot towels, more hot towels".
Life may be the sh*ts but there is still some (bad) humour.
*Erratum. It has come to my attention that the "Credit Crunch" is in fact a term relating to the financial screw up, and not a novelty cereal. I would like to thank the lawyers from Kellogg's for pointing this out.
Showing posts with label employment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label employment. Show all posts
Friday, 26 December 2008
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
Musing on my final hours till work
There are a number of things which as a student Nurse I often thought would be beyond me. In the early days of training, the notion of ever wearing the blue slides of a staff nurse on my tunic was one of them. In 36 hours time, that however is going to become a reality. It shall be my first proper shift as a staff nurse (albeit a supernumerary one). I am going to pick my uniform up tomorrow. I hope by then that the trousers will have arrived or else there is going to be a quick think of what to wear Thursday. I am not sure how the trousers had not arrived by last Friday, but I was told that there are "orders being delivered all that time" so fingers crossed that all works out well. Starting my first day without trousers would be bad, not to mention embarrassing all around if the ward manager demands I wear uniform issue trousers only. My girlfriend has laughed a lot about that.
Of course there are all the thousand and one other worries that I now have:- Will I like the ward, will I get on with most of the staff (I am guessing there will be one person who will rub me up the wrong way), will the other professions be OK, what will my caseload be like, and will I (after the 3 months away from ward Nursing) settle into the ward OK. I have worked at the hospital, and I am comfortable with all that. I am sure that most of this is just nerves before shift, but if it all goes pear shaped, I could be in for 6 months of hell.
On the positive side, I have nursed patients with the conditions as medical sleep outs before, and had a few emergency cases with St John related to the area. I have met some of the staff, one of the FY2 doctors was on my internship ward for a while, and one of the consultants on the ward was holding clinics when I worked on an out patients department while in second year of training. The good points outweigh the bad.
Unfortunatly, having to be up at 5:15am for days is a pain.
Of course there are all the thousand and one other worries that I now have:- Will I like the ward, will I get on with most of the staff (I am guessing there will be one person who will rub me up the wrong way), will the other professions be OK, what will my caseload be like, and will I (after the 3 months away from ward Nursing) settle into the ward OK. I have worked at the hospital, and I am comfortable with all that. I am sure that most of this is just nerves before shift, but if it all goes pear shaped, I could be in for 6 months of hell.
On the positive side, I have nursed patients with the conditions as medical sleep outs before, and had a few emergency cases with St John related to the area. I have met some of the staff, one of the FY2 doctors was on my internship ward for a while, and one of the consultants on the ward was holding clinics when I worked on an out patients department while in second year of training. The good points outweigh the bad.
Unfortunatly, having to be up at 5:15am for days is a pain.
Sunday, 20 April 2008
My dwindle
Two duties over the course of the weekend. The good news is that it seems that my bad spate of patients with St John Ambulance is coming to an end. Last Wednesday I was at the international match for the under 18 side. There was a shortage of members at the game and I ended up covering both the First Aid post and a corner at the opposite side of the field (where I was for the majority of the game). There was no injuries (bar one which was seen by another corner and required no real input).
Saturday saw another premiership match. I was deployed to the first aid room of the stadium. Over the course of the last few matches this has been where within a few moments of the gates opening there had been at least one person present. In fact there was nobody seen in the first half and it was near full time before there was anyone presented. The person who did complained of pains. I had a look at them and could not find anything seriously wrong and suspected there was nothing more then a minor ailment that was causing the problem. However, to be on the safe side, I asked for the duty Doctor to attend. In due course, he did. Unlike certain other medical bloggers, I believe the type of person who joins a volunteer organisation which consists primarily of volunteer First Aiders is not like some of the anarchic opinions offered on the blog sphere. Indeed, the Doctor listened to my handover, agreed that I seemed to be on the right lines and carried out a full diagnostic check to back up our findings. That done, a recommended prescription was given and I administered the medication to the patient. That concluded the match.
Today, I was covering a half marathon. I was put with another St John Ambulance volunteer, this time somebody trained to Ambulance Aid 1 standard. As there was a Paramedic and myself there, it was decided that I would form a response team for the far part of the course. We were due to mobilise to a roundabout on a closed road, before moving to a leisure centre. The first part went well (the roundabout bit near the start). At 11:30 we were told that we were going to be picked up by an event mini bus and taken to the second deployment point. After being picked up, we overheard there were patients. These were being seen to by both the ambulances that were on duty. In the meantime, we were driven down a road that turned out to be gridlocked and we sat for over an hour in this state. This was not good as we were the only people left free to respond to a call. Indeed, there was a message come over the Marshall's radio of a patient at one of the points, though there was no message passed to St John. I did radio it in but there seemed to be no immediate need for us. After a while, we were told by the radio to alight near where we were and take up position there. By this time most of the runners had passed us in the mini bus anyway, so we were treated to a quiet hour and a quarter while the last runner came up. After a run back in the ambulance which was following the last runner, I got off duty (with a free tee shirt).
In the world of my job, I have decided that "Hospital A" are really not for me and have told them I shall not be taking up the post. I have been treated better by the other hospital. They have been far more pro-active and welcoming, and the kind of ward that does that is the kind that normally will try to take care of its staff. While it is only a 6 months contract, I have been successful in the post for the community hospital near me. By the time the paperwork is all sorted, I am hoping that this will be roughly time to finish and change jobs.
Saturday saw another premiership match. I was deployed to the first aid room of the stadium. Over the course of the last few matches this has been where within a few moments of the gates opening there had been at least one person present. In fact there was nobody seen in the first half and it was near full time before there was anyone presented. The person who did complained of pains. I had a look at them and could not find anything seriously wrong and suspected there was nothing more then a minor ailment that was causing the problem. However, to be on the safe side, I asked for the duty Doctor to attend. In due course, he did. Unlike certain other medical bloggers, I believe the type of person who joins a volunteer organisation which consists primarily of volunteer First Aiders is not like some of the anarchic opinions offered on the blog sphere. Indeed, the Doctor listened to my handover, agreed that I seemed to be on the right lines and carried out a full diagnostic check to back up our findings. That done, a recommended prescription was given and I administered the medication to the patient. That concluded the match.
Today, I was covering a half marathon. I was put with another St John Ambulance volunteer, this time somebody trained to Ambulance Aid 1 standard. As there was a Paramedic and myself there, it was decided that I would form a response team for the far part of the course. We were due to mobilise to a roundabout on a closed road, before moving to a leisure centre. The first part went well (the roundabout bit near the start). At 11:30 we were told that we were going to be picked up by an event mini bus and taken to the second deployment point. After being picked up, we overheard there were patients. These were being seen to by both the ambulances that were on duty. In the meantime, we were driven down a road that turned out to be gridlocked and we sat for over an hour in this state. This was not good as we were the only people left free to respond to a call. Indeed, there was a message come over the Marshall's radio of a patient at one of the points, though there was no message passed to St John. I did radio it in but there seemed to be no immediate need for us. After a while, we were told by the radio to alight near where we were and take up position there. By this time most of the runners had passed us in the mini bus anyway, so we were treated to a quiet hour and a quarter while the last runner came up. After a run back in the ambulance which was following the last runner, I got off duty (with a free tee shirt).
In the world of my job, I have decided that "Hospital A" are really not for me and have told them I shall not be taking up the post. I have been treated better by the other hospital. They have been far more pro-active and welcoming, and the kind of ward that does that is the kind that normally will try to take care of its staff. While it is only a 6 months contract, I have been successful in the post for the community hospital near me. By the time the paperwork is all sorted, I am hoping that this will be roughly time to finish and change jobs.
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
May the farce be with you...
...instead of me! Some interesting developments with the much fabled tale of me ever actually being employed as a Nurse. A week gone Friday, I was interviewed for a post in a community hospital. The exact post was split between working on the ward (where I was for my first placement) and minor injuries (something that I would be used to being a St John Ambulance volunteer). I have not been contacted by the people who interviewed me. However, after I had popped out yesterday, I came home to be told that somebody had rang from "Hospital A" looking for me. I rang the number which was left and this gave a pre-recorded message from a doctors surgery. I phoned the number given for the HR department of Hospital A and they said it was not them. On checking 1471, I was given a totally different number (makes a change as usually the numbers say "not given"). Anyway, it turns out that this was for the PCT which have a similar name to where hospital A is. They were after a reference for contacting. Now, I find this odd. Why phone asking me for a reference when I have not even been contacted to say if I have got the job or not.
Then today, even more movement. Now, I have little good to say of the CRB check as they have cost me £2000 in lost earning potential. I got a CRB back today. Ah-ha, those who have bothered to read cry, Hospital A finally got a CRB for you? Nope, Nope, Nope. The CRB check I got back today was for...Hospital B! The ones who sent their check away second. Work that one out if you can! Potentially, the future could map out as this:
1)Accept the post offered by the PCT as this is a full time permanent contract.
2) Commence work with Hospital B ASAP. This will mean earning money again, and be a 6 months stopgap.
3) Fill in the forms required for the PCT and await the start date. Given the time which has elapsed in the first 2 job offers, this could easily run for 6 months if I can start soon!
4) Turn down the hospital A post when I am contacted by writing.
However, if I have not been successful with the PCT, I may well just keep on with Hospital A who will keep me on longer then 6 months. I need to see the paperwork to confirm this before I can make any firm final choice.
Then today, even more movement. Now, I have little good to say of the CRB check as they have cost me £2000 in lost earning potential. I got a CRB back today. Ah-ha, those who have bothered to read cry, Hospital A finally got a CRB for you? Nope, Nope, Nope. The CRB check I got back today was for...Hospital B! The ones who sent their check away second. Work that one out if you can! Potentially, the future could map out as this:
1)Accept the post offered by the PCT as this is a full time permanent contract.
2) Commence work with Hospital B ASAP. This will mean earning money again, and be a 6 months stopgap.
3) Fill in the forms required for the PCT and await the start date. Given the time which has elapsed in the first 2 job offers, this could easily run for 6 months if I can start soon!
4) Turn down the hospital A post when I am contacted by writing.
However, if I have not been successful with the PCT, I may well just keep on with Hospital A who will keep me on longer then 6 months. I need to see the paperwork to confirm this before I can make any firm final choice.
Thursday, 3 April 2008
40 days
Annoyed? No, I'm just f"&king rabid at the moment. "Oh yes" they said "Have a job with us" they said. Oh really matey boy? Just what they forgot to mention is that the fourth bridge will take less time to paint then I will have to wait to start either sodding job.
I have already gone through the CRB check and how that is stopping everything. Now though, there is another spanner in the works. Induction. I have no idea what I am supposed to cover, and frankly hope it better be worth my time as opposed to a day being told something which anybody who has worked on any ward in any hospital already knows. So, where are we up to:
"Hospital B":- After taking 3 weeks to arrive, the letter confirming my tempory post, CRB check and occupational health decleration have been sent off-on the first postal day mark you. Undoubtedly, they too will want to have their own CRB check as opposed to the recent St John Ambulance CRB check which arrived a few days ago. I cannot fathom out why they are so obsessed with a CRB with their own name on the top when a check arrived a week ago that is just as good. Their argument? "They are only valid on the day they were printed". Nice, but I am pained to point out it took 7 days for the St John Ambulance CRB to arrive (more of laying into St John Ambulance later in this post). A small point is that when a CRB check comes to my house, the body requesting the check actually gets the check 24 hours later...or 48 hours after the valid period. Can you see the flaw in their reasoning? Yup, the CRB with their name on is, using their own criteria, invalid. I have a uniform on order, though am not going to collect it until I have reason to believe that they can give me a start date before the other hospital. In addition, they sent me a letter stating to attend trust induction... on the 2nd June! If that is how long they are going to take, then they are definatly dead in the water.
Hospital A on the other hand were phoned by me on Tuesday. I have not heared anything from them so wanted to check see what was happening. As you may be aware, the CRB went in to them on the 5th March. The check can take 3-6 weeks. It is at [drum roll here]...stage ONE. Basically, it's arrived at the CRB building. Thats it. Now, what really annoys the hell out of me is that the CRB is a government body (it is subsumed from part of the Home Office). They also get paid for each CRB. So why is it then that it takes 6 weeks to effectivly search the CPS computer database which is like google search for criminals? Lets remember here a few other govenment bodies:
Job Centre Plus:-Department of Work and Pensions: 2 weeks to clain Job seekeres allowance.
DVLA- Department of Transport- How long do you think it will take them to contact you if you fail to tax or SORN a car when the tax is due? Proberbly 3 working days but not 6 bloody weeks thats for sure!
On the up side, they have said that I must attend induction...then one for me being [another drum role] 12th May. Yesterday, that was 40 days. Anyone recall Noah and his flood? 39 days from today. Jesus, in that time I could have seen a job advert, applied, been interviewed and put in 4 weeks notice and STILL have a day or too off. No wonder the NHS is in a staff crisis if this is how long Nurses have to wait. I mean, think here for a moment. I know "hospital B" are at screaming point with their Nurses. There is a real chance that I am going to turn down that job offer. Not only have they been short prior to my arrival, they have been short during these few weeks. If/when I turn down the job offer, they will be shorted for an even longer time as well. I know they my job there was to cover for maternity leave. The kid will be having its 10th birthday before I get on the ward at this rate.
Now, for St John. 3 weeks ago, I had my interview with the county Nursing officer. I was phoned up on Tuesday by another divisions superintendant who was wanting to know if I was free to work as a Nurse in an ambulance working out from a hospital in another county to where I live. I said yes to it. Only to find that county have no record of my Nursing registration. They think it is a bottleneck between my divisional superintendant (who has since assured me that paperwork is with NHQ and will chase it up) and county HQ. Aparrently the "checks" take time. What effing checks? You have my PIN number, go on the NMC website and use the employers checking service! What is it with me and paperwork? I have 39 days of this hell to endure!
I have already gone through the CRB check and how that is stopping everything. Now though, there is another spanner in the works. Induction. I have no idea what I am supposed to cover, and frankly hope it better be worth my time as opposed to a day being told something which anybody who has worked on any ward in any hospital already knows. So, where are we up to:
"Hospital B":- After taking 3 weeks to arrive, the letter confirming my tempory post, CRB check and occupational health decleration have been sent off-on the first postal day mark you. Undoubtedly, they too will want to have their own CRB check as opposed to the recent St John Ambulance CRB check which arrived a few days ago. I cannot fathom out why they are so obsessed with a CRB with their own name on the top when a check arrived a week ago that is just as good. Their argument? "They are only valid on the day they were printed". Nice, but I am pained to point out it took 7 days for the St John Ambulance CRB to arrive (more of laying into St John Ambulance later in this post). A small point is that when a CRB check comes to my house, the body requesting the check actually gets the check 24 hours later...or 48 hours after the valid period. Can you see the flaw in their reasoning? Yup, the CRB with their name on is, using their own criteria, invalid. I have a uniform on order, though am not going to collect it until I have reason to believe that they can give me a start date before the other hospital. In addition, they sent me a letter stating to attend trust induction... on the 2nd June! If that is how long they are going to take, then they are definatly dead in the water.
Hospital A on the other hand were phoned by me on Tuesday. I have not heared anything from them so wanted to check see what was happening. As you may be aware, the CRB went in to them on the 5th March. The check can take 3-6 weeks. It is at [drum roll here]...stage ONE. Basically, it's arrived at the CRB building. Thats it. Now, what really annoys the hell out of me is that the CRB is a government body (it is subsumed from part of the Home Office). They also get paid for each CRB. So why is it then that it takes 6 weeks to effectivly search the CPS computer database which is like google search for criminals? Lets remember here a few other govenment bodies:
Job Centre Plus:-Department of Work and Pensions: 2 weeks to clain Job seekeres allowance.
DVLA- Department of Transport- How long do you think it will take them to contact you if you fail to tax or SORN a car when the tax is due? Proberbly 3 working days but not 6 bloody weeks thats for sure!
On the up side, they have said that I must attend induction...then one for me being [another drum role] 12th May. Yesterday, that was 40 days. Anyone recall Noah and his flood? 39 days from today. Jesus, in that time I could have seen a job advert, applied, been interviewed and put in 4 weeks notice and STILL have a day or too off. No wonder the NHS is in a staff crisis if this is how long Nurses have to wait. I mean, think here for a moment. I know "hospital B" are at screaming point with their Nurses. There is a real chance that I am going to turn down that job offer. Not only have they been short prior to my arrival, they have been short during these few weeks. If/when I turn down the job offer, they will be shorted for an even longer time as well. I know they my job there was to cover for maternity leave. The kid will be having its 10th birthday before I get on the ward at this rate.
Now, for St John. 3 weeks ago, I had my interview with the county Nursing officer. I was phoned up on Tuesday by another divisions superintendant who was wanting to know if I was free to work as a Nurse in an ambulance working out from a hospital in another county to where I live. I said yes to it. Only to find that county have no record of my Nursing registration. They think it is a bottleneck between my divisional superintendant (who has since assured me that paperwork is with NHQ and will chase it up) and county HQ. Aparrently the "checks" take time. What effing checks? You have my PIN number, go on the NMC website and use the employers checking service! What is it with me and paperwork? I have 39 days of this hell to endure!
Sunday, 30 March 2008
My frustrating week
It has been an interesting week for me. The job hunt is still on, and I am trying to not loose my temper. This is however, difficult. Having spilt with my Girlfriend on Tuesday, and have finally got my St John CRB check back, I was hoping that it would be a week to make up some ground on commencing a post. Not to be. I went into the ward of "Hospital B" (see posts below) and indeed, they have sent me in to order my uniform, and started getting a security badge. "Great" I thought "all I need is that contract they were going to send out and I will be well away". Yeah, right!
Yesterday, I was sent a letter from the hospital. Who, have only now decided to write to me saying that there is a job offer for me. While the ward sister has written on the occupation health form that I am to start in April, the letter states quite clearly that I cannot start until all the pre employment checks are through. The CRB form was actually within the envelope which had the letter in. Adding insult to injury, was the statement that I am down to attend the trust induction... on the 2nd June! FFS! I know the media bang on about the high number of Nurses who are due to retire, at this bloody rate even I will be an OAP before I start a damn job! I am going to have to call back into the ward and sort this out. I would say "Hospital A" are going to be back in the running, but even they are staying quiet so both offers seem dead in the water at the moment.
So, after a frustrating week of progressing in a mainly backwards direction, I have thankfully kept some of my skills up with St John Ambulance. This weeks duty was the league 1 side who were at home. Having got there and found there was an argument shortly after arriving, there was a lot of people needing to be spoken to. This resulted in the corner teams deploying early, and me grabbing my lunch and standing underneath some metal steps for shelter out of the rain. After finishing and wandering to the corner, I noticed there was no county ambulance at the ground. When the team intended for the corner came out, and went in an informed the duty manager who in term spoke with the ground manager. Thankfully, the ambulance turned up at 3:20pm. Turns out one forgot they were going, and the other did not realise they were at the match. Oh well.
The game was uneventful, and I busied myself with preparing the first aid post and leaving my equipment on a dressing trolley. This saves me having to rummage through my first aid bag. I asked the controller (a division superintendent) if there was any way of lowering the back of the bed in the first aid post. I remarked that if there was anyone who needed to be laid flat that I was not sure how to do it. I really wish that I had not said that. About an hour later, near the end of the match, the radio went off with a rather hurried "Sierra Papa to control [radio hiss]". That is the call sign for the stretcher party. They were not raised by radio. Another corner team radioed in with the fateful message "Stretcher party have mobilised to pitch, casualty expected, over". Yup, when me and the duty manager went out, sure as anything, there was the stretcher team picking an injured player up on a "Furley" stretcher, and they turned to face the exit to the first aid post. Damn! Normally, most players get sent to the dressing room, only if they need the bed do they get sent to the First Aid post. Well, I went back in and thankfully got the bed flat before the stretcher reached the post.
Yesterday, I was sent a letter from the hospital. Who, have only now decided to write to me saying that there is a job offer for me. While the ward sister has written on the occupation health form that I am to start in April, the letter states quite clearly that I cannot start until all the pre employment checks are through. The CRB form was actually within the envelope which had the letter in. Adding insult to injury, was the statement that I am down to attend the trust induction... on the 2nd June! FFS! I know the media bang on about the high number of Nurses who are due to retire, at this bloody rate even I will be an OAP before I start a damn job! I am going to have to call back into the ward and sort this out. I would say "Hospital A" are going to be back in the running, but even they are staying quiet so both offers seem dead in the water at the moment.
So, after a frustrating week of progressing in a mainly backwards direction, I have thankfully kept some of my skills up with St John Ambulance. This weeks duty was the league 1 side who were at home. Having got there and found there was an argument shortly after arriving, there was a lot of people needing to be spoken to. This resulted in the corner teams deploying early, and me grabbing my lunch and standing underneath some metal steps for shelter out of the rain. After finishing and wandering to the corner, I noticed there was no county ambulance at the ground. When the team intended for the corner came out, and went in an informed the duty manager who in term spoke with the ground manager. Thankfully, the ambulance turned up at 3:20pm. Turns out one forgot they were going, and the other did not realise they were at the match. Oh well.
The game was uneventful, and I busied myself with preparing the first aid post and leaving my equipment on a dressing trolley. This saves me having to rummage through my first aid bag. I asked the controller (a division superintendent) if there was any way of lowering the back of the bed in the first aid post. I remarked that if there was anyone who needed to be laid flat that I was not sure how to do it. I really wish that I had not said that. About an hour later, near the end of the match, the radio went off with a rather hurried "Sierra Papa to control [radio hiss]". That is the call sign for the stretcher party. They were not raised by radio. Another corner team radioed in with the fateful message "Stretcher party have mobilised to pitch, casualty expected, over". Yup, when me and the duty manager went out, sure as anything, there was the stretcher team picking an injured player up on a "Furley" stretcher, and they turned to face the exit to the first aid post. Damn! Normally, most players get sent to the dressing room, only if they need the bed do they get sent to the First Aid post. Well, I went back in and thankfully got the bed flat before the stretcher reached the post.
Thursday, 20 March 2008
The hospitls dont like me...they think I'm a homicidal axe weilding manic!
Well. I have a job. But I don't. Which is why I have just got off the phone speaking to a very polite woman on the Job Centre plus phone line. Well, I am sure that I made a different phone call from the average caller. Still, I am deep in the mire with money (Well, deeper then normal). I have £60 left on my overdraft limit.
So, rather then go under, I reluctantly have had to claim the "Dole". This is a situation which I really did not want to have happen. However, events outside of my control have forced my hand. More Hobson's choice really, though a choice of a sort. I have out-waited my CRB check it seems. Until there is a CRB check which confirms that I am not a child molesting, axe wielding homicidal manic from Borstal, both hospitals acceptance procedures have ground to a halt.
Yes, I am facing a dilemma about which job to accept. The short solution is to see who phones me up first and says "Can you start on date X". The whole reason I took the first job was that they simply happened to be the first ward to phone up and say "We are offering you a job". Still, I am sure they given the high standard of care I give it is only Fair they have first dibs on me. That was before another ward phoned up and gave another offer. Now I have a problem.
Hospital A phoned me up first. They are offering me 37.5 hours a week and a permanent contract. However, Hospital A is 23 miles from where I live. It will mean two long bus rides. I have not worked at hospital A before, though have experience in the speciality. Hospital A is a foundation trust hospital. While the building was constructed in 1968, it is earmarked for demolition and moving to a very nice village in the next few years with a merger of another nearby hospital from the same trust.
Hospital B is the hospital I trained at. They are offering me 6 months contract (temporary) and 30 hours a weeks. Hospital B is closer, though I have not worked on this ward. I have experience of allied services to the speciality though. There was suggestion of permanent staff being taken on. However, these posts were advertised on Monday.
I also have two interviews comming up. One in the same division as my last placement, and one in the community hospital ward where I was for placement 1.
Now. Who to choose. Hospital A sent me a letter with the conditional offer in writing and have taken my CRB form and documents. After finally finding a (crappy looking) passport size photo, my occupational health forms have been sent in.
Hospital B have sent me nothing. I phoned them on Tuesday and was told that all the paperwork is with HR and that I will not hear anything until they send a contract out. Hospital B suggested that if the CRB check takes too long that they may start me off mid/late-April and await the CRB check. Were to be anything untoward on the CRB check, my employment would terminate. There will be nothing on the CRB check as nothing has never shown up on all the other CRB checks that have been done on me with my voluntary work, and uni. All were enhanced disclosures as well.
Hospital A however, have said that they want the CRB check back first. THEN I shall be contacted by the ward manager with a start date. This could take up to another 5 weeks (assuming 6 weeks maximum as quoted by hospital A staff records department). So, in short, I have two job offers, no firm start date, nothing clear with who is best to say yes to, and I have run out of money and have had to join the list of Nurses on the dole. Which, leads me to the best part.
St John Ambulance had a delay in sending off my CRB form. That went off 3 weeks ago. Apparently, neither hospital can use St John Ambulance's Enhanced disclosure check because "They are only valid on the day of issue". Indeed. But as it would take 24 hours minimum to post it through, that means their one is just as invalid. And seeing as I am writing this at home in my bedroom cursing the rain as opposed to a Police cell, it is safe to say I have not beaten a tramp to death with a traffic cone in an underpass. However, if I do that AFTER the check, all would be fine and well and I am classed as a safe staff nurse. That is assuming I actually ever get cleared to start on the sodding ward. That's the next problem. In their welcome propaganda, Hospital A (who at least has the courtesy to write as opposed to Hospitals B, being the mere Acute trust that they are who have sent diddly squat) state that "On your first day of employment you will attend the trust induction". That's nice, you throw a special induction day just for me! Then you read the last paragraph: "As a new employee of Hospital A foundation NHS trust, you must attend the trust induction day. This is held on the first Monday of each month. This will become your official start date. Your actual date will be confirmed after that. The training department will contact you in due course". Ah-ha. So, all I need is a letter saying I have to attend the first Monday for induction and I am almost there! Well, no. Because, I have not been written to yet regarding the induction on the 6th April. Anyone with a calendar will be aware that Monday 5th May is a Bank holiday. Usually, this means the meetings/courses etc are cancelled for the month AFTER So, no May (queried). Given the magical CRB must be returned before I even get to be phoned to negotiate a start, I am thinking there is more chance of aerial bacon then me getting on the April 6th induction.
Then add in the getting uniform sorted out, a staff ID badge, and off duty sorted out...
I am secretly hoping I get the job on placement 1 ward. If I do, I can stick to the 6 month job. The way this farce is playing out, it will take that long for me to be able to set foot in the door as a uniformed staff nurse!
So, rather then go under, I reluctantly have had to claim the "Dole". This is a situation which I really did not want to have happen. However, events outside of my control have forced my hand. More Hobson's choice really, though a choice of a sort. I have out-waited my CRB check it seems. Until there is a CRB check which confirms that I am not a child molesting, axe wielding homicidal manic from Borstal, both hospitals acceptance procedures have ground to a halt.
Yes, I am facing a dilemma about which job to accept. The short solution is to see who phones me up first and says "Can you start on date X". The whole reason I took the first job was that they simply happened to be the first ward to phone up and say "We are offering you a job". Still, I am sure they given the high standard of care I give it is only Fair they have first dibs on me. That was before another ward phoned up and gave another offer. Now I have a problem.
Hospital A phoned me up first. They are offering me 37.5 hours a week and a permanent contract. However, Hospital A is 23 miles from where I live. It will mean two long bus rides. I have not worked at hospital A before, though have experience in the speciality. Hospital A is a foundation trust hospital. While the building was constructed in 1968, it is earmarked for demolition and moving to a very nice village in the next few years with a merger of another nearby hospital from the same trust.
Hospital B is the hospital I trained at. They are offering me 6 months contract (temporary) and 30 hours a weeks. Hospital B is closer, though I have not worked on this ward. I have experience of allied services to the speciality though. There was suggestion of permanent staff being taken on. However, these posts were advertised on Monday.
I also have two interviews comming up. One in the same division as my last placement, and one in the community hospital ward where I was for placement 1.
Now. Who to choose. Hospital A sent me a letter with the conditional offer in writing and have taken my CRB form and documents. After finally finding a (crappy looking) passport size photo, my occupational health forms have been sent in.
Hospital B have sent me nothing. I phoned them on Tuesday and was told that all the paperwork is with HR and that I will not hear anything until they send a contract out. Hospital B suggested that if the CRB check takes too long that they may start me off mid/late-April and await the CRB check. Were to be anything untoward on the CRB check, my employment would terminate. There will be nothing on the CRB check as nothing has never shown up on all the other CRB checks that have been done on me with my voluntary work, and uni. All were enhanced disclosures as well.
Hospital A however, have said that they want the CRB check back first. THEN I shall be contacted by the ward manager with a start date. This could take up to another 5 weeks (assuming 6 weeks maximum as quoted by hospital A staff records department). So, in short, I have two job offers, no firm start date, nothing clear with who is best to say yes to, and I have run out of money and have had to join the list of Nurses on the dole. Which, leads me to the best part.
St John Ambulance had a delay in sending off my CRB form. That went off 3 weeks ago. Apparently, neither hospital can use St John Ambulance's Enhanced disclosure check because "They are only valid on the day of issue". Indeed. But as it would take 24 hours minimum to post it through, that means their one is just as invalid. And seeing as I am writing this at home in my bedroom cursing the rain as opposed to a Police cell, it is safe to say I have not beaten a tramp to death with a traffic cone in an underpass. However, if I do that AFTER the check, all would be fine and well and I am classed as a safe staff nurse. That is assuming I actually ever get cleared to start on the sodding ward. That's the next problem. In their welcome propaganda, Hospital A (who at least has the courtesy to write as opposed to Hospitals B, being the mere Acute trust that they are who have sent diddly squat) state that "On your first day of employment you will attend the trust induction". That's nice, you throw a special induction day just for me! Then you read the last paragraph: "As a new employee of Hospital A foundation NHS trust, you must attend the trust induction day. This is held on the first Monday of each month. This will become your official start date. Your actual date will be confirmed after that. The training department will contact you in due course". Ah-ha. So, all I need is a letter saying I have to attend the first Monday for induction and I am almost there! Well, no. Because, I have not been written to yet regarding the induction on the 6th April. Anyone with a calendar will be aware that Monday 5th May is a Bank holiday. Usually, this means the meetings/courses etc are cancelled for the month AFTER So, no May (queried). Given the magical CRB must be returned before I even get to be phoned to negotiate a start, I am thinking there is more chance of aerial bacon then me getting on the April 6th induction.
Then add in the getting uniform sorted out, a staff ID badge, and off duty sorted out...
I am secretly hoping I get the job on placement 1 ward. If I do, I can stick to the 6 month job. The way this farce is playing out, it will take that long for me to be able to set foot in the door as a uniformed staff nurse!
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