What's New? Flexible Working and the NHS.
There has been a lot of talk about flexible working in the media, especially now that we have a stressed and burnt-out workforce in the NHS , not to mention staff shortages. The pandemic has also shown the importance of work-life balance and people’s perspective as to what is important in their life has also shifted. A more balanced life is now more than ever appealing than the rat race we were all sold. So it came as no surprise when an email from work had an article about the new changes to flexible working procedures. Apparently as a Nurse, you can now make unlimited flexible working hours requests right from day one on your job ( Personally i would rather have it ironed out during recruitment/interview stage and have it written down in my contract before commencing employment).
As you may be aware, Section 33 of the NHS Terms & Conditions Handbook changed to reflect a change in approach to flexible working. This reflects the commitment in the NHS People Plan to support our colleagues to achieve a healthy work-life balance, to aid staff retention as well as attracting new and diverse talent to the organisation. Research shows that there is an increasing demand for flexible working from colleagues across all age ranges and genders.
The surprise was where this information was located, Section 33 of the NHS Terms and Conditions Handbook! This admittedly was the first time i was hearing of such a handbook and i had so many questions not to mention i was curious as to where one would find this Handbook. What was it about? Who had written it? and why had i never heard of it? So read the highlights of the changes as laid out in the email, which to me did not look like change at all but much of the same as before in terms of requesting flexible working and the person who had to approve it but at least there now was what looked like a clear stage to follow, a formal procedure consisting of 4 stages ( as per this trust ) and what actions and outcomes were expected or not and how they would be handled. I was still sceptical as to how or if it will work especially for my fellow Black Nurses as management still pretty much remained the same.
The key changes include:
· A stronger focus on creatively exploring ways to support flexible working wherever possible, whilst still supporting high quality, effective service delivery.
· The right for all employees to request flexible working from the first day of their employment regardless of the reason for the request, or the role/band or grade/area the individual is employed in.
· No limit on the number of flexible working requests that can be made in a 12 month period.
· A focus on normalising flexible working conversations through regular and informal discussions at induction, PDR, 1:1s and team meetings. The purpose of this is to explore the individual’s needs and wishes and what options might be available to help employees think about whether they want to make a request.
I did a quick google search, where would we be without google! and i found this Handbook on a website that said NHS Employers. Now this was another revelation, who were NHS Employers and if they were that important and dealt with matters NHS workforce related, how come i had never heard of them? The more i read the more perturbed and angry i got as had i known about them then my work situation in terms of flexible working requests might have turned out differently. Who are NHS EMPLOYERS and why should you know about them? They are a government agency, part of the NHS Confederation and from the looks of it a very big deal. I would call them the mother of all NHS HR.
NHS Employers is an organisation which acts on behalf of NHS trusts in the National Health Service in England and Wales. It was formed in 2004, is part of the NHS Confederation, and negotiates contracts with healthcare staff on behalf of the government.
“We are the employers’ organisation for the NHS in England. We support workforce leaders and represent employers and systems to develop a sustainable workforce and be the best employers they can be. We are part of the NHS Confederation.”
I scanned my old contracts to find any mention of them, yes we all knew about the NHS Constitution but not of this Handbook that held the answers to all things work related for the NHS. The ultimate NHS HR Bible. The reason i was looking was because this information would have been of tremendous use to me almost two years ago when i needed flexible working hours or what i now know is called an employment break ( NHS T&C section 34) in terms of taking time off but no one not even my then manager knew who or where to turn to. I wondered both loudly and privately about senior managers often consultants who were on sabbaticals and how they got those and what the process was? I even discussed this with my then manager as having this information would have influenced how i went about making the choice of caring for my Dad and work. So i am annoyed that nowhere in my contract not even on the HR page of the trust on the intranet was it mentioned that an employee could find this information in the NHS Terms and Condition Handbook! More alarming is that my then manager had no clue, while this was meant to be part of leadership knowledge so to speak. The only place i could find ant mention of them was under matters of pay as below.
“ARRANGEMENTS FOR DETERMINING PAY AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE This appointment is subject to the National Terms and Conditions of Service that are agreed by the NHS Staff Council (and Agenda for Change: NHS Terms and Conditions of Service). A copy of the Terms and Conditions of Service is available from your Manager or on the Trust intranet.”
Anyway my time has passed now and whatever decisions good or bad have long been made but i would be remiss in my duties if i did not mention the Handbook and the importance of being thoroughly acquainted with every aspect and detail of it just like i advised in the Extreme Sport of Nursing While Black: An unofficial survival guide book under ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing aka HR’. Please have a read as it may be the answer to the questions you have been asking and might help you in making that work-life decision.
NHS Terms & Conditions Handbook: https://www.nhsemployers.org/publications/tchandbook
NHS Employers: https://www.nhsemployers.org/
Now you know!
Racism, Nursing and the NHS
Racism,Nursing and the NHS
The Extreme Sport of Nursing While Black: The Unofficial Survival Guide, started off as me passing on the do’s and dont’s to my daughter who was thinking of working for the NHS and like every other thing her race came into play. She is in the band of what i call the ‘triple threat’ i.e Woman, Black and Muslim. Unfortunately she, like many of us before her would have to do thrice the work, constantly prove herself in all that she does. I was determined to at least equip her with the weapons she would need as yes it is a war out there. At the same time there was also a lot of issues around racism and nursing on social media and this is how the book or booklet idea was born of using my experiences working as a nurse as examples of the things that are likely to trip you up as a black nurse on the NHS and how to avoid them, hence making work a tad more bearable while the NHS and other health organisations catch up to racism within themselves and work towards finding lasting solutions to eradicating it within and without themselves. For far too long, the onus of fixing the racism problems that plague the world had been left at our doors, we, the very victims. it was time the script was flipped.
It is crazy that Black people are still making firsts in 2021 worldwide and in the NHS. You would be forgiven for thinking that Black people only recently arrived in the U.K as opposed to having been part of the NHS since it's inception! How is it that out of the 223 NHS trusts only two have chief excutives from BME background , one being black? According to NHS providers.org: https://nhsproviders.org/inclusive-leadership this under representation of BME’s is repeated across NHS boards country wide, and even though they note that the number of senior BME’s is increasing, i wonder how many of them are Black? The NMC does not escape this affliction, looking at their 16 senior representatives.
How is it that those who are at the snowy white peaks of power within the NHS did not notice or question why the peak was so white? It all well and good that they are questioning this now but how is it that they did not notice this anomaly while rising up? How did they not question why their black colleagues were hardly getting out of the band 5 starting block, while they were sprinting towards positions of power? How did they not notice the email exchanges alerting them to new career progression options or the fact that some had job vacancy adverts tailored to their specific needs, just short of actually naming them? How did it escape them that they were disproportionately referring BME staff to their regulators for fitness to practice? Did they not notice or did they not want to notice?
How are we as BME healthcare staff and more importantly as Black healthcare staff now trust that these same people who most likely scaled to the snowy peaks of power on the back of our blood, sweat and tears all over sudden have been on their road to Damascus and have now realised that we as Black healthcare workers are equally as qualified if not over qualified and are quite capable to sit at and take command of the table? The proof will be in the pudding or so the saying goes because we Black people are not going anywhere! So while you all are busy trying to find ways to ‘invite’ us to the table, a table which we really don't need an invite to as we are not guests and have never been,you will come to realise, hopefully when it is not too late that We own the table!