UK National Health Service Reviews

Current Employee – been working at UK National Health Service full-time for less than a year

Pros – Good social security, good bunch of people in general working for the NHS, the job is satisfying when they let you do it, easy to move job or location; most places are quite flexible re hours, many hospitals provide childcare at work etc

Cons – Understaffing!! You might not be able to get holidays at all, or not anywhere near the time you want to take them, as many departments are so understaffed already. Some useless managers around, just looking out for themselves or fulfill management targets regardless of what falls by the wayside due to this, which often is staff morale. A lot of staff are pretty fed up at the moment, but carry on for the sake of the patients. Usually not enough resources for training, often staff are told they need qualification xyz to do their job, yet the opportunity to complete the training never materialises; incompetent staff are carried and never got rid off, people who put themselves out derive no benefit from it. As long as you can talk the talk you'll get a management role, never mind if you are actually able to do the job!

Advice to Senior Management – You can't keep cutting staff levels and resources without affecting patient care; reward people who go the extra mile, not those who agree with you and a***lick

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at UK National Health Service full-time for more than a year

Pros – good place to start off a career as a graduate technologist from mid ranked school. was able to learn the basics of working life before moving on to a more appropriate role.

Cons – bureaucracy, poor quality staff, but no worse than any public sector role, pay was not great either, but you dont work in the NHS for the money, do you?

Advice to Senior Management – not sure they can do any more

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at UK National Health Service

Pros – Largest organization in UK.
Steady work with clear progressive advance path.

Cons – Difficult to advance to other areas.

Advice to Senior Management – Be more consistent throughout the divisions.

Current Employee – been working at UK National Health Service

Pros – - Comparitively good salary for a public sector company.
- Good staff benefits package.
- Creative freedom to do what we feel is best.
- Friendly co-workers.

Cons – - Hands tied by bureacracy.
- Severely outdated computer software/hardware, with seemingly no intention to upgrade.
- Management are too focused on "quick wins", which reduces quality of work output.
- Non-technical management staff for technical teams makes interaction difficult at times.
- Little adherence to established practices and standards.
- Engrained anti-progress culture when it requires adaptation.

Advice to Senior Management – Working in ICT would be so much easier if staff weren't tied down in bureaucracy and funding issues. Teams are strangled from improving the quality of their output because managers are unwilling to part with funding in the short term for long term gains.

Current Employee – been working at UK National Health Service

Pros – If your values are aligned with those of your organisation, you're in the right place. Bear in mind that values and cultures may differ from organisation to organisation.

Cons – Politics, both with a big 'p' and a little 'p'. NHS organisations differ but politics exist in all of them.

Advice to Senior Management – Workforce development deserves more attention. Personal and professional development deserve more attention.

Current Employee – been working at UK National Health Service

Pros – Not for profit organisation who has the clinical edge in dealing with complex patient care issues and health or disease processes. The NHS has a wealth of teaching expertise available at its fingertips. Good support generally provided for further education in terms of providing time and financial support. This is the main reason that the national health service is an excellent place to start you career.

Cons – Poor management skills of senior managers. No clear progression in career path for nurses who work in the NHS. Morale can be low at times depending on expectations of staff and what can realistically be achieved. i.e. high stress levels caused by lack of staffing and resources.

Advice to Senior Management – Staff at coalface can feel very disconnected from senior management, goals, plans etc.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at UK National Health Service

Pros – The final year pension scheme, which, I think, no longer exists for new employees. And there probably won't be anything left in the pot by the time you retire anyway after Labor's finished raiding it.

Cons – Everything you do is geared towards chasing paper targets and nonsensical initiatives drafted by some monkey at the Department of Health, what we want to do is help people.

Advice to Senior Management – Private organisations see the NHS as a cash cow they can tap for funds, heads should be rolling for the gross financial negligence exhibited by policymakers.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at UK National Health Service

Pros – Because its an organisation accountable to the government, every effort is made for all organisations to have the same benefits including Annual leave and family friendly policies. Being such a large organisation, there is always room to develop and progress in your career, although you may be the one who has to push for it.

Cons – Promotion opportunities are there, although it may take you a while for you to progress in your career at the speed you want. In some cases there are gaps in "next step" positions, meaning you either have to make a really big leap to the next stage on the ladder and struggle for a while, or leave to get the right expereince elsewhere. Management communication is mostly poor as new managers are not given the support and skill develeopment they may need to learn how to run a team. Generally people feel they are overworked and underpaid - because its government run, that is generally true.

Advice to Senior Management – They need to invest and provide proper structured development programmes to new managers BEFORE they start their new role and get sucked into the manic day to day working of the NHS. Time needs to be given to people,to adjust into new roles, and they need better guidance and induction into the job, making clear expectations of them, and what they should expect in return, as well as regular constructive feeedback. They need to hire more people to get the unrealistic demands of work being set unpon senior management completed. That does not mean more managers.. just more workers to delegate to.