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

Pros – Good terms and conditions, good work life balance and employee representation

Cons – No opportunity for bonuses, can be a bit of a disincentive

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to staff and let them manage, ignore politicans

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 3 years

Pros – Relaxed job, no work pressure

Cons – dry work life, no career progression, no learning opporunities, no tranings

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

Pros – very great social body for helping people

Cons – not i am aware of..

Advice to Senior Management – must opt for it

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm 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 – In some cases a feeling of satisfaction when doing the job well.
variety of work if in a large pathology epartment.

Cons – The hours,
Pay structure for out of core hour work is not good compared to private sector.
Being taken for granted by senior management.
Decisions made at higher levels by management who have no real idea of what goes on at lower levels.
Despite what anybody says, the service is driven by budget not patient needs.

Advice to Senior Management – fight for a fair budget to enable top quality patient care. The health service seems to be increasingly budget driven resulting in a poorer quality service.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at UK National Health Service

Pros – Working with clinicians to make a real difference for patients.
The most wonderful feeling in a job in the NHS is when you capture that clinical passion for quality with your drive to succeed, and know that together you've genuinely changed something for the better. It's also fascinating learning about all the different clinical specialities.
Tip: use the evidence base and ask practitioners for their views before you start. If you just go in with a set of slides full of management jargon and lots of targets with no explanation, saying "this is what you should do" unsurprisingly, you can actually see people's heels digging into the carpet.
Respect people's knowledge, experience and values, and it's amazing what you can do despite political meddling.

Cons – It's getting harder and harder to do this (see above comment).
Clinicians are getting more and more tired, not just with the avalanche of new 'must dos', but fewer people having to do more work over longer hours often for less money.
Seeing endless reorganisations and wheel reinventions.
Culture of bullying.

Advice to Senior Management – If you died tomorrow, what would you like your staff to say about your line management?

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at UK National Health Service

Pros – Guaranteed pay and employment means no worry.
Theoretically a guaranteed pension payable by the british government

Cons – Poor pay and no bonus system so there is little point excelling. Excelling at your job does not make promotion likely, more if you are a bureaucrat. Lack of useful training for career advancement. Most training is Politically correct crap that covers the governments ass with health and safety etc!

Advice to Senior Management – Don't just do what the government asks to gain promotion, do things to benefit the patients and your staff. The NHS has staff that are motivated to patients, but couldn't care for the majority of management. My last manager was certainly one who did a great job, but many before had been useless puppets.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend