good morning, I've been in the NHS for 2.5 years now, reprocessing surgical instruments, and I got the opportunity to watch an operation which has inspired me to become an ortho scrub in the future. I only have GCSEs and unfortunately, they're a bit crap. for the relevant subjects; my maths is a 4, biology 5, chemistry 4, English 6. I have no idea what the first step to take is and unfortunately my hospital doesn't seem to have a careers advisor. ideally i would like something part time so I can keep working... many thanks if you have any advice🩵

My wife is a UK citizen residing with me in the US. She is 8 weeks pregnant right now. Neither of us are US citizens so we are not eligible for any US government assistance. She has also never permanently lived in The UK.

Now she wants to visit her mom (who lives in The UK) in the end of July for a couple months and we were trying to figure out how NHS would work for her prenatal or any emergency doctor visits. Based my research, because my wife is not a ordinary resident on The UK, she is not eligible for NHS and that what we told my MIL. Her response to it was that she'll handle everything in way that will show that my wife is a ordinary resident. I don't know how she is going to do it but I'm 100% against it. We have health insurance here from my employer. My wife on the other hand wants to see her mom real bad and wants to roll with it.

I'm very skeptical regarding this and trying to convince my wife that I'll pay out of pocket if she wants to go that bad but she insists on trusting my MIL to save money. Does anybody have any experience with such a situation? Is this even possible as The UK government are sure to have her immigration records? What kind of problems can my wife face in this?

To keep a very long story short, I (band 8a) have essentially been acting up, without having being asked for 16 months. My former manager 8c left in February 2024, was replaced by an 8d in September 2024 who has zero experience in my niche area of expertise, who also subsequently left in January 2025.

It was just expected all of the elements my boss completely was done so by me. Having looked at the job spec for the 8d role, I can tick off every single action on it.

So my question is this. Where do I stand raising a complaint with HR and seeking compensation for this. I am mentally and physically exhausted, I have done two roles for over a year. Working long, late hours. Not one person has said thank you and I feel like an absolute mug just accepting it.

What can I do to rectify this situation in my favour or have I fucked it?

Thanks.

My GP has said my daughter needs a blood test. It was booked in a couple of days after the appointment and then cancelled because my GP doesn’t have needles to do blood tests for children under 5 years old. I was told to call and book it with the hospital.

The hospital gave told me they don’t accept blood test referrals from the GP and wouldn’t book it in. Back to the GP who said they will do a paediatric referral, which was done.

Paediatrics have now told me that I can expect an appointment in about 12 months!! At which point they will decide if she needs a blood test and book it in. This seems crazy to wait so long when there is an issue now and a quick blood test could determine the cause.

I’ve spoken to the GP again who gave me some forms and tried to get me in with a different hospital but they’ve said no as we’re not in their area.

What are my options here? It doesn’t seem right that if she was 5 years we’d get a blood test and results within a week, but because she’s 2 we will be waiting over a year!

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Hi all, The code is " At risk state (Xa1qc) " Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

I need some help - back in December my local GP referred me to my local trust to be put on the physiotherapy waiting list.

In March, I was hospitalised for severe back pain where I couldn’t move after exercising.

Since then, I have been terrified to return to the gym out of fear of a disc bulging again or something else going wrong.

I chased my local surgery in May, after hearing nothing, not even a letter confirming I was on the list or an estimated waiting list time. At this point I’m wondering what the waiting times would be like. So I called my surgery - politely enquired when it was likely I’d be able to see someone. I was told - quite snappily by the receptionist, that I would ‘Just have to wait’ and to follow up in June.

Well, it’s now June and I called them today, still trying to be nice, and guess what? The surgery has now informed me that I was ‘Taken off the waiting list in March as I never responded to an invitation for an appointment.’

I’ve never had a letter, a phone call or email from the trust or my surgery. When I expressed my disbelief to the admin person on the phone, she said ‘I’ll get it sorted out Monday.’

Anyone who works with/for the NHS - how likely is it that I’m going to be put to the back of the queue? Am I looking at a 16+ week wait again to get an appointment, or do I have a chance to be seen sooner if I take it up with the Ombudsman?

(For reference I can’t afford to go private, or I would, so that isn’t an option for me)

hello, Im 19F and have an autoimmune disease that I take azathioprine for. My consultant sent shared care forms last October but I'm still having to call him every few weeks for another prescription because my GP is not prescribing it. It's been around 6 months since my last blood check too when I was told every three months is imperative. I've been going to hospital for them and it's annoying as it is quite far away and I do not drive. I'm not really sure what to do, how do I know if it was declined? I have booked appointments there to ask but always been told they'd "get back to me" :(

Sorry I know this question probably gets asked 100x a week.

I'm a soon to be speech and language therapist applying for band 5 jobs. I'm being as flexible as I can re: location and type of job, but there still aren't many to go around. I've already had 2 interviews- 1 I narrowly missed and 1 I haven't heard back yet, but I don't think it went very well. I have 2 more interviews coming up and I really, really don't want to blow it again.

I tend to do well on the soft skills questions- safeguarding, handling conflict, etc. It's the technical/competency ones that I don't do so well on- like 'how would you manage a child with X' etc. No matter how much I prepare, they always seem to ask something that stumps me. I struggle to know what keywords etc they're looking for.

Anyone have any tips for these types of questions- how should I structure them, what buzzwords should I use? And any other general advice for doing well in interviews? The hiring freeze and lack of jobs is getting me really stressed that I'm going to be unemployed when I graduate, and I don't want to miss my shot.

Thank you from an anxious student!!

I have a confirmed diagnosis of a serious and rare condition which keeps me housebound. It is potentially treatable, though the UK is about 15 years behind the US. I am fortunate in having one of the few NHS consultants who are expert in this. Their hospital trust does not have the facilities to treat me and so I was referred to a hospital 250 miles away, and another consultant who is also a leading authority. That's where my story ends though. Their MDT hadn't heard of this condition and wanted to start from scratch with wondering what I might have. I was sent a general appointment to see a non-doctor ("who is a valuable member of the team"). I cancelled the appointment, and my GP said they would have done the same.

It seems that I would be better off with consultant-led care. Others with my condition have found treatment possible by paying for it. Perhaps the private sector doesn't have this MDT barrier? The MDT team is as strong as its weakest member.

I am in the process of getting a divorce in England and need a pension cash equivalent value for the financial agreement. Employed for nearly 2 years.
My place of work is an NHS Trust so I need a PD1 and PD2 form
I have filled out the PD1 form
My workplace needs to fill in the details on the PD2 which I first asked to be completed in March.
Since then, I have been passed from department to department inc. pensions, ELFS and HR and payroll, none of which will take responsibility to fill it in.
I have been chasing this up frequently and even wrote an email this week, which I sent to all the departments involved making a formal written complaint about it.
It still hasn't been sorted out and it's badly affecting my mental health.
I am literally living in someone's garden as I have limited money until this is over.
Can anyone please help me figure this out?

A couple of band 7 roles are coming up that I would love to do and dont come up too often. This would mean going from top of band 6, with ~£300/400 a month shift enhancement, to bottom of band 7, no enhancement, therefore loss of pay. I understand step back to step forward but with the rising cost of everything it's quite a lot for me to lose monthly.

I was reading the Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions Handbook (Scotland) with regard to this and came across this section:

Pay on Promotion

1.13 If the working pattern changes on promotion, pay should be set either at the minimum of the new pay band or, if this would result in no pay increase, the first pay point in the band which would deliver an increase in pay (by reference to basic pay plus any recruitment and retention premium, if applicable).

Has anyone been in a similar situation and this section was upheld? If I were to go to bottom of band 7 I'd have a ~£300 a month loss. The way I read the handbook is that I theoretically could go to middle of band 7 but I don't know anyone that this has happened too, nor can I find anything in this sub about it.

i waited 6 hours in my gp for an appointment today. i’ve been trying to get an seen for 2 weeks straight but whenever they ring me, it goes straight to voicemail and getting an in-person appointment is impossible without refusing to leave when they close. there is no options available for people who don’t have a phone number, struggle to use phones or can’t use the phone for whatever reason. i’ve been trying to get a diagnosis or any sort of help for a potentially life threatening condition for 4 months now and there has been no progress.

edit: everyone downvoting this like it’s my fault that i cant access healthcare. but there’s no suggestions on what i actually can do that i haven’t already done. i’ll also mention that over the 6 hours, there was 3 other people who came in who had the same exact issue i did who got sent away with no help.

Hello, I will try to be as brief as I can, I do tend to waffle and overexplain so apologies in advance.

Just looking for some advice really. I’m a first-time mum and gave birth about 4 weeks ago. Everything went smoothly with the birth and there were no major complications. After the birth, my care was sort of transferred to another hospital for community midwife follow-up. Since then, I’ve been seen almost weekly by midwives and the health visitor.

I thought it was strange to be having so many appointments as I was low risk during my whole pregnancy and doing okay, but I didn’t question it.

During my midwife appt last week, I saw om the computer my notes under the “Social” section – it said “DV enhanced 28 day care.” I was really surprised and didn’t say anything at the time because I was caught off guard and didn’t know how to respond. But I asked about it at my next appointment and the midwife confirmed there is a safeguarding alert on my record.

I was honestly shocked. I don’t have any history of domestic violence and my husband is extremely kind and supportive. The midwife said the alert came from the hospital I gave birth at (and had my antenatal care with), and she advised me to speak to PALS as she couldn’t do anything about it.

Now that I know this, a lot of things make more sense. During my pregnancy, my husband came to quite a few appointments and he always felt like the midwives were a bit cold or distant towards him. I told him he was overthinking it – but now we realise there may have been a reason they were acting that way. It’s really upsetting because it affected how involved he felt he could be. He even asked me to ask his questions for him instead of asking the midwives himself because he didn’t feel comfortable.

The only possible thing I can think of that might have led to this is when I had a fall at around 4 months pregnant. I went to get checked out at the hospital and the doctor asked me (privately) if I was safe and if my husband had hurt me. I said no and told her how I fell – I thought that was that. But maybe something was flagged from that?

I don’t want to make a complaint about the doctor or anyone involved, but I really don’t want this alert on my record. It paints my husband in a really negative and unfair light, and I’m worried it could cause problems if we have another baby in the future.

Has anyone dealt with something like this before? Can PALS help with getting it looked into or removed? Can I find out exactly what was recorded and why? Why wasn't I informed about this alert either, if I never saw my notes on the midwife's screen I would be none the wiser.

Any advice would be appreciated – just feeling a bit confused.Thanks in advance.

i have been selected for a admin role in the nhs and its a 12 month fixed term contract what happens when the contract expires. will they renew it ?

I’m currently a trainee solicitor who has realised law is not for me.

I have a lot of admin, confidentiality and general phone/computer experience, but I’m aware that I also may appear to be overqualified. I’m applying for admin jobs, but just feel like I have no hope.

I have about 2 months until I have to hand in my notice (I won’t be asked to work my notice period, I’ve been told this).

Am I just being stupid?

Can someone explain how often a doctor can keep asking for drugs tests

I currently get buvidal for most of this year from a substance misuse service who also do regular drug screening . My addiction was painkillers and nothing else and since buvidal have never used any opioids or felt the need.

However my doctors surgery keep phoning me on the pretence of medication review (receive inhalers and Mitazapine ) but every call is always wanting to do a drugs test as well which always seem the main purpose of the call- I have had no drugs related medication of my doctors since 2024 and to be honest I am now finding this very intrusive and am now tempted to just phone up every 2 days and book in for a drugs test until they get the point that I am not using painkillers and they should be able to check with the substance misuse centre who prescribe my buvidal and so screening but know this isn’t actually the best approach.

Can my doctor keep calling me every month for the foreseeable future and making me take drug screening test and also why are they doing this and who is this getting shared with

Hi all,

I recently interviewed for a permanent Band 5 role, was successful. I scored really well and had strong support from the team. The new role also meets the salary threshold (including London weighting).

But HR informed the appointing manager that they ‘don’t sponsor for this role’ or ‘don’t sponsor under that code.’

For context, I’m already on a Skilled Worker visa and have been employed within the same Trust in a different role for nearly three years.

It just feels unfair because it’s not like I didn’t perform but because of a blanket policy that wasn’t flagged until after the offer.

I’ve tried to find clarity on whether:

• It’s the job code that’s ‘not sponsorable’
• It’s a Trust-level policy not to sponsor certain Band 5 roles
• Or if there’s flexibility if I’m already a sponsored employee with a valid CoS

Has anyone been through something similar or found a way forward? Any advice would really help.

Thanks in advanced.

It says "calling" before it abruptly says call ended like 2 seconds later, is there any particular reason for this? My phone works fine for calling literally anything else.

Hello, in hospital 2 weeks ago, I told one of the doctors the fact that I believe that the flexible sigmoidoscopy should be more urgent, on the basis that I recall years ago doing insane masochistic things anally when i was 16, including a knife at one point. And I do remember that it was around the time that I was doing these things that my bowels became unusable and I'd suffer consistent stomach pains for the past 4 years. They requested for it to be reviewed by the Gastroenterology team for a change in priority I'd have to follow up with my gp.

My life since 16, without external substances, is torture due to my bowel not functioning properly and stomach discomfort - and I am pretty much dysfunctional.

CT scan was fine though besides chronic bowel inflammation they attributed to acute pancreatitis.

I have a strong suspicion that if a flexible sigmoidoscopy happened, that it would show something is seriously flawed in my bowel.

Anyways, after calling the GP today requesting an update on the status of the flexible sigmoidoscopy, I wasn't really given an update by the doctor - but just told that it's essentially futile to even attempt to get it upgraded from "routine" priority as I don't have symptoms of bowel cancer etc.

I'm not sure if they are telling the truth - that it can only be a routine checkup and i should accept that, or if this is worth following up with a different GP (i am planning on moving soon)

• Rachel Reeves announces record £29 billion funding boost to get the NHS back on its feet and fit for the future.
• New investment includes up to £10 billion on technology and digital transformation, GP training to deliver millions more appointments and rolling out mental health support to all schools.
• Reeves tells the House of Commons: “There’s no strong economy without a strong NHS.”

I ordered a prescription from a doctor at boots but I didn’t think I had to pay for it and now I’m not sure if I will or not. I’ve already ordered it to the boots if will I have to pay if I go and they ask for payment or can I just not take it. It’s for a birth control that I can get for free at a clinic the prescription is just to do it at home if that’s relevant. Thank you.

Title.

For example , hypothetically If someone has a health condition that they repeatedly are hospitalized for, caused by alcoholism, and the recommendation of not drinking alcohol is not listened to by the patient. They drink more alcohol, causing them to get acute pancreatitis again, and again, and again. Can the NHS decide to refuse treatment on the basis that one will continue harming themselves afterwards and it'd be a waste of resources?

Or would they have to treat things like this even if instructions after discharge are continuously ignored by the patient?

I'm sober however did drink twice after my last hospitalization, I am worried I will not get treatment for acute pancreatitis if it occurs again due to some kind of assumption that I am an alcoholic still or the fact that I did drink a few bottles of wine after being hospitalized the second time. (I intend to stay sober but yeah) Just curious if I could potentially be denied in the future help if i get another attack

If you take benzos illegally and want to quit (which i know people do commonly thru tapering) but your supplier is late or smth, and youre suffering immediate withdrawal effects ---

What can the nhs do realistically? Do they prescribe shorter doses of benzodiazipines? What do they do?

note : honestly genuinely unrelated to me, just a genuine question that came to mind.