NHS vs MOJ contract

[jayjay69]

To balance that out the work can be absolutely awful. I know what jay says can be true but on the flip side I know more people that have voluntarily left NHS gigs than all the other clients put together. It can be a nightmare place to work if you don't fit in to that style.

I must point out that on all my NHS contracts the permie staff were very stand off to the point some refused point blank to assist and made it clear they were not happy with contractors or the pay on offer, they did their upmost to make it difficult that did not phase me as I am sure most of you are the same and have a thick skin, I am not there to make new friends but provide a service , get paid and move on.

[northernladuk]

I must point out that on all my NHS contracts the permie staff were very stand off to the point some refused point blank to assist and made it clear they were not happy with contractors or the pay on offer, they did their upmost to make it difficult that did not phase me as I am sure most of you are the same and have a thick skin, I am not there to make new friends but provide a service , get paid and move on.

Correct. When I was with CSC working on the NPFiT programme there was a half day induction for anyone new to the programme to explain the culture of the NHS and how to work with them. We all thought it was a bit ridiculous at the time but once you got in to the project it made perfect sense.

It's not about having thick skin or making friends, it's about delivering to a difficult customer. We saw many desk bangers and self proclaimed doers come and go because it just got nothing done and added blockers. Accepting the frustrations and handling your customer was the only way to either not get yourself kicked off the project or to not get so hacked off with it you leave. Very strange project that was. Wouldn't do it again for all the tea in china.

[MonkeysUncle]

To echo what others have said here, it depends on what part of the NHS you go into.

I have worked at a couple of Acute hospitals and a couple of mental health hospitals, never any national programmes so I cant comment on those.

Acute- Have the money but it comes with mountains of red tape to cut through (example - I had to write a 3 separate business cases for my project. Each business case had to be approved by 4 boards before I could move onto the next, in total it would take 15months by which time the solution (Office 365) has changed so much that the original business case was barely valid!. Very much an Us (permies) and Them (contractors) mentality. As NLUK said, keep your head down, and focus on delivery.

Mental Health - No money, tech is always lagging behind but the staff were always good to work with. It was very much a "we are all in this tulip together" approach so everyone was always helpful but stretched to their limit.

As someone else said, contracts do always get extended, pay is always on time (in my experience) and once you have that NHS experience, agencies will always come back to you for other NHS based roles.