My colleagues are spoilt.
NHS, IT Trainer. That's me. I used to work in Northampton, where I was one of 2 trainers, the other of whom used to do next to bugger all. This left me to deal with booking staff onto courses, preparing courses, setting up training databases and making sure the correct info was on there ready for each training session, as well as sorting out accounts and passwords, access levels, and sorting out helpdesk calls, as well as go-live support and general day to day tasks as well. All this in a hospital with about 5000 staff. We brought in a new system, which necessitated the training of about 3000 staff; at times I was doing 4 or 5 training sessions a day, sometimes without even as much as time for a cup of tea between them. In the month of go-live I racked up 70 hours overtime.

Fast-forward to the present day: I work in a hospital where there are about 7000 staff, and we have 10 trainers, 4 admin girls who do all the booking, a clinical systems team who maintain all the databases and a team who go out and do go-live support. Oh, and supervisors to make sure it all runs smoothly. The clinical systems team also do all the passwords, so we don't even have to worry about that.

That leaves us with the training, and occasional helpdesk calls. Three of my colleagues (who I usually refer to as "The Coven") spend most of each day playing Solitaire or Bejewelled, and then at every meeting we have they moan how terribly busy they are and something's going to have to be done about it.

Me? I just bite my tongue and quietly hope that one day they get to find out what busy means - preferably while I'm relaxing somewhere warm with a guitar and my girlfriend...
(Professor Kenny Martin Hmm? What?, Mon 13 Oct 2008, 22:31, 5 replies)

I know that feeling
Shame management in the NHS is so hamstrung. My manager is having to create a band 6 post for me (something like IT Systems Training Team Leader) because she is terrified that I'll leave and there's be no-one (from a team of 7 trainers) left to do the work. She'd like to bin off all the useless ones, but it's never going to happen.
(ScousersPet, Tue 14 Oct 2008, 8:21, closed)

I really miss my manager from Northampton
That's the sort of this she'd have done.

My new manager has no IT knowledge and no training experience, so she hasn't got a clue about what we do. Worse than that, she doesn't care; she's not even coming to our Christmas meal...
(Professor Kenny Martin Hmm? What?, Tue 14 Oct 2008, 8:41, closed)

manager
My manager knows very little about IT and absolutely nothing about clinical systems. What she does know, however is about training and running a training department. Which is nice.
(ScousersPet, Tue 14 Oct 2008, 11:52, closed)

Sympathies
My wife works in the NHS and often relates to me the levels of laziness and incompetence that she encounters on a daily basis.

The problem with the NHS is that it's next to impossible to fire someone. Which means that once you're in the door you can get away with doing sweet fuck all knowing that there are dozens of people in the same department who will do your job for you.

Her immediate manager is so useless at her job that they're creating a band 7 role for her, so they can stick her in an office and forget about her. That's the difference between the public and private sector. In the private sector she'd be out on her arse, in the public sector she's promoted and given a fat raise just to get her out of the department.

And hey! That's our money they're spending there.
(MrC. Having the most boring username on b3ta since 2004, Tue 14 Oct 2008, 13:56, closed)

True
As an NHS employee I have to agree. Yay!
(kitescreech still here, Thu 16 Oct 2008, 16:04, closed)