Pros
Honestly there were no positives. This job drains you of your self worth, regularly signing off concerned for patients.
Cons
Constant changes to pilot schemes and safety policies with a clear focus on cost cutting over patient safety. Serious concerns were raised around reduced clinical support and long wait times, with some patients waiting excessive periods for responses. Remote health advisors were discouraged from escalating concerns and instead told to place patients into queues, even where there were genuine safety worries. When these changes were introduced, multiple staff members raised concerns with management but felt pressured to retract them, with a clear fear of disciplinary action. This led to a number of employees leaving due to concerns around patient safety and the conflict with the compassion and care we are trained to provide. There is an extremely high staff turnover, particularly among homeworking staff. During a one-to-one, it was acknowledged that a significant proportion of homeworking employees had taken long-term sick leave within a 12-month period due to poor mental health, which speaks volumes about the working environment. The culture within management, particularly for remote staff, is very poor. There is a lack of support, poor communication, and at times unprofessional behaviour within team channels. Staff are often left feeling isolated, with little sense of team or support structure. Meetings are unpaid and poorly attended, further reinforcing the lack of engagement. Communication from management is often limited to pressure around performance and call handling, with little focus on staff wellbeing or proper support. Overall, the environment feels reactive, unsupported, and at times unsafe from both a staff and patient perspective.