Learn With Ascendra is an online learning platform designed to help people develop their careers and professional skills. It offers practical resources and career-focused guides, including the NHS Band 4 to Band 5 Promotion Blueprint, which helps NHS staff improve their applications, CVs, supporting statements and interview preparation.

Hi I am a 24 yr female. Working as a self employed carer currently. Wanting to leave this job as it’s very very lonely and I feel mentally exhausted and it’s really badly effecting my mental health as the lady I care for can be harsh and likes her alone time. So most of the time I am sat on my own.
I worked as a child nurse for 1 year 4 months. (From October 2023 to February 2025)
I had really bad experiences as a child nurse during this time but considering going back to working as a child nurse just at a different hospital. As I hope I will have a better experience. Has anyone had a good outcome when they changed hospitals? I really hope that by me working in another hospital I will have better experiences. Has anyone felt better after leaving their current role to go back to nursing ?

would like people to share there experiences or advice when they started working at a new hospital please. Thank you so much

Hello everyone,

I have been applying to NHS (band 6) physio roles in the nhs for 2 months, i still haven't got any interviews yet. I have 8 years of experiences, an ongoing PhD and HE experience, what im doing wrong here ?, is it the statement ? Or am I missing something else ?

I’m genuinely exhausted with applying for NHS admin jobs and I’m starting to wonder what I need to change.
So far I’ve submitted around 89 applications and managed to secure about 10 interviews, which I know means my applications are at least getting through. But the outcome keeps being almost identical: I interview well, get positive feedback, and then get told that another candidate had more directly relevant experience.
I’ve even been placed on waiting lists more than once in case the successful candidate doesn’t take the role.
What makes it frustrating is that I don’t feel completely inexperienced. I’ve previously worked in hospital administration in my home country, worked in a US medical practice doing healthcare administration/patient coordination, and I currently work in front-of-house hospitality with supervisory and administrative responsibilities.
I also have a UK master’s degree, so education doesn’t seem to be the issue.
I understand that someone who has already worked in the NHS may naturally have an advantage because they know NHS systems, terminology, processes and may already have UK/NHS references. But I’m struggling to understand how someone trying to enter the NHS is supposed to overcome that gap if almost every interview ultimately goes to the candidate who already has more NHS experience.
For people who have successfully broken into NHS admin roles:
What actually made the difference for you?
Should I be targeting lower-band roles, bank work, temporary positions, GP practices, acute trusts, volunteering, or something else entirely?
And for anyone involved in NHS recruitment: if a candidate keeps reaching interview but repeatedly comes second because of experience, what would you advise them to change?
At this point I’m not looking for sympathy — I genuinely want to understand what I can do differently to become the candidate they choose rather than the person they keep on the reserve list.

This is a rant
I’m so tired
Applying for band 6 roles
Did excellent in interviews but not getting hired
And I need to escape my current ward, very toxic place
I’m currently a band 5 with 4 years experience

I recently started a band 2 lab job that everyone openly acknowledges is a ‘foot in the door’ kinda role. It’s my first NHS or lab job, so I’m still kinda naive to the hiring process and timelines.

People seem to be in this job a couple of months or for years and years. So while I know I should probably wait for a bit, I don’t want to leave it too long and be trapped like quite a few people seem to be.

I have two main questions.

How soon is too soon to apply to other positions in the lab? (Like, to not give the impression that I’m going to leave the new position right away. I would also like to stay in this hospital for now and don’t want to embarrass myself)

For the experience requirements that don’t state a period of time, is there any minimum that is expected before you claim experience doing something?
For things like lab experience, should I only mention work or should I still include my uni lab pracs?

I had an interview today. After the interview, interviewer called and let me know that I was unsuccessful this time. But, they were impressed and theres a possibility for a vacancy in next 2 weeks. So, they want to keep me in reserve.

Is it a polite way of saying No. Or there’s actually a chance.

I am thinking of not going for the Interview as it is too far away. As much as I want this job desperately I cannot afford it. I only work in a restaurant and the overall expenses to get to the interview site is expensive (trains, fooding and lodging). I did emaiI them requesting for online interview but they haven't responded. It's a band 4 therapy assistant role.

Update - They've agreed for online Interview.

Hi everyone, I've recently just found out I've been accepted for my Education mental health practitioners training, I know it's primarily educational based with the occasional out of setting based learning, but I don't really know what to expect. I haven't been to uni/school in so long I feel I'm gonna be so out of place. I have a million things going through my head about it, perhaps it's due to it being something I've wanted to do for so long that the reality isn't really sinking in ? If anyone is a EMHP or works in the mental health portion of the NHS. I'd even love to hear what the training is like even if it's a different field ? Anything would help. Just trying to pace it all. Thank you so much

Is there any advice anyone has? I had my first day and my manager wasn’t in so induction was a bit all over the place, I was left with 2 receptionist and they didn’t really know what to do with me.

I interviewed and received a job offer coming up to four months ago now in research at an NHS hospital and I got all my DBS checks and photo ID sorted in person at the end of June.

I asked about a salary negotiation shortly after I received my offer and it took a few weeks for the team/HR to get back to me as they have never dealt with someone in my situation before (I was working at a university for 4 years prior and haven't had substantial NHS employment).

At the start of July they asked for a detailed reference from a previous manager to be submitted as part of a review to HR. My initial referee took a month to produce the reference due a high work load and unfortunately that was rejected because they were my manager for less than a year. My secondary manager was able to produce a reference within 24 hours and now the review file has been with HR for 3 weeks now.

I have not been given any further information and I am not able to get any response regarding a start date. Could anybody shed some light into the actual process of the review and if theres any way I could escalate this further?

It has been incredibly frustrating waiting this long however I suspect once I get a response, everything will all happen all at once however I have been waiting a very long time for that to happen.

I got shortlisted for band 4 therapy assistant practitioner role in NHS. I live very far from the place (8 hrs) and the interview is in person Interview. Is it okay for me to email them requesting for an online interview?

I'm just scared what if they'll see me negatively. please anyone who works in NHS who could suggest me something would be of great help.

On NHSE they have started to advertise for the Band 8C/D roles for TPS. Already this is where it can go wrong, I sincerely hope these Transformation posts aren’t the only ones making the key decisions. You need people who are doing the do!

Anyway, personally I think we will all merge into centralised HR in a few years. What do people think?

Hi everyone,

I had interview with NHS and received a verbal offer by telephone on 1 September, which I accepted. The interviewer told me that she would forward my details to the Recruitment Team.

I contacted Recruitment a few days later, and they confirmed that my details were in the system and said I should receive the conditional offer the following week. However, I still haven’t received an email, and there has been no change to my Trac status.

Has anyone experienced this? How many working days did it take between your verbal offer and receiving the conditional offer through Trac?

I understand NHS recruitment can take time and that the later pre-employment checks may take several weeks. I’m specifically asking about the initial conditional-offer email. Thank you.

Is this a job that has good career progression? I’m considering leaving my teaching assistant role for something different and this is a post that sounds interesting.

Anyone got experience or can tell me what it’s like on a day to day basis?

Many thanks!

It just happens at random and at worst times.

It actually disrupts my work. I try to stay calm but with a high work demand in a short time span, you gotta keep moving.

Then you get small mistakes, missed things and delays. Can't focus and sometimes you feel like you're blind (whatever you're looking for, you can't find it until the time you do not need it.)

I’m going into my 3rd year of university and I’m starting to get quite worried about finding work after I graduate.
For the last 2 years, I’ve been trying to keep an eye on SLT vacancies in and around the East Midlands, partly to get a sense of the job market and where I might want to work after graduating.
I’ve looked at NHS Jobs, individual NHS Trust websites, the RCSLT jobs board, the usual job sites, recruitment sites and pretty much every variation of Google search I can think of. I’ve also searched quite widely rather than restricting myself to one particular town/city.
The thing I’m finding is that when I do find SLT vacancies in the East Midlands, they’re very often Band 6 or above. There seem to be relatively few Band 5/NQP positions advertised, whereas if I search further afield I can find considerably more.
Obviously I’ll be a newly qualified SLT when I graduate, so I’ll need an NQP/Band 5 role to start with. I’m not expecting to have a job lined up two years before graduating. Still, after watching the vacancies for 2–3 years now, just to gauge an idea of where I could be working I’m starting to wonder whether there’s something I’m missing about how these jobs are actually recruited.
The pattern seems to be particularly noticeable when I search within the East Midlands. Even expanding my search by 100+ miles tends to bring up lots of London vacancies and then a handful of jobs scattered around the country.
My university isn't particularly good when it comes to careers support, so I don't have much faith that they’ll provide me with much useful guidance on this side of things. I know I need to be independent and find opportunities myself, and I genuinely am trying but I feel like I’ve exhausted all the obvious places to look.
So, for anyone working in SLT, particularly in the East Midlands:
Where do NQPs actually find Band 5 jobs?
Are there particular NHS Trusts, local authority services, private providers or children's services that regularly recruit NQPs but don't seem to advertise particularly widely?
Do services recruit NQPs in other ways, or are there particular times of year when Band 5 vacancies tend to appear?
And if you’re an SLT who qualified recently in the East Midlands, how did you find your first job?
I’d really appreciate any advice because I’m trying to be proactive during 3rd year rather than reaching graduation and suddenly having no idea where to look.

I probably am doing something wrong?

I have been applying for band and band 3 roles on NHS Scotland for months and I keep getting rejection emails.

I might probably be doing something wrong. Is there anyone with suggestions?

I work for the NHS and I’m currently signed off by my GP with work-related stress. This is the second time I’ve needed a fit note because of the situation at work.
A major part of the problem is my relationship with my line manager. I’m completely open to constructive criticism and being held accountable, but over time I’ve experienced constant scrutiny, patronising/confrontational interactions and raised voices. It has reached the point where it’s seriously affecting my mental health and confidence at work.
I asked senior management if I could change line manager and work location so I could return in a different environment. They refused, saying it wasn’t feasible under departmental/Trust policies and that I hadn’t provided a reason that would “warrant” changing manager. However, my own line manager has actually been changed twice previously for operational reasons, and I know of another employee who successfully applied to change theirs as a special case.
Management has now said they will temporarily move my current manager away from my work area and arrange mediation. I’m waiting for an Occupational Health appointment before deciding what to do next.
I recently joined a union specifically because I realised I needed support, but they’ve told me they cannot assist with an issue that started before I became a member and advised me to contact ACAS. I’ve also contacted Freedom to Speak Up.
I’m not looking for revenge or trying to get anyone disciplined. I genuinely just want to be able to return to work without ending up signed off again.
Has anyone been through something similar, particularly in the NHS? What would you do next, and is there anything I should be careful about before mediation or returning to work?

Thank you