Working for NHS but covering reception for Local Authority

[missmuppet]

Hi All
I work for the NHS as a clerical officer. When needed me and my colleagues cover the reception at our place of work which is only NHS offices although with different areas of specialities. We have two colleagues that work in another location which is 30 minutes away. They recently moved into a new building and share this building with the Local Authority. Neither the NHS or LA are prepared to pay for a receptionist so the staff members from my team and one other team have to cover reception.

Our manager has now told us that when sickness cover is needed that myself or one of my collegues would have to travel to the second location to cover reception. I have stated that i am happy to cover my team members job for our team but not reception. My arguement being that i am not employed by the LA so should not be answering calls, booking in clients and taking messages for Social Workers etc. Does anyone know if i have a valid arguement here?

There are many other staff members at the second location who will not cover reception when sick cover is needed as they think that because they are employed on a higher grade than us they shouldn't be asked to do it. Am i being unreasonable?

[factor-fiction]

Are these duties/responsibilities significantly different to your current ones? Is the job valued at a similar level?
You may find it's covered by your existing role description.
I think it's up to the employer to define the role, not the employee.

[missmuppet]

Hi Factor 30 - we very rarely cover reception at our place of work and my actual job is as team secrretary for Paediatric Speech and Language Therapy. We're all just concerned that in the other location half the work is for the Local Authority and we're employed by the NHS.

[bednobs]

in all honesty, jobs in the NHS/council are going to be very scarce very soon, so i would just buckle down and do it. You might even make some money off the travel expenses you can claim.

[factor-fiction]

It seems to me reception work is not significantly different to clerical work which probably involves similar elements- answering the phone, customer services etc.

[chelle7272]

i agree with factor - it appears that the role is of a ximilar level and is probably covered in the terms of your contract (somthing like the employer can ask you to work elsewhere and perform similar duties at their discretion ).
i understand your reluctance as it is not what you were employed to do, but roles do change and at least you are employed

[missmuppet]

Thanks everyone for the answers...i guess i'm gonna have to suck it and see. What get's me is that there's al least 20 other staff at the other location that could cover the occasional times when sick cover is needed but they deem it 'below them' to do it. The other big nark is that we are basically being blackmailed into doing it as we've been told that if we don't agree to cover reception they will move one of the staff from my office across to the other location instead.....wow who'd thought that the NHS would willingly pay extra travel money to cover a job that could be done by someone on site when all we keep hearing about is that money is sooo tight. Ah well that's life i suppose.

[evil__sheep]

you need to look on the bright side
1) travel expenses
2) your boss wont be there
3) get tomeet new people and colleagues

[karenmac60]

That's if you get travel expenses. I'm local authority, and they've recently changed their rules on expenses so that you must have car insurance that covers 'business use' to be able to claim mileage, or they give you tokens to get the bus.

[scotman]

When you say 30 minutes away I assume you are meaning by some form of road transport. If you intend to use your own make sure that insurance covers you. Otherwise you will need to get bus or taxi.
Look on it as an opportunity to add to your CV. "I was one of the few people trusted with the responsibility etc.."

[woofgang]

In the NHS you have always had to have business use insurance to get mileage. If you have fully comp then business use is often free or very cheap. What does your contract and job description say? there is often a catch all phrase like "and other appropriate duties as defined by your line manager" and "your base will be x but you may be required to work elsewhere for the organisation. There may also be confidentiality issues around non NHS personnel having access to NHS information.
Reasonable or not, in the current NHS job climate, I would think long and hard about being difficult.