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Discussion

Complaint made against me

Hello,

Basically another member of staff or a group of them have raised a complaint/s with my line manager. I'm a nurse auxiliary/health care assistant in my role. I've been asked to meet with them to discuss it but not been told the nature of the complaint and whether this meeting is formal or informal. Does anyone have any advice for how I can prepare for this meeting? I'm rather upset that who ever had a problem with me didn't feel able to come talk to me personally as i'd never thought of myself as unapproachable or anything.

Thank you :(

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    • Featured Replies

    Google how to handle negative feedback...or something like that. People smarter than me have posted some helpful tips.

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    Are you in the U.S.? Do you have a union?

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    • Experts

    If you have a union you must call your rep and have him/her at the meeting. Your management must reschedule the meeting if need be; this is referred to as your "Weingarten rights".

    If you have no union then just walk into the meeting with your head up and a receptive attitude. Take a note pad and be prepared to take notes. They'll probably start by asking you seemingly unrelated questions. This will be nerve-wracking but answer truthfully. This gives you an opportunity to exonerate or incriminate yourself.

    When they finally get to what you supposedly did wrong, ask for more information and clarity. If it is a legit complaint, you can learn from it and impress them with your professionalism. If it is a bogus complaint and you ask for clarification it will put them on the spot. Do not get drawn into responding defensively to vague, poorly defined accusations. Do not address anything until they have been specific.

    If you have the urge to cry, raise your eyes toward the ceiling for a second (but careful not to roll them!). That should help you regain control.

    You are under no obligation to be infallible. Just work on being the cool, consummate professional. And good luck!

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    • Author

    I'm from the UK and stupidly have not joined a union yet. What has shaken me up about this is that i'm being paid by my place of work to study nursing and am leaving my current position shortly. I'm worried it will have an affect on my funding, that it could potentially be withdrawn if this complaint is a serious one. Thanks for the advice TriciaJ, definitely a good idea about the notepad!

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    • Admin

    Welcome to allnurses.com

    Thread moved to UK forum.

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    Join the union now.... Hopefully someone currently living and working in the UK can offer more advice soon

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    My browser keeps crashing each time I type so I'll keep it short.

    Join a union, even if they can't give you direct representation for this incident they should be able to advise you. HR will also be able to give you unbiased advice and support.

    Find out whether the meeting is formal or not. They have to let you know if it is formal, so you can find out what it's about and prepare yourself and get representation to come along.

    Make notes when you have the meeting. If it goes further you have notes to work from and prepare yourself. If it doesn't you have a record of things, it'd be wise to reflect on everything.

    Chances are, this is all a storm in a teacup, possibly from someone who is jealous that you're about to go on secondment, I know what people in the NHS are like and it wouldn't surprise me.

    Finally, stay in a union. You can get reduced rates while a student nurse, it's like having car insurance, most the time it's a cost that we pay and get no return from, but if we need it and we're not subscribed to it, we're screwed.

    I hope it all goes well for you.

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    • Experts

    Get union representation. Do not go into this meeting alone. You can take someone with you if you cannot get a union rep.

    If it is formal the have to tell you so that you can be prepared. You should insist on having some idea what it is about. Your hospital/employer should have proper policies in place for disciplinary type meetings otherwise they can end up losing a lot of cases at industrial tribunals.

    Unfortunately, if you have been there for less than 1 year they can get rid of you fairly easily.

    Not sure how they are 'paying' for you to study nursing. Nursing students are funded through university and because you are expected to do work on the wards you should get a grant of some kind (This may just be Scotland so look into it). If nothing else you can get money from the student loans people.

    Good luck.

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    Not sure how they are 'paying' for you to study nursing. Nursing students are funded through university and because you are expected to do work on the wards you should get a grant of some kind (This may just be Scotland so look into it). If nothing else you can get money from the student loans people.

    I presume OP is being seconded by their employer to go to uni, do trusts still do this in Scotland?

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    • Experts

    Not that I am aware of. Trusts may pay for employees to do courses but never heard of them paying for 3 years of study.

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    Oh right. Here we second staff to do heir pre reg training, they're employed as HCAs and are expected to work whilst training and I think they're expected to take a post with the trust on qualifying. It works out better financially for the student but places are very limited.

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    • Experts

    Remember, In Scotland no university tuition fees.

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