Can you help with revalidation?
You need to contact the ICG Medical Ltd Head of Nursing and she/one of her team will be able to assist you. Where possible, contact her at least 3 months before your revalidation is due but if you have less than 3 months, she can still give advice. The more notice you provide, the better.
I need some professional training – who can help?
You need to contact the ICG Medical Ltd Head of Nursing and she/one of her team will be able to assist you. Based on the type of training you need, appropriate providers/sources of training can be identified for and suggested to you. You will be responsible to pay for your own training, unless an organisation has agreed for you to undertake their training free of charge.
Mandatory training can, on occasion, be provided via your agency to meet the framework requirements in the region/country which you work.
I had a complaint. Why have I been stopped from working?
Depending on the nature of the concern, a Trust/Organisation can prohibit you from working on a ward/department or that Trust, pending an investigation being conducted. In a rare number of cases, if the Trust is part of a consortium of organisations, you may be excluded from working at all organisations in that consortium. Your agency cannot force a Trust to accept you back – it is at the Trust’s discretion.
Each concern is evaluated by the Head of Nursing to determine if a temporary suspension should be applied to the offering of any work, via any agency brand within the ICG Medical Ltd group, at any point in the investigation.
However, this is not a common occurrence and is based on several factors:
You will be kept informed of the progress of the investigation and notified of the outcome.
If I am blocked from a Trust, can I continue to work?
Each case is assessed by the Head of Nursing and in the majority of cases, you would be able to continue to work in other organisations. However, there may be a few occasions when the severity of the allegations may mean that you cannot be offered work during the investigation process. Your case will be discussed with you with the person investigating the case.
I have been referred to the NMC. What should I do ?
You must contact the Head of Nursing as soon as you are notified that you have been or are going to be referred to the NMC. Your union may advise against this, but it is ICG Medical Ltd policy that all nurses must notify us for the following reasons:
I need an official letter. Can you help with this?
Contact the Head of Nursing, who will arrange for the letter to be provided based on the requirement of your letter. You will be advised what information is required. If the letter is for a mortgage/renting a home, be aware that any financial information, including your hourly rate of pay, will need to be provided by the organisation which pays you e.g. an umbrella financing company finance, if PAYE.
Your letter cannot provide future/anticipated earnings, as you do not have a minimum, set hours contract. It will only confirm start and end dates and your role.
I need a reference for another employer/educational establishment. Can you help with this?
You need to provide, in writing/email, the name of the organisation to the office of the Head of Nursing. This is to ensure that we have your permission, under GDPR rules, to share your data with that company.
If a request arrives and your permission (either via email or your signature on a data release form from the company seeking the reference) is not provided, delay will likely occur as this will need to be requested.
A reference will be provided within 2 working days, once the appropriate approval is provided. You will be sent a copy of the reference, unless the electronic system used by the company does not allow acopy to be downloaded and sent to you.
I want to make a complaint about a Trust or my agency. How do I do this?
You need to contact the Head of Nursing’s office and you will be assisted to make your complaint. Likewise, support will be provided to you, appropriate to your requirements throughout the process.
Can I refuse to move wards?
Each Trust has its own policy on moving staff. Generally, you are required as an agency nurse to be flexible. If you were asked to move to an areas which you are not licenced to work in e.g. an RN asked to work in paeds, you would be correct to decline to move as you are not trained in the assessment of children, medication administration of paediatric doses, nor the parameters of observations.
However, if as an RN, you are asked to support in a different clinical setting e.g. move from a medical ward to A&E, as long as you are not being asked to undertake tasks or utilise skills in which you are not competent, then it is considered reasonable that you are expected to make this switch. Many nurses have preferences but when staffing is critical, organisations will expect their agency nurse to move, sometimes more than once in a shift.
Many of the complaints and exclusions enforced by Trusts are often related to nurses refusing to move to different wards and subsequently leaving their shift.
If you have been banned from a ward by a Trust and are asked to move to this ward you will need to advise that person making the request, that you are excluded from that area.
