My mum works for the NHS and when I hear her talk about her situation it really annoys me. She is an older worker and it's pretty obvious they are not being given the opportunity to move up a band because of her age, this is not just happening to her but other colleagues as well but there is the expectation that they hold everything together for that department while younger individuals are allowed to move up further, this isn’t crab mentality. It’s a case of them systematically not allowing older workers to move up. You can imagine the hurt and bad feeling this creates in that department.

Along with that her manager sounds like they are incompetent and weak which leads them to bully their staff members when they have pressure applied to them from higher up. There is a yes mentality and they don’t think of their staff and the consequences i.e. manageable workloads. The manager has been allowed to run 3 separate departments in this particular trust so they spread themselves too thin. I might add this is a failing trust that has problems with bullying as well.

I don’t understand how this has been allowed to continue for so long. My mum has no problem with the pay increase but she does have a problem with being treated like crap and constantly overlooked while having the expectation that she works ever harder and has her dignity stripped by being spoken to like an idiot. Unfortunately my mum is one of those old school people who just moans about it but does her job well whilst being treated poorly (e.g. she has had a major operation and taken that time off as holiday and gone back after only two weeks rather than go off sick).

I have told her to go to her union but she hasn’t which is so frustrating! She doesn’t want the trouble. I wish I could go into further detail but you’ll probably be able to identity where it is if I go into more depth. Maybe she is martyring herself but I don’t feel like she should be in a work environment like this. I have a feeling that there are a fair few things like this going on in the NHS which leaves workers feeling devalued, dejected and embittered. I can completely understand the way your mother would feel. The pay should increase but your mothers pay should be pushed up in accordance as well if she has more experience as it penalising her for having more experience. I really don’t think this is a simple as you have made out or perhaps your mum circumstances are quite different from mine but I just wanted to give another side of the coin.