Accessing roles in the NHS via NHS Professionals - Candidate/Bank Member advice
CHECK, CHALLENGE, CHANGE
The NHS is one of the largest employers in the world with a global reputation for providing excellence in patient care. As a result, many people want to work there. Unfortunately, this means there are also those who would take advantage of this demand by providing untrustworthy, dishonest and unreliable routes into the NHS. Below is a list of tips and tricks to avoid this if you are considering a career in the NHS or are returning after some time away.
- NHS Professionals will only ever contact you using an email address that uses one of our official domains: e.g. nhsprofessionals.nhs.uk or nhsp.uk. If we contact you via social media, such as LinkedIn, we will always provide an email address from the above domains and if you are unsure, please request for an email to be sent form the address. If you think you have been contacted fraudulently by an individual or organisation posing to be recruiting for NHS Professionals or an NHS body or organisation, please email contactus@nhsprofessionals.nhs.uk.
- NHS Professionals will never ask candidates for money as part of our service. Never send any money to any organisation claiming to be NHS Professionals.
- NHS Professionals is committed to ethical, robust recruitment for the NHS. To support this we have listed below some non-legitimate practices and ways to detect them, report them and avoid them in the future.
CHECK
In order to detect a fake role, look out for the below :
- Poor spelling and grammar are usually a first sign that a recruiter may not be authentic.
- Make sure that the role is being offered by NHS Professionals and check which NHS Trust it refers to. You can visit the NHS Professionals website or search for the local NHS Trust website to verify the role, department and details. You may also see this on official social media accounts including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube
- As above, you will only ever see opportunities on official sources such as our website, a Trust website and legitimate sources such as job boards like Indeed, NHS Jobs or social media sites such as LinkledIn and Facebook (click through to our page to check its validity). The application process will always be free of charge. Check that applications are submitted via an appropriate NHS website. We will never ask you to send details via an unofficial email such as Gmail or Hotmail.
CHALLENGE
If you do find something that you feel is misrepresenting NHS Professionals or the NHS, there are several things you can do to challenge them:
- Let us know as soon as possible – via contactus@nhsprofessionals.nhs.uk with the subject heading: Suspicious recruitment activity
- Contact any NHS Trust listed here to make them aware – you should select the relevant Trust and ask to speak to someone in the Trust Service Team as listed.
- Report them to the police’s Cyber Fraud team here – https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud as well as to the relevant social media or job platform authorities
- You can contact NHS Fraud, Bribery and Corruption Reporting Line: 0800 028 40 60. Calls will be treated in confidence and investigated by professionally trained staff. Online: www.reportnhsfraud.nhs.uk
- For more information about fraud in the NHS, visit the NHS Counter Fraud Authority website at Welcome to the NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) public website | NHS Fraud? See it. Stop it. Report it.
CHANGE
Being more aware of these types of activities means we can change our online behaviour to avoid this kind of fraud going forward, so please review the advice/key questions below:
- Is this a legitimate NHS source? Have you checked?
- Protect your personal information – never give this to sources you don’t trust or post online or via email
- Stay safe on social – don’t post any application or personal information on social media that could compromise your security
We hope the above information helps and if you have any questions or concerns please email contactus@nhsprofessionals.nhs.uk