I'd find it very hard to out and out refuse to go on a course and the manager always pulls the 'it's to meet operational needs' card out when refusal is mooted. He always claims this 'travelling in your own time' is a NHS norm - I asked other NHS techs when on courses and they look amazed - that's why I asked the question.
Yes they put you up in a premier inn when you are that far away so you can be there on time on the morning of the course (probably anywhere that's over 2 hrs drive, which is fair enough) but I object to giving my employer 7.5hrs work and then another 3hrs (6hrs total) of my own personal time for something they have SENT me on.
I live on my own and have a dog, this also means I need to take the day off before and after a course (obviously depending what day it starts/finishes) to take the dog to kennels, plus pay £17/day kennelling costs - and before anybody kicks off, yes I know this is nothing to do with my employer, but it makes going away on a multi-day course an expensive personal cost directly to myself (days holiday and kennel fees) so the last thing I expect is to then give the NHS 6hrs of my time out of the goodness of my heart for something a higher authority (who's probably sat at home while I'm still on the road) has deemed necessary.
I can't wait to get out of the NHS - it's this kind of stupid stuff that irritates me - if we were all treated the same, fair enough.
I'll see what the union says.
