The reality of working for the cash-strapped NHS

[Richard A Thackeray]

I'm seeing more younger ones in hospital, on the ward and moreso in A&E these days.

I've been in too often over the years, seeing what those dealing with patients day in day out have to put up with.

Locally the service is top heavy. We've a chief executive who is currently drawing five pensions from previous employment. In his last job he was paid more than the PM, because he felt he was worth it.

Those worth it, are dealing every day with less to work with.

Get an appointment at either of the hospitals, you deal with a private company at reception, then onto the nursing staff/doctors once they've got you on the system. "A great step forward" when introduced.

Sound very familiar
We've had some appalling Chief Execs, before & after I arrived (girlfriend, now wife worked there, in various Nursing/planning roles circa 1988-2004)
One went, golden handshake/'garden leaved', to another Trust (in the south-west of England), & put it £5m in the red in less than a year - doesn't seem like much, but it was 20 years ago!!
Previous CE was..........well, I won't say

Present CE, seems okay, & walks round almost every day, & and will stand/talk/seems to listen
And...... he's more interested in the opinions of the lower banded (below 5), than Matrons, Consultants, etc......
(as seemingly, are a couple of the other Directors, as they walk round, & will 'muck in')

On the non-exec side, we used to have a Peer of the Realm, as the Chairman
He came from a real working background, having been a Miner, & was happy (if time allowed) to stand & talk, particularly if local history/engineering/mining/etc.... was the topic
A real nice guy

If its anything like the feds then there will be two tiers of non clinical staff. One tier will do useful stuff like cleaning, managing appointments, security, etc.

The other tier will be there to make it as difficult as possible for the clinical staff do do their jobs, or at least you would think that from the way they behave. They'll usually have words like "analyst", " support", and "head of" in their job titles.
Am I right, or is it just confined to the dibble?

I'll concur, as we see a lot of your (local to us) collegues, & it's one topic of conversation

Nope!!, the NHS has the equivilant, usually with similar titles

 

[mjr]

It's hard not to get political but I think this is the issue we should be voting on this time. More of the same or time for a change. We decide.

No we don't decide. Even when we vote for change, there's no change now. We voted on this issue last time, voting for another £350m a week to go to the NHS. It hasn't happened and doesn't look like it will.

Much as I hate voting on personalities rather than policies, I think we need to vote for whichever people seem least like lying shoot until we get some honesty and truth back into decisions.

 

[Drago]

If they are up there touting for our vote, they're lying.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Yes, budgets are being cut throughout the NHS. I think there are only 2 NHS Trusts in the country that are not in the red. The one I work for is in the red by about £32M. Things have been bad for too long, so people are leaving and not being replaced. There are about 42 nurse vacancies alone where I work. Word has now got out, especially to nurses, basically saying "do you really want to work for £20k a year, being rushed off your feet all day, working extra hours than you'll get credit or pay for, and all the time being expected to work harder with fewer resources?".

There is also much waste in the NHS in terms of pointless and hopelessly ineffective managers, but that is a drop in the ocean. If staff felt respected and valued then they'd stay, but you can't rely on the stalwarts for ever.

 

[Drago]

They got enough money to pay the useless tier of non clinical staff. Someone needs to grab these public services by the cojones and do what the Golgafrinchams did.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

"The Cafe is our lighter off-topic forum where we don't take things too seriously and where you can come for some relaxed chat in the company of your CC friends."

"The cafe is for people who want to put forward their political views but who claim that they don't want to get involved in political discussion"

 

[classic33]

"do you really want to work being rushed off your feet all day, working extra hours than you'll get credit or pay for, and all the time being expected to work harder with fewer resources.

There is also much waste in terms of pointless and hopelessly ineffective managers, but that is a drop in the ocean. If staff felt respected and valued then they'd stay, but you can't rely on the stalwarts for ever.

Sorry for cutting your post, but using just the above it could apply to many jobs these days.

"I Love My Job" springs to mind, something I had printed off and on the back of a door in a store cupboard.

 

[Drago]

"The cafe is for people who want to put forward their political views but who claim that they don't want to get involved in political discussion"

No politics for me. Mismanagement and ineptitude are my main beef(s) with the big public services, and its only going to get worse.

And I'm pretty relaxed when bemoaning the useless ranks with stupid job titles that contribute nothing positive to the service, be it slapping handcuffs on villains or treating sick people.

 

[KnackeredBike]

Sorry for cutting your post, but using just the above it could apply to many jobs these days.

"I Love My Job" springs to mind, something I had printed off and on the back of a door in a store cupboard.

Really? I have done many jobs and have friends doing even more, but I'm yet to encounter the combination of expecting you to work well beyond what you are contracted to, for zero recognition and crap pay that the NHS has.

They rely heavily on the fact it is a "calling" for many people, but those people are quickly becoming disenfranchised because almost everyone is seeing patients coming to severe harm or dying on a frequent basis because of short staffing or overworked staff making mistakes. I have given other examples but we had a patient who dropped their dinner on their lap. No-one realised because the patient was self caring and the burns developed into grade 3 pressure sores a fortnight later when they were spotted.

 

[MarkF]

From what I see, huge waste of funds is by people (unsurprisingly) in charge of cost cutting. Don't expect anything to change soon and you can bet your last penny there'll be no cutbacks in their depts. I really wish it was about the patients and the medical staff but it seems they are incidental in the managerial rush to the money trough.

Really? I have done many jobs and have friends doing even more, but I'm yet to encounter the combination of expecting you to work well beyond what you are contracted to, for zero recognition and crap pay that the NHS has.

I don't think it's crap at all, I think it is appropriate. There are other benefits that most folk would like to have too. I work with very unhappy NHS staff every day but I think that unhappiness stems from an appalling, self serving, unimaginative, monolithic management culture.

 

[ufkacbln]

No we don't decide. Even when we vote for change, there's no change now. We voted on this issue last time, voting for another £350m a week to go to the NHS. It hasn't happened and doesn't look like it will.

Much as I hate voting on personalities rather than policies, I think we need to vote for whichever people seem least like lying shoot until we get some honesty and truth back into decisions.

Again bearing in mind that this is in cafe

Last thing the NHS needs is more change

That is one of the big problems, there is a change before it settles, there is another change

What happens is that staff just start to feel the effects when everything is in upheaval again

 

[Drago]

Wasn't the lack of pay for travelling time recently ruled unlawful in Court? I don't recall the details, so I'm not sure.

 

[Tanis8472]

Only after initial trials to first patient I think. Same as us travelling to work.

 

[KnackeredBike]

Theres miles worse employers than the NHS, look at all those people who work really hard in nursing homes for NMW and those Home Care Assistants who dont even get travelling time paid for.The private sector is worse than the NHS in terms of pay and conditions for many low paid staff.

Nice idea but private care work is better paid with a less heavy case load than the NHS unless you want to only work unsociable hours. Ask anyone who's switched between the two.

 

[ufkacbln]

Nice idea but private care work is better paid with a less heavy case load than the NHS unless you want to only work unsociable hours. Ask anyone who's switched between the two.

I lost a member of staff to the Private Sector.

On a training secondment ......

Same job for 5,000 quid year more than I can offer