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UK Healthcare Going Down Fast
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| NeoPhono |
I knew they had some serious debt (16.7 million pound deficit for this trust alone), but this is crazy. They're now asking nurses to work for free.
| quote: | Campaigners condemn plea for nurses to work unpaid
Staff and agencies
Friday January 26, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Health campaigners today condemned an NHS trust for asking its staff to resign, work for no pay or take unpaid leave in order to reduce its multimillion-pound deficit.
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, which reported a £16.7m deficit last year, has sent staff a letter asking them to work unpaid for a day, take six months unpaid leave, take voluntary redundancy or defer taking five days of their holiday until next year to help balance its books.
The trust says "just one extra day of work without additional pay as a voluntary contribution" would help to avoid "significant job losses". The trust is predicted to be £5m at the end of the financial year in March.
The move has further angered health campaigners because it would also enable the trust to sign a deal under the controversial private finance initiative (PFI).
Under the initiative, private firms raise the money to design and build a hospital, which NHS trusts must then pay back with interest over 20 to 30 years. The Conservatives say the eventual repayments for the existing 83 PFI hospital building projects - worth £8bn - would total £53bn.
A spokeswoman for the UK's largest public sector union, Unison, said the trust's request was "disgraceful".
She said: "It is unbelievable to expect nurses and other low-paid health professionals to work for nothing. Why should they be penalised for providing a good service when the deficits are the fault of mismanagement?
"It's particularly galling when the trust wants to finance a PFI deal that will end up costing taxpayers more money." The leaked memo, issued to all staff by the director of human resources Terry Coode, said the trust was "facing a very significant challenge this year".
It added: "To be unsuccessful in our target will have serious consequences for the trust that will affect us all. It will jeopardise our investment and development plans, including our ability to build the PFI."
The letter sets out how job losses can be avoided, including "inviting enquiries about the possibility of voluntary redundancy". It also offers staff the chance to take a six-month unpaid break "to pursue a personal ambition or just to take a well-earned break".
Staff would be able to return to their original jobs or one in a similar position, it added. The letter also encouraged staff to carry forward five days' holiday to the next year to "help avoid additional costs this year".
It said: "We are also asking staff to contribute just one extra day without additional pay as a voluntary contribution to year-end.
"This would further help displace some bank and agency (costs) and increase our opportunity to have additional income."
Geoff Martin, head of campaigns at the group Health Emergency, said: "This slaps the nut on the government's health care policy.
"Nurses and other members of the healthcare team are called on to work for nothing so that speculators and banks can cream off another fat profit from an NHS PFI scheme.
"This is Robin Hood in reverse, robbing the poor to fill the pockets of the rich. And it's happening right under the noses of a Labour government who are ripping the heart out of the NHS."
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust said staff were being asked to work a day unpaid on an entirely voluntary basis.
In a statement, it said: "Our staff have suggested this idea to help reduce agency use as part of plans to stay within our budgets. This informal request was extended to all staff, and we've had doctors offering to work extra hours for free. This is not about saving our PFI, but getting our finances right." |
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| Magnetonium |
Attention British nurses, attention! Come to Canada, we have a severe nurses shortage, we guarantee to pay you well and Lord forbid we ask for to work for free. |
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| Lilith |
Everywhere has a severe nursing shortage, because theyre not paid enough, overworked with hard shifts and given very little job oppertunity to advance in the industry.
Most join to help, most leave because theyre that disenchanted to go work in some other environment like bartending, sales or basically anything that pays a decent wage because theyre treated so badly.
Asking them to work for free though is a complete insult and it'll come back to bite. |
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| Fir3start3r |
| quote: | Originally posted by NeoPhono
I knew they had some serious debt (16.7 million pound deficit for this trust alone), but this is crazy. They're now asking nurses to work for free. |
Wow.
Who the hell is running their books?? :wtf:
Someone from the Bush administration? :p |
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| Lilith |
| English public service, it's either so slow you can watch the next ice age come into effect by the time youre processed or have too poke them with a stick to see if theyre still alive. |
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| Fir3start3r |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lilith
English public service, it's either so slow you can watch the next ice age come into effect by the time youre processed or have too poke them with a stick to see if theyre still alive. |
That sounds vaguely familiar....
Actually, truth be told, our Canadian Health Care system is pretty good.
I was very impressed after I broke my leg how speedy they can be if they want to be; I was in surgery approx. 2 weeks after doing it
It really depends on what you're waiting for.
And thankfully our government actually cares enough to inquire as to why it does take so long for certain procedures.
:tongue2 |
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| Sunsnail |
| Surgery for a broken leg? Ouch. What happened? |
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| WM2 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lilith
Everywhere has a severe nursing shortage, because theyre not paid enough, overworked with hard shifts and given very little job oppertunity to advance in the industry.
Most join to help, most leave because theyre that disenchanted to go work in some other environment like bartending, sales or basically anything that pays a decent wage because theyre treated so badly.
Asking them to work for free though is a complete insult and it'll come back to bite. |
No kidding. My mom and mother-in-law are RN's as well as other members of my extended family. They're treated about as well as teachers are as far as compensation goes. I can't believe some of the stuff they do and deal with for what they get paid. Then to ask them to do it for free. Eff that. I'd find another job. |
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| NeoPhono |
Don't worry, there will be a doctor shortage soon to go along with nurses.
| quote: | | one study found by 2020 the United States will be short 85,000 doctors |
LINK
I'll be perfectly honest, if the US goes to a socialized medicine program where doctors take a big hit in salary (more so than they already have with escalating malpractice insurance/non-paying health care providers), we're doubly screwed. By the time I'm done with med school, I will be nearly $200,000 (no, that's not a typo) in debt...and that's about average. Who in their right mind would pay for four years of undergrad, four years of medical school, work like a dog for 3+ years in residency, only to be strapped with a salary that would never let them pay off their educational debts in a field synonymous with long hours and constant ridicule?
This country (along with most of the world) has some serious health care issues on the horizon. People demand high quality medicine that is easily accessible, and they don't want to pay for it. |
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| Sunsnail |
| What kind of doctor are you studying to be? |
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| NeoPhono |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sunsnail
What kind of doctor are you studying to be? |
I still have a ways to go before I really have to "pick" and it also depends on what you're matched for in residency. Right now, I'm leaning towards radiology. |
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| metalgearsolid |
| quote: | Originally posted by NeoPhono
I still have a ways to go before I really have to "pick" and it also depends on what you're matched for in residency. Right now, I'm leaning towards radiology. |
damn dude, just go with what I want you to study. Neurosurgery.
And yeah can you blame the docter shortage? Med schools make it impossible to enter and than you have parasites who want to sue the docters for the simplest things. It sucks being involved in the medical industry especially when every one is out to get you and you have no protection from these parasites. |
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