Disgusted at the NHS

xmaslolly76

it seems to me that hospitals these days suffer from the old addage to many shephards and not enough sheep! having worked in hospital admin for a short while i was shocked at how many managers there were for stupid things and not enough ground workers to help the poor patients. I am a firm believer in getting rid of some of the management reinstating the matrons and getting in more nursing staff.

Op i hope your mom makes a swift recovery :-) x

patchwork_cat

Dr Rock I was thinking more of policy makers in general, not specifically for my PCT. More the under funding, nurses becoming clinicians - although I know that the response to that will be that Healthcare assistants are level 3 trained and as such have undertaken the 'old' role of nurses.
Xmas I agree and think I referred to the other adage very similar to the shepherds and sheep with too many chiefs!

danielanthony

Perhaps we could have a discussion about crappy patients or those using the NHS who haven't contributed to its upkeep?

I know of alot of examples where patients have undergone extensive and expensive treatment and then proceeded to go outside (or into the toilets) for a fag break. Those who are rude to nurses and hca's, treating them like their personal slaves, like the hospital is some sort of hotel.

Yes, some doctors and nurses wont be 100% on the ball, but there seems to be no appreciation for the cr*p they put up with.

There's a thread going on about healthcare in the USA, I suggest some people here go and read it before complaining about the NHS!

surreysaver

danielanthony wrote: »

Don't forget that nurses get paid a pittance for how qualified they are and for what they have to do as part of their jobs. I certainly wouldn't want to do it.

For the level of their qualification, they should be paid more. But they are not paid a pittance, either. They are paid a lot more than a lot of people think. Bare in mind too, that a lot of them are part time, so when they are moaning about their pay they are probably only working 20 hours a week. And you have to take into consideration the excellent benefits - the large amount of maternity pay they get, carers leave of five paid days a year, generous amounts of annual leave. So what they lose in pay they make up for in other benefits.

eco

My mum received care for Cancer from Cookridge and Jimmy's and both were good, this was a few years back, so I did the rounds with her on appointments, biopsy's she had done at Dewsbury. I met loads of Cancer patients with my mum and there resilience and hope is humbling.

Pinderfields is part of a trust and at the moment they are getting rid of staff, from all 3 hospitals, nurses are been stretched by managers on far more money, the nurse are put on 12/13 hour shifts on the wards and there isn't enough staff to look after patients effectivly. They are also having to apply for there job and been told there isn't a position at there hosdpital and been told there is a job at one of the other hospitals, putting X amount of time on there days trying to travel there. It doesn't excuse the treatment your mum received and i would be hopping mad, all those patients deserved better but very unlikely to get it.

getmore4less

surreysaver wrote: »

For the level of their qualification, they should be paid more. But they are not paid a pittance, either. They are paid a lot more than a lot of people think.

Well what do people think here are some guidelines

Starting basic is £21k but with shifts that can be more like £25-£28k

A fully experienced nurse in charge of a ward will be on a basic pay of over £30k with nurse managers going upto £40k on band 7

THose that can get onto band 8 go even higher.

SingleSue

We have experienced good and bad care in our local hospital.

For my dad, a very quick response to his stroke with the clot busters which meant that despite having a very severe stroke, he is walking, talking and pretty ok rather than completely paralysed down one side with no speech.

For my youngest son, a patience for his autistic strops because he has been unsettled by all the wires, machines, masks etc due to his severe asthma. Also, a caring and supportive attitude to me as mum..and putting up with my constant being awake because I am an insomniac!

For my ex husband (once we got past A&E) for their knowledge, they niceness and supportiveness to both of us.

But the bad times...

Ignoring the fact that middle son was in extreme distress despite all the machines (plus the meconium in the water) indicating his distress and just passing it off as me being neurotic and opting not to go the C section route, a decision which almost killed him (he was effectively stillborn) and has left him with brain damage and mild deafness.

To not controlling my pain medication after a sterilisation went wrong and they had to do it via a different route, so much so that my bladder went into shock and I couldn't wee....which meant that instead of it being a day procedure, I was in hospital for a week until my bladder was sorted out.

To being blase about my sister when at almost due date, she was losing copious amounts of bright red blood and putting it down to a show. They only took it seriously when I kicked up a stink and they decided to do a scan...the placenta had come away from the wall of the womb and was floating freely, one emergency C section and the almost loss of my sister and her unborn child later and my niece entered the world. This also happened to be the same ward which only 10 weeks earlier, had ignored my middle sons distress in labour...hence my kicking up a stink.

We have had some wonderful care and some not so good care but on the whole, I think the majority of the staff do their best for their patients within the confines of the rules of the management. Some of the staff I have dealt with have been wonderful (as in the nurses who deal with youngest) and some have not been so (the midwife who dealt with both me and my sister for her eldest and my middle).

nicter

Starting basic is £21k but with shifts that can be more like £25-£28k

A fully experienced nurse in charge of a ward will be on a basic pay of over £30k with nurse managers going upto £40k on band 7

I am a band 5 nurse with 30 years experience . I and my fellow band 5 staff nurses are regularly "in charge" of the ward. Our band 6s and above work 9-5 Mon - Friday so have no choice. Also our Drs arent just "sitting" on the ward waiting to jump when a patient is poorly. Its up to us as nurses to recognise when a patient needs a Drs input. Just for the record some of these "Drs" are wet behind the ears SHOs who are in the early part of their training. They learn from us as we learn from them. They often ( and I do mean often ) write up prescriptions wrongly and it becomes our resposibility to ensure these errors are corrected as if we give out medication that is wrongly prescribed by Drs it is our registration on the line not theirs. Hardly a semi-skilled job I think

gunsandbanjos

nicter wrote: »

Just for the record some of these "Drs" are wet behind the ears SHOs who are in the early part of their training. They learn from us as we learn from them. They often ( and I do mean often ) write up prescriptions wrongly and it becomes our resposibility to ensure these errors are corrected as if we give out medication that is wrongly prescribed by Drs it is our registration on the line not theirs. Hardly a semi-skilled job I think

Have you read 'Trust me i'm a junior doctor'? It's scary! The guy says one of the first things to do on a new rotation is to make friends with the nurses as they are invaluable.

ailuro2

Am I missing something here.... or is this a year old thread that has been resurrected out of the blue... would it not make sense to start a new one, save people reading 7 pages of old posts??:)