A seven day economy

CLAPTON

lostinrates wrote: »

Compare traffic at weekends to weekdays in school holidays?

9-5 doesn't usually mean 24/7 but no matter

lostinrates

CLAPTON wrote: »

9-5 doesn't usually mean 24/7 but no matter

Exactly, it gives a comparison, school traffic removed.

N1AK

kabayiri wrote: »

Oh, someone will be along shortly telling me that we can outsource sales and IT and support functions but not education - it's "special"...

I think the point was rather more than in a 9-5 focused work world having schools fit that regime makes sense. If, and I doubt it will happen anytime soon, 9-5 Mon-Fri became a far, far less common work pattern then we'd have to try and work out how to handle schooling.

N1AK

CLAPTON wrote: »

one wonders what percentage of people actually work 9-5 any more?

Not an aweful lot I would imagine, though I expect the number that are contracted to work something similar is very high. For example, the two firms I've worked in employee over 800 office staff all working something 9-5esque (my current contract is 08:30-17:00). My wife's employer employs 500 people, and have the standard hours 09:00-17:15 (with early finish Friday).

I'd consider all those 2k+ workers as '9-5' workers, because it's pointless taking it too literally.

purch

Generali wrote: »

The cry of defiance in City offices after 7/7 is that they were about 3 hours late to get anyone with a decent city job.

Bloody Americans and their no drinking at lunchtime, and taking the job seriously ideas. :mad:

Totally ruined everything.

Sapphire

lostinrates wrote: »

Realistically, so do some employed people. Pills know both self employment and 24/7 contracted employment from personal experience. So I was thinking ....why not accept the boundaries for the employed at least can be better drawn and perhaps improve both output and work life balance?

Before I was freelance and when I was employed in a fairly senior position at work, I too worked most weekends (from home), but for free because of the pressures of the job. (Before anyone says 'fool', a publishing career is not generally a well-paid one and few these days can expect to be paid overtime.) I loved the job at the time and was ambitious – but working like that does cause burn out. Thus I don't know whether a full seven-day working week would be a good idea, given how it would affect people's health.

Personally, I would love it if we went back to Sunday being a completely work-free day, like it used to be. It's amazing how quiet and car-free it is when the shops are not open.

CLAPTON

N1AK wrote: »

Not an aweful lot I would imagine, though I expect the number that are contracted to work something similar is very high. For example, the two firms I've worked in employee over 800 office staff all working something 9-5esque (my current contract is 08:30-17:00). My wife's employer employs 500 people, and have the standard hours 09:00-17:15 (with early finish Friday).

I'd consider all those 2k+ workers as '9-5' workers, because it's pointless taking it too literally.

I wasn't taking 9-5 too literally but broadly working 5 days a week (at 8 hours each) between say 7 am and 7 pm is quite different to working 24/7.

N1AK

CLAPTON wrote: »

I wasn't taking 9-5 too literally but broadly working 5 days a week (at 8 hours each) between say 7 am and 7 pm is quite different to working 24/7.

Yeah that's a fair definition, I wasn't intending to suggest that you wanted to take it literally, merely to highlight that how literally it is applied would massively influence the number of people classed as working it

Thrugelmir

princeofpounds wrote: »

I remember these GP shortage scare stories going decades back.

The truth is that you simply have to look at medical school applications to see that the enthusiasm for the vocation is huge, a multiple of those who actually get to practice it.

Any shortage in GPs has largely artificial causes.

Seems we read different media. An article from today.

The NHS is facing a serious shortage of GPs, as hundreds of jobs for trainee family doctors remain unfilled.

In some areas, half the vacancies are empty, according to an audit carried out by the senior doctors who are responsible for training the UK's future GPs. They have warned the Department of Health that the NHS is facing a crisis.

High levels of paperwork created by NHS reforms, increasing workloads, and long hours are among the reasons why young doctors are shunning careers in general practice.

The doctors have also warned that the shortages are leading to falling standards - two trainee GPs have had their contracts terminated because of incompetence.

In Yorkshire, where 78 out of 300 training posts remain empty, 20 German and Dutch doctors have been hired to fill some of the jobs. In Wales, 40 out of 80 posts remain empty, and in the West of Scotland there are 27 vacancies.

Dr Jamie Bahrami, regional adviser for GP training in Yorkshire, and secretary of the UK conference of postgraduate advisers, which carried out the audit of vacancies, said: "We are faced with a serious crisis in recruitment for GP training. In 1989, we had 30 applications for every vacancy, by 1992, that had dropped to five applications. Now in Yorkshire we have an acute shortage of applications for training schemes with 78 out of 300 vacant.

"We are having to rely heavily on doctors from the European Community. In Yorkshire we have 20 European trainees at present. There are also indications that the quality of trainees is not as good as it was five years ago. We have for example, had to terminate the contracts of employment of two doctors from the EU on the grounds of incompetence.

"Not only are we faced with a recruitment crisis, but people are being appointed to schemes who a few years ago would not have got a job. There are therefore long-term implications for the quality of training. If the situation is allowed to continue we are going to be left with a serious shortage of GPs."

He said that figures from the audit were being passed to the Department of Health with a warning of an impending crisis.

Dr Simon Smail, sub-dean for GP vocational training in Wales, said the principality needed about 100 new GPs a year to fill vacancies. "We advertised around 80 vacancies and only half have been taken up. The 50 per cent uptake is replicated in north of England, the north Midlands, East Anglia and the West Country. The Oxford region for the first time is having problems."

Dr Smail said there were a number of possible reasons for the difficulties in recruiting. "I am very concerned about the situation. It may be that young doctors are quitting medicine altogether.

"It may have something to do with terms and conditions of general practice. There is concern too about the speed of change in NHS, which has had an impact on some doctors. Doctors were not trained as business managers. They find change very stressful and increase in workloads has been stressful. Administrative workloads have gone up by 50 per cent since new contracts came in in 1990."

Professor Stuart Murray, regional adviser for the west of Scotland, said: "We have 27 vacancies out of 155 and that is serious. I think there are a number of issues causing the problems ... financial and a drop in morale, as a result of new contracts making general practice not as attractive."

A Department of Health spokesman said, "There are some valid concerns about GP recruitment. There has been a decline in the number of trainees in recent years, However there were 1,400 trainees throughout England in April 1995, a significantly higher number than is needed to sustain the numbers of GPs.

"We accept that there are real workforce issues which need to be addressed in the medium and longer term."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/gp-trainers-warn-of-doctor-shortages-1580118.html

michaels

Aren't you two agreeing? Isn't the unfilled GP places evidence that the restriction on training school places mean junior doctors can pick and choose their specialism?