NHS Weekend Working and Sunday Trading?

remorseless

elantan wrote: »

I know nurses that have a very different experience from that, working xmas day they dont get any extra days off, just the basic Sunday hours pay, and they have to work hard 24/7 it doesnt slow down on xmas day, people are still ill

why should a nurse (or anyone in that industry) be paid extra for a job that consist of 24x7 operations cause as you say, people get ill regardless of the day/time.

I agree that overall retribution should be fair though as a package.

elantan

why should they give up their family time? I dare say if they were paid a decent salary it wouldnt matter just as much ( although to some it certainly would) why should they only get 1% wage rise for the next 4 years when Mp's just awarded themselves a whole load more?

Just because it is a 24/7 need doesnt mean everyone should work 24/7

elantan

I do however know support workers that work xmas day etc and only get single time and no extra holidays, but just because some do doesnt mean all should, we shouldnt be having a race to the bottom, instead we should be fighting for those people on minimum wage to get recompense for working unsociable hours ...

remorseless

an average nurse salary is £21k which is pretty low!

Why has a nurse chose a profession where they know they will need to work those hours?

[Deleted User]

My wife is an A&E Snr Sister.. i think we've spent three Christmas days together in our 10 years together.. the others she's been working - Good job we don't celebrate it I guess!

24/7 'life' doesn't fit in well with being a parent. If my job was shift-based like hers, I don't know how we'd manage childcare or see our kids!

lostinrates

Generali wrote: »

When I reply to an email on a day I'm not working I send it with a delay so it doesn't appear in the senders inbox until I'm back in the office.

I have colleagues who can deal with things in my absence and if something is really that urgent they can call me and get a considered or curt response depending on my assessment of urgency.

I agree with the point about your mate's mum. With some jobs, weekend or shift working goes with the territory. Perhaps it's time that more of medicine came under that regimen. I guess that back in the day it made little difference if specialists were available urgently. The hospital system is perhaps working on a C19th model in the C21st when modern technology means that specialised, rapid intervention can make a huge difference to outcomes.

100 years ago I suspect your mate's mum would have had a bad outcome regardless. Now she has had a far worse one than could otherwise have been the case.

How do we weigh up the benefits to society and to individuals of the physios being able to attend their sons' soccer game on a Saturday with mums being paralysed for life?

When I was at school sports were not just on Saturdays but after school, away games etc. It was not expected that parents came to EVERY game, in fact, sometimes it can be a problem if they do.


But the simple answer would be to use vacation time.

wotsthat

remorseless wrote: »

why should a nurse (or anyone in that industry) be paid extra for a job that consist of 24x7 operations cause as you say, people get ill regardless of the day/time.

If they got paid a flat salary that calculated unsocial hours upfront when do you think the most popular time to throw a sickie would be?

remorseless

wotsthat wrote: »

If they got paid a flat salary that calculated unsocial hours upfront when do you think the most popular time to throw a sickie would be?

indeed!!!! and let me guess, fire them becomes impossible, blah blah
GREAT system!

elantan

remorseless wrote: »

an average nurse salary is £21k which is pretty low!

Why has a nurse chose a profession where they know they will need to work those hours?

Maybe because they care? and to think they study 45 weeks per year for three years and then have to pay a registration fee often and constantly prove they are studying, stupid isnt it ?

lostinrates

elantan wrote: »

It isnt justabout economics, but the staff are not paid great to begin with ( some are admittedly) and the workers are having to take time away from their families, say one partner only works mon-fri but their partner has to work three weekends out of four for the NHS ( for example) so they dont have much time together, should they not be compensated for that? or should they be given the option? just now for many ( again using the NHS example) they have no choice but HAVE to work so they have to sacrifice through no choice their only family time. Have they only to have this "sacrosanct" time every other month?

I come from a family where the sacrosanct time was less than this. My personal opinion is that two days a year is not enough but weekly is not really appreciated by most with extended unit, but necessary with nuclear one at least. This doesn't need to be full days. Meals around tables, dog walking, whatever. Prioritise it and its amazing what one can acheive. I haven't lived with my husband for over a decade full time, we've not managed an annual holiday. It doesn't make our marriage less functional. It makes some home admin less efficient however.