Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust offering cash inducements to opt out of pension

Thrugelmir

PensionTech wrote: »

I think Thrugelmir means they're an unnecessary drain on NHS resources - i.e. there are savings to be made that would not come at the expense of the quality of service, if those agency staff could be recruited directly.

Thanks.

woolly_wombat

Thrugelmir wrote: »

A lot of nursing staff do agency work as it's better paid. Also they can pick and choose their hours/shifts. Agency staff are a drain on NHS resources.

The National Audit Office published a report entitled 'Managing the supply of NHS clinical staff in England' on 5 February 2016:
https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Managing-the-supply-of-NHS-clinical-staff-in-England.pdf

No surprises that it finds "high levels of temporary staff are costly and an inefficient use of resources".

Issues with reductions in clinical training programmes are also highlighted with "3,106 fewer for adult nurses (a decrease of 19% since 2004/05)".

There's much more, including the need for more nurses even before the failures in care that were identified at Mid Staffs.

Add in less use of overseas recruitment, plus fewer return-to-practice initiatives (a particularly cost effective method of getting professionals back into the workforce)……and we are where we are.

Pensions are a side issue.

Trying to incentivise workers by offering a deal whereby they give up a valuable perk is like using a tiny sticking plaster to cover a gaping wound.

Thrugelmir

woolly_wombat wrote: »

Trying to incentivise workers by offering a deal whereby they give up a valuable perk is like using a tiny sticking plaster to cover a gaping wound.

Get involved with your local hospital trust and you'll understand the root causes far better.

atush

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thrugelmir View Post
A lot of nursing staff do agency work as it's better paid. Also they can pick and choose their hours/shifts. Agency staff are a drain on NHS resources.

I personally think the picking and choosing/part time is a big thing here.

The NHS could be more flexible, or even have an agency themselves where THEY can give flex shift to those who want to work that way. And then keep good staff, take less agency nurses, and save money?

kidmugsy

PensionTech wrote: »

they're an unnecessary drain on NHS resources - i.e. there are savings to be made that would not come at the expense of the quality of service

I'll bet that's true of plenty of NHS staff too. And plenty of other expenditure. The NHS is badly run; that's hardly news.

woolly_wombat

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Get involved with your local hospital trust and you'll understand the root causes far better.

Thrugelmir, I am a former allied health professional who has tried several times to return to my profession.

I can't tell you how frustrating that's been. I have met senior staff at several hospitals as well as a lecturer at a local university to discuss it.

I have just had a look at my professional body's website and they state that, despite being classed as a shortage profession on the Government's shortage occupation list, they are being contacted monthly by prospective returnees who all tell the same tale of being turned down for clinical refresher support.

It's too late for me now and I long ago resigned myself to helping in my local community in other ways.

greenglide

allied health professional

Pardon my ignorance but what is one of those?

Doctor, nurse, HCA, technician, ......................

woolly_wombat

greenglide wrote: »

Pardon my ignorance but what is one of those?

Doctor, nurse, HCA, technician, ......................

Speech and language therapists, physios, OTs, dieticians, radiographers etc
https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/allied-health-professionals

greenglide

Large organisations (and many smaller one for that matter) do have a tendency to struggle mightily over employing people who have left the profession to explore other areas and then want to return later even if retrained, reskilled etc.

Not just limited to NHS I am afraid.

woolly_wombat

greenglide wrote: »

Large organisations (and many smaller one for that matter) do have a tendency to struggle mightily over employing people who have left the profession to explore other areas and then want to return later even if retrained, reskilled etc.

Not just limited to NHS I am afraid.

It's really only relevant to this discussion because the NAO highlighted return-to-practise initiatives as a relatively inexpensive method of overcoming a shortage of nurses (and other skills shortage professions) in our cash-strapped NHS.

A previous rallying call for former members of my profession to come forward around 12 years ago at a time of critical shortage wasn't backed up with refresher training and the situation clearly hasn't improved since then

I'll post the link again in case anyone reading this really is interested in trying to understand the deep-seated and long-running issues at the root of the current problems with the supply of NHS clinical staff in England:

https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Managing-the-supply-of-NHS-clinical-staff-in-England.pdf

Over and out.

WW