NHS Staff Sickness
Discussion
My wife works for an NHS trust and the stories she tells me about abuse of their sickness policy are scandalous.
The opportunities to game the system sound horrendous with the same people off for months on end every year with various BS minor ailments.
I looked up the policy and of course with this being public sector I found that it’s a load of overly complex tripe but looked like in any 12 month period they could get 6 months on full pay and 6 months on half pay.
Within her trust it’s common knowledge among colleagues that these people privately admit to gaming the system but nobody with any authority cares and/or can do anything about it.
This is not victimless as the waiting lists for the services these people are being paid to provide are years long as a result of their regular absenteeism.
I understand that there’s millions of NHS sacred cow believers out there who don’t want to hear things like this and that’s one of the reasons that the organisation will always remain terribly inefficient.
The opportunities to game the system sound horrendous with the same people off for months on end every year with various BS minor ailments.
I looked up the policy and of course with this being public sector I found that it’s a load of overly complex tripe but looked like in any 12 month period they could get 6 months on full pay and 6 months on half pay.
Within her trust it’s common knowledge among colleagues that these people privately admit to gaming the system but nobody with any authority cares and/or can do anything about it.
This is not victimless as the waiting lists for the services these people are being paid to provide are years long as a result of their regular absenteeism.
I understand that there’s millions of NHS sacred cow believers out there who don’t want to hear things like this and that’s one of the reasons that the organisation will always remain terribly inefficient.
Franco5 said:
My wife works for an NHS trust and the stories she tells me about abuse of their sickness policy are scandalous.
The opportunities to game the system sound horrendous with the same people off for months on end every year with various BS minor ailments.
I looked up the policy and of course with this being public sector I found that it’s a load of overly complex tripe but looked like in any 12 month period they could get 6 months on full pay and 6 months on half pay.
Within her trust it’s common knowledge among colleagues that these people privately admit to gaming the system but nobody with any authority cares and/or can do anything about it.
This is not victimless as the waiting lists for the services these people are being paid to provide are years long as a result of their regular absenteeism.
I understand that there’s millions of NHS sacred cow believers out there who don’t want to hear things like this and that’s one of the reasons that the organisation will always remain terribly inefficient.
Yes.The opportunities to game the system sound horrendous with the same people off for months on end every year with various BS minor ailments.
I looked up the policy and of course with this being public sector I found that it’s a load of overly complex tripe but looked like in any 12 month period they could get 6 months on full pay and 6 months on half pay.
Within her trust it’s common knowledge among colleagues that these people privately admit to gaming the system but nobody with any authority cares and/or can do anything about it.
This is not victimless as the waiting lists for the services these people are being paid to provide are years long as a result of their regular absenteeism.
I understand that there’s millions of NHS sacred cow believers out there who don’t want to hear things like this and that’s one of the reasons that the organisation will always remain terribly inefficient.
I was at a cricket match a couple of weeks ago, chatting to a GP during the first innings and a consultant during the second.
The GP was moaning about not wanting to work for such long hours, "because of all the tax we have to pay". He seemed to be of the view that medics should enjoy lower rates of taxation than the wider population and, unless they did, they would be doing no more than necessary.
The consultant was saying that during recent strikes the work rate on his department actually increased, and the through-flow of patients was quicker.
You've only got to spend a few hours in an NHS hospital to see that it's largely staffed by the self-serving and the idle. Compare and contrast with a private hospital.
But, the NHS is indeed a sacred cow, you can't criticise the nurses.
williamp said:
Get well soon Dicky..
Maybe ask them to film a tick-tok dance video for you??
Thanks, william. I'll write up a cautionary tale when it's over. A few years into retirement, DIYing, gardening and still driving too fast then, wallop, couldn't walk 100 yards without resting. It happened so fast. And the NHS, bless em, have reacted almost as fast themselves. My 'episode' was in March, my 'at least' quadruple bypass is scheduled for Friday. At St Bart's! World class medical attention on the NHS. This is Off Topic, obviously, and i know there will be shirkers in any organisation. But they're being kept well away from me, I can tell you that. Maybe ask them to film a tick-tok dance video for you??
However, if I don't make it, I reserve the right to change my opinion
A woman who works with my wife has been off for 12 months with long covid.
Came back for three weeks and then found out she's entitled to 18 months with long covid so went off again.
That poorly that she manages to go out on all-day benders in Skegness and then posts the photos to Facebook.
There are certainly a large number of people playing the system.
Came back for three weeks and then found out she's entitled to 18 months with long covid so went off again.
That poorly that she manages to go out on all-day benders in Skegness and then posts the photos to Facebook.
There are certainly a large number of people playing the system.
Are you really moaning that staff are being provided with a nice secure sickness policy?
Some might take the mick but I would suspect they are far and few between.
Surely we don’t want staff coming in sick and working with vulnerable patients because they don’t have enough sick days or won’t get paid for that day.
Some might take the mick but I would suspect they are far and few between.
Surely we don’t want staff coming in sick and working with vulnerable patients because they don’t have enough sick days or won’t get paid for that day.
Tigerj said:
Are you really moaning that staff are being provided with a nice secure sickness policy?
Some might take the mick but I would suspect they are far and few between.
Surely we don’t want staff coming in sick and working with vulnerable patients because they don’t have enough sick days or won’t get paid for that day.
No, moaning about people taking sick pay when they aren't ill. Some might take the mick but I would suspect they are far and few between.
Surely we don’t want staff coming in sick and working with vulnerable patients because they don’t have enough sick days or won’t get paid for that day.
My work gives me a lot of exposure to the NHS. I couldn't even start to tell you about the sheer amount of wastage and lack of accountability. It's absolutely mind-boggling. If even half of it was remotely understood by the general public it would change perceptions of free healthcare in the name of the NHS.
That said, as you go up the chain to the critical care workers, you see less and less of the idiocy and the service provided gets better and better. It must be terrible for them to see the rest of the NHS crumble beneath them because of f
k whits at the top, and bottom.
That said, as you go up the chain to the critical care workers, you see less and less of the idiocy and the service provided gets better and better. It must be terrible for them to see the rest of the NHS crumble beneath them because of f
k whits at the top, and bottom.It's not just sickness. My wife is a nurse and the lack of meritocracy is a major issue. She works with large swathes of colleagues who just don't give a damn anymore, doing the bare minimum day after day - after all they get paid the same as it's based on time served rather than ability.
She finds it's typically the older, more time served staff who have seemingly been broken by the system and have a complete ambivalence to it now.
She finds it's typically the older, more time served staff who have seemingly been broken by the system and have a complete ambivalence to it now.
DickyC said:
williamp said:
Get well soon Dicky..
Maybe ask them to film a tick-tok dance video for you??
Thanks, william. I'll write up a cautionary tale when it's over. A few years into retirement, DIYing, gardening and still driving too fast then, wallop, couldn't walk 100 yards without resting. It happened so fast. And the NHS, bless em, have reacted almost as fast themselves. My 'episode' was in March, my 'at least' quadruple bypass is scheduled for Friday. At St Bart's! World class medical attention on the NHS. This is Off Topic, obviously, and i know there will be shirkers in any organisation. But they're being kept well away from me, I can tell you that. Maybe ask them to film a tick-tok dance video for you??
However, if I don't make it, I reserve the right to change my opinion
Countdown said:
I think the average absence rate is 5%.
I had a quick google there and the average absence rate across the entire UK workforce is 2.6%Average absence in the NHS seems to be around what you say, at 5%.
However it varies greatly by role.
Ambulance staff and ambulance support roles its as high as 8.9%. Commissioning support units as low as 2.8%.
Zoon said:
A woman who works with my wife has been off for 12 months with long covid.
Came back for three weeks and then found out she's entitled to 18 months with long covid so went off again.
That Covid extension finished 12mths ago. There are thousands of nurses leaving.Came back for three weeks and then found out she's entitled to 18 months with long covid so went off again.
One of my daughters works in the NHS and got Covid right at the beginning - she's got scarring shown on her lungs and heart palpitations. She is patient facing but her role isn't physical like a nurse's sometimes is otherwise she'd be stuffed. She is very slowly getting better but the worst effect for her is brain fog - she loses track of what she's doing sometimes. Wouldn't be ideal for someone handling drugs.
The Trust she works in has pretty aggressive OT. There's a process to go through, but if people can't do the job they get eased out.
Sheepshanks said:
Zoon said:
A woman who works with my wife has been off for 12 months with long covid.
Came back for three weeks and then found out she's entitled to 18 months with long covid so went off again.
That Covid extension finished 12mths ago. There are thousands of nurses leaving.Came back for three weeks and then found out she's entitled to 18 months with long covid so went off again.
Deep Thought said:
Countdown said:
I think the average absence rate is 5%.
I had a quick google there and the average absence rate across the entire UK workforce is 2.6%Average absence in the NHS seems to be around what you say, at 5%.
However it varies greatly by role.
Ambulance staff and ambulance support roles its as high as 8.9%. Commissioning support units as low as 2.8%.
Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff