Nursing Agencies...

Be Honest Lytham. It goes back a lot further than that.

I controlled a Nursing home with 38 beds in the 1990's for four years. We had to have a minimum of nursing staff and care assistants on at all times (24 hours) to remain within the law and the requirements of the CQC. So long as we were fully staffed and they all turned in as well as having every room let, with a percentage of private clients we made a weekly profit on the last 5 rooms. However, if was often the case we had to use agency staff that profits of the home were affected and during one period when there was a bug going around, brought in from a local hospital, we had a fortnight of horrendous bills from the nursing agencies, which affected the profits for a number of weeks.

So it isn't a new or recent problem.
 
Curryman said:
Be Honest Lytham. It goes back a lot further than that.

I controlled a Nursing home with 38 beds in the 1990's for four years. We had to have a minimum of nursing staff and care assistants on at all times (24 hours) to remain within the law and the requirements of the CQC. So long as we were fully staffed and they all turned in as well as having every room let, with a percentage of private clients we made a weekly profit on the last 5 rooms. However, if was often the case we had to use agency staff that profits of the home were affected and during one period when there was a bug going around, brought in from a local hospital, we had a fortnight of horrendous bills from the nursing agencies, which affected the profits for a number of weeks.

So it isn't a new or recent problem.
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Different scenario, you had full staff so presumably recruitment wasn't an issue?

Did you not have cover because of the extra money? If you had a rotation you must have?
 
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Satriale's Pork Store said:
There is a difference between medical staff earning a fair and decent salary, than unscrupulous Agencies taking the proverbial out of the NHS and taxpayer!
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Rubbish - the agencies invest in having the people available to help the NHS and other organisations when it’s needed.

We live in a Capitalist country. Someone else could provide the service for less if it was worth it.

The NHS has many suppliers, the fact some supply people cover is irrelevant!

There is more than one agency that can supply staff - and its competitive.
 
seasideone said:
Rubbish - the agencies invest in having the people available to help the NHS and other organisations when it’s needed.

We live in a Capitalist country. Someone else could provide the service for less if it was worth it.

The NHS has many suppliers, the fact some supply people cover is irrelevant!

There is more than one agency that can supply staff - and its competitive.
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You do love competition don't you?
 
seasideone said:
Rubbish - the agencies invest in having the people available to help the NHS and other organisations when it’s needed.

We live in a Capitalist country. Someone else could provide the service for less if it was worth it.

The NHS has many suppliers, the fact some supply people cover is irrelevant!

There is more than one agency that can supply staff - and its competitive.
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So it's right for the NHS to be paying between £1000-£2000 to Agencies for a Senior Nurse for a full shift?
Hardly the best use of Taxpayers money?
 
Satriale's Pork Store said:
As with most things, there is a happy medium...
If Nurses (and Junior Doctors) were suitably remunerated then there would be less need for Agency cover.
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People phone in ill all the time, or don’t make work for a variety of reasons.

Some people don’t want to work full time either in a specific role - but are happy to be available in certain circumstances.

The agencies provide a service to the NHS that’s critical and bails them out as well when they need it.
 
We do have bank staff but no fucker wants to go on that these days so it's short as well, basically people are ** off in droves.
 
Lytham_fy8 said:
We do have bank staff but no fucker wants to go on that these days so it's short as well, basically people are ** off in droves.
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My last two years of working were on the NHS bench. My wife suggested it - she being full-time NHS. So, I did a couple of years clerking for a team at the Vic. Good it was too. No management responsibility and a good set of people to work with.
 
1966_and_all_that said:
My last two years of working were on the NHS bench. My wife suggested it - she being full-time NHS. So, I did a couple of years clerking for a team at the Vic. Good it was too. No management responsibility and a good set of people to work with.
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Bank admin is still popular I think, pretty stress free usually.

I know some who went to records because they liked the complete lack of responsibility.
 
Lytham_fy8 said:
Bank admin is still popular I think, pretty stress free usually.

I know some who went to records because they liked the complete lack of responsibility.
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I spent a fair bit of my time searching through the rather wet bowels of the Vic looking for records. Not the best occupation.
 
I sell to the NHS and from time to time phone up a contact to be told he/she retired last week. A couple of months later they are back working on the "Bank". How much is that costing?
 
Old_Laytonian said:
I sell to the NHS and from time to time phone up a contact to be told he/she retired last week. A couple of months later they are back working on the "Bank". How much is that costing?
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It's double their hourly wage pal.
My wife's Matron in her ward took very early retirement as she knew they could play the system.

Less hours but for £30+ per hour and always needed lovely.
 
I
poolseasider said:
It's double their hourly wage pal.
My wife's Matron in her ward took very early retirement as she knew they could play the system.

Less hours but for £30+ per hour and always needed lovely.
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A guy I deal with who is 75 has been retired 10 years and works three days a week when he's not on holiday and and earns more than when he worked full-time.
 
seasideone said:
People phone in ill all the time, or don’t make work for a variety of reasons.

Some people don’t want to work full time either in a specific role - but are happy to be available in certain circumstances.

The agencies provide a service to the NHS that’s critical and bails them out as well when they need it.
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Staffing levels have been deliberately driven down across the public sector in the name of efficiency to the point where agency staff are the norm for large swathes. That comes out of a separate budget, masking the problem, but actually costing more than if permanent staff were in place to cover.

It's not just the NHS, it's all public sector staffing where agency staff are in place for years on massive payments to the preferred companies.
 
Old_Laytonian said:
I

A guy I deal with who is 75 has been retired 10 years and works three days a week when he's not on holiday and and earns more than when he worked full-time.
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Nobody would have an issue for any working NHS staff doing overtime if needed and getting double time but this playing the system is wrong.
 
Like where I work, if it wasn't for agency staff half the jobs wouldn't be covered. The cost of paying them is offset by the fact the firm doesn't need to pay them for sick or annual leave. However just like the NHS it masks the obvious fact the business doesn't have enough employees. Just another part of broken Britain and the fact the people at the top are raking it in at the expense of everyone else.
 
There should be an NHS tax on everyone. Separate it completely. X amount of pence per month from employed, self employed and a deduction from any state benefits. We all pay x amount of pence equally.
 
Problem with the NHS it's a big gaping whole and it doesn't matter money what you throw into it just gets bigger.

The NHS was set up to prevent people from getting ill exactly the opposite has happened and every time a new medicine or cure is found it's an even bigger drain on the service.
Add on to that the utter waste(my wife tells me) and people stealing a living or like above playing the system to get more money out it's a mess.

I'd take it out of politics altogether but good luck with this one Labour your going to need it.
 
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