Why is the NHS so generous with their employee leave

The NHS is under attack at the moment and malicious lies are being peddled. I’d like to know who is behind it.

NHS doesn’t give time off for GP and dentist appointments. I had to take annual leave to have essential treatment for MS.

When my DF died suddenly in his 60s, I got 5 days of NHS compassionate leave (would have been 3 but it was extended given I needed to travel and arrange a funeral). My GP signed me off for 4 weeks. I returned to work because I didn't want to leave my team short staffed and my patients struggling. My first day back in I spent half my shift comforting 2 families who had been bereaved and the other half sobbing alone at my computer.

A colleague took much longer off for a family bereavement and I absolutely didn't begrudge it. There are lots of jobs that are vital to society but to give compassionate care you have to be able to give something of yourself (in a way I don't think you do in finance or waste collection say) and there are some points in your life where you have nothing to give. I'd rather people stayed off and recovered than not be able to offer the support patients deserve.

Considering we work for maybe 45 years or more, it's not a lot in the greater scheme of things.

FWIW - I also get 33 days holiday + BHs, and check my emails, and am contactable when on leave, including when I have been off sick, but this is because I am a bit of a workaholic as much as anything.

I save lives for a living.

Rubbish collecting is important but I don't think it's a similar comparison 🙄 You try saving the life of someone when you're exhausted 😊

Ah! Good! I was going to use my best manager voice to tell you off! 🤣

Not unreasonable at all. Heard of someone taking sick leave for a cosmetic treatment - because they work for NHS it’s full pay for up to 6 months!! I couldn’t believe it!

No sorry I meant sick, I take my annual leave each year. I was just pointing out that we don’t all take “full advantage” of our sick leave policy

Why arent you taking your leave? It's there for your health as much as holidays.

the NHS is the biggest employer in the country, there are people who take the piss yes, but remember there are people who also do in the private sector, it just feels less because in percentage terms it’s a much smaller physical number. I would bet however if you compared it adjusted to size it would be similar.

I work for the NHS. Last time I took time off was 2022 when I had covid. I took one week off when my dad died. We don't all take the piss.

There’s so much hate toward NHS employees here, it’s unbelievable. And it’s not just them—there’s also hate directed at the police, firefighters, paramedics, and anyone working in the public sector.

The irony is that the population on Mumsnet is mostly made up of very wealthy people who don’t work in the public sector and would never let their precious children work there either. In fact, the children of Mumsnet members rarely take on manual or working-class jobs at all. No wonder there’s such a shortage of workers in this country.

It’s hard not to laugh at the claim that NHS employees aren’t taxpayers. Then comes the argument that their salaries and the taxes they pay don’t count because the money comes from other taxpayers. The mental gymnastics are something else. And apparently, according to the Labour government, only those earning £50k or more qualify as taxpayers. You’d think plenty of NHS staff fall into that bracket, making them safe from the “non-taxpayer” label, but the online chatter insists otherwise.

So whose job is actually more important?

Contempible. And incomprehensible.

I missed three noughts off that figure, it costs £1,300,000,000,000 to run the state currently.

No the attitude of the consultant towards the little people who pay their wages was what was contemptible.

Doctors can't be employed unless the people emptying bins and working on the tills in Tesco pay their taxes.

So whose job is actually more important? Would doctors work for free?

When I was in the public sector at one stage, the holiday was a normal allocation, anyway. No bonuses like the private sector, obviously.

Those employees pay income tax as well as VAT on their purchases and stamp duty and inheritance tax and fuel duty etc etc.

And of they paid those taxes from money paid to them for work paid for by the public sector, none of it contributes additional money to the running of the state. Inheritance tax comes from an inherited, of course, so that does but it comes from the dead person not from the legatees.

How do you feel about somebody who works for a private company that is contracted by the government? Are their wages and taxes paid by the tax payer as well?

I've explained that one already, above. Yes. The source of the money is what counts, not who is doing the work. It counts for company too. If they make a profit on government paid work, they pay taxes on that profit, but those taxes don't add to the total money available to run the state and nor do the taxes on the dividend paid to their shareholders.

Are you suggesting that public sector should be paid tax-free to avoid the administrative burden of collection of their taxes?

It would make things too difficult to administer where people have other income, like interest on savings accounts and second jobs. It's probably cheaper overall to allow teachers and nurses the illusion that the tax on their payslip helps pay for the services they provide. It also gives them the same stake in voting for political parties based on their taxation plans.

For what it's worth, income tax only provides about a quarter of government income. The rest comes from other state revenue streams

Of course. Rates, VAT, corporation tax, capital gains tax ..... For all practical purposes in the context of spending £1,300,000,000 a year, none is provided by the public sector.

I’d say there was every need. Comparing the work of an ED doctor to emptying bins was beyond crass. Your attitude is contemptible.

I was thinking this-I know a few NHS who sadly lost parents and none were off for this long. I am not in any way criticising or judging people who did need to take longer.
As for miscarriage, aside from the emotional pain, some women have physical damage and problems (either that caused the miscarriage, or as a result of this). I'm not the only woman with personal experience of this. As a very fit person, I was physically in agony for months after and needed two operations, so was off work a considerable time. It was far worse than normal childbirth, and I physically couldn't do much, so for the other people who were off for 2 months, they might have been the same.
I actually think we should value good staff, in the NHS and everywhere, and try to make leave/family support etc better. People are always criticising those on benefits, but wouldn't it be better (and cheaper for the country!) if they were able to take a decent period sick then return to work rather than being forced out of a job due to illness?

If the point you're trying to make is that public sector employees are paid by the state...Well, duh.

Those employees pay income tax as well as VAT on their purchases and stamp duty and inheritance tax and fuel duty etc etc.

How do you feel about somebody who works for a private company that is contracted by the government? Are their wages and taxes paid by the tax payer as well? Are you suggesting that public sector should be paid tax-free to avoid the administrative burden of collection of their taxes?

For what it's worth, income tax only provides about a quarter of government income. The rest comes from other state revenue streams

I work for the NHS. 15hrs unpaid overtime a week to keep my service afloat.
3 days sick (COVID)
Entitled to 3 days bereavement leave although there is an expectation that you are off between death and funeral for close relatives. I took 3 days when my mum died due to 25% vacancies in the service.

Either your friends are lying to you or to their employer. Id find a better class of friend.

In the context of the total cost of the state those contributions are a raindrop in the sea and don't materially change the facts about who pays to run public services.

There are quite a few exceptions actually
For starters chunks of the public sector have pretty decent real estate investment portfolios that help fund them.
Then you have things like planners who are funded by developers paying application fees.
Museums that often have to prove they are self funding or they would close.

Yes, thank you. Also successful in a career spanning public and private sector.

With a few very limited exceptions, (the Land Registry being a notable one) the public sector does not make any money. Where do you think the money you are paid as a public sector worker which you then hand back as tax comes from? It started off as tax paid by a person/organisation in the private sector. It was put in your pay packet by the government and you gave it back again. You giving it back again didn't increase the total amount of tax available to pay for the state to run. This is how the economies of most countries work.

Same in public sector.
Pay is generally lower than private. No bonuses no overtime.
So for me generous AL and decent pension is the only perks I get.

Did you do well at school?