Staff shortages are now a national crisis

[Confusedofbritain]

Staff shortages across many sectors is now a national crisis surely? I’ve given up expecting anything of this government, but why isn’t Labour beating them with a stick over this?

Some examples which affect me personally….

• Can’t go on holiday due to cancelled flight, cause by lack of ground staff.
• I work for NHS trust and we have closed a ward due to c 50% vacancies. We have plenty of money but can’t spend it. Now competing with other trusts paying increasingly high golden handshakes.
• Tried to book restaurant for Tuesday birthday. Not possible as all places shut Monday and Tuesday due to short staff (esp chefs).
• Poor service when we do go out. Staff look frazzled.
• Can’t get a builder to do an extension. Often not bothering to quote. Builder friend can’t keep labourers and brickies. Paying increasingly high wages but getting poached.
• Window fitter quoted me 2x higher than 2019 (for a much smaller window!) probably because they’re so busy and can’t increase capacity due to lack of staff. So prices have gone up by 100%.
• Long delay in discharge for father from hospital, due to long waits for care package (caused by staff shortages). He was in hospital a lot longer than necessary and declined hugely as result.

It’s largely caused by Brexit, partly people retiring or changing livelihood during Covid…:.but why wasn’t this anticipated and what are we doing about it?

I want to see posters EVERYWHERE encouraging people to consider NHS careers. It’s a rewarding career, but impossible to cope and keep going with so few staff. We are escalating to NHS England constantly, saying we need a national solution. It’s beyond critical, but I’m not confident that there is a national drive to sort this out.

The economic and social consequences of ignoring this massive structural issue will be disastrous!

Are you going to pay for her PGCE? Also teaching isn’t a job everyone can cope with, and should only be done by people actually passionate about it. It’s not like scrubbing loos.

I think there are enough qualified teachers England to fill the teacher shortage, however they have quit teaching to do other stuff and can't be tempted back because the working conditions are shit.

I guess it depends which American stat your family live in.

California has expensive gas and they do more miles than we do, criminals are not being prosecuted when they shoplift under a thousand pounds of goods, Cops can't access vehicles for part of their shift as there are a few parts to fix them and they can't purchase enough new, humans are leaving their body fluids on the streets, I could go on.

I think lots of low-paid key workers massively stepped up during the pandemic, taking on extra workload and responsibilities out of a sense of community spirit in a national crisis. Instead of rewarding this, the Government and employers have just expected keyworkers to carry on working at this level for the same low wage despite the pandemic being pretty much over. People leave because they now feel totally exploited and/or the job has become too stressful. Trying to then appoint new staff is impossible because nobody wants minimum wage for a maximum job. It's shameful how the keyworkers have been treated post-pandemic, and I don't blame them for leaving the caring sector for better money/treatment elsewhere.

You are teaching not bare knuckle fighting. Is this what they mean about the snowflake generation? You would last five minutes! Jeez - this is the mindset that is causing the biggest problems for our country.

The 'I can't do' generation lameasahorse the epitome of negative incompetence.

If you can't manage teaching do something else ffs!

@Swayingpalmtrees so you are helping your ex cleaner defraud the benefits system and the NHS?

And thats the rub, it is not defrauding at all, she is absolutely entitled to do this as she has all the correct paperwork. She is doing nothing illegal.

You don't have to live here to use the NHS if you have the correct paperwork, and she is paid the benefits into her polish account, she is allowed to be there and still be given them. This is is exactly what I am saying.

She often lines up a GP appointment, a dental appointment for her son and stays with us.

Perhaps she could let on what her secret is, because there have been no end of posts from people who can't find a dentist, or can't get a GP appointment, for love nor money.

Do I gather that she is using your address so hasn't actually told the authorities she has left? If so, she's cheating the system.

Do you include 'in work' benefits in that?

my self employed friend claims 'child tax' & 'housing allowance' (despite a very low income, he's not currently eligible for tax credits - not sure if that's due to the SEISS payments) & his wife claims 'pip' as she currently can't work due to an illness. (Hoping to return in Dec)

They couldn't make ends meet if they didn't claim benefits. He's worked a couple of jobs over the covid period as his business was legally unable to trade. He's been out of his original trade 20 years now & technology has changed a lot, he's unable to go back into that, so was stuck getting minimum wage jobs. He's now getting his business up & running, but people have less disposable income, so it's slow.

I agree that those who can work, should work & benefits need to be harder to get for the simply work shy, but the 'job centre' (or whatever they call them now) need to get realistic about the jobs they make people apply for too.

I don't know, it's all a bloody mess really.

The same job back in their European home country. A huge amount of our drs, nurses, vets, carers, builders, labourers and service staff were European.

@Swayingpalmtrees You are being incredibly black and white if you think x can replace y.

I am 23. I have a Nursing Degree. But I'm not employed. I'm a Benefit claimant. I'm a carer for my disabled DC.

Please would you advise how I get a job?

He goes to school 8.30 to 3.30 but has multiple things that need chasing. And he sleeps 3 hours a night. Midnight to 3am.

If I went to work for a few hours whilst he was in school, can you tell me when you expect me to sleep? Take care of myself? I can't even cook properly in front of him as it's dangerous. He would burn himself and has no danger awareness.

I don't have a H. He walked out when he realised this is definitely a job for 2/3 people really and not for 1 mum on her own!

We get respite hours at weekends that I occasionally use, but don't want to all the time as it's important I help build his skills and take him out. Guess what? A single carer can't have him. He has two have a ratio of 2:1. So many weeks it's cancelled anyway

What lameasahorse said. I've left my full time teaching role at 58 because I want my weekends and evenings back. I'm no snowflake.

The Gvt could really help by supporting those who are looking for a mid-life career change - either with adult apprenticeships, or subsidies for hard-to-fill vacancies. I've wanted to retrain as a paramedic for several years, but as a solo homeowner I just can't see how I can afford to do this without selling my house. There are so many people who would love to change careers but just cannot afford to do so.

This isn’t possible in a lot of jobs though. If the vet in your example needs someone there FT, then that is what they need. The vet I take my dog to has a couple of part time staff, but they do 2 x 8/9 hour days, rather than 5 x 3 hour days as that doesn’t fit with what the business needs. Afternoons are when they do most of their planned ops so need people there.

And there are very few employers who would accommodate the baby sleeping thing. Most insist on having childcare arranged, even if WFH.

I started a thread asking where all these flexible/WFH jobs are, as I’d love one!

At airports the problem is them making staff redundant during Covid and now not offering the pay and conditions that people want. As pp said, you can get paid more working in a supermarket and have better access to discounts, parking and more set hours.

Hmm, well, no one seems to want my husband who is in his early 60s. Perhaps employers should be more open-minded about employing older people. He's applied for numerous hospitality and cleaning jobs (has experience in both sectors) and not even had the courtesy of a reply.

I think lots of low-paid key workers massively stepped up during the pandemic, taking on extra workload and responsibilities out of a sense of community spirit in a national crisis.

Only to see our Dear PM and his chums party like there was no tomorrow, and crow about "getting away with it." Plus heaping abuse on those cleaners who had to mop up the mess and security staff who tried to stop them. The whole lot of the party goers should have been issued with mops and buckets and told to get on with cleaning up.

This! There is unemployment, and there are job vacancies. They should be cancelling each other out.

@Swayingpalmtrees I am a British citizen but live in an EU country, I have to pay if I visit a GP or similar in the UK, and did this on a recent visit to the UK. Not sure what "correct paperwork" you are referring to. It sounds very much as if she is still using an address in the UK (yours perhaps?)

Absolutely.

She has to be resident here. Where are the letters from her GP posted to? Can't be an address in Poland. If she's using your address then that is fraud.

@Swayingpalmtrees yep sounds like fraud using your address. We’re regulars at hospital due to DC physical disability. Every appointment I’m asked to confirm my address and that I’ve lived in the U.K. continuously for 12 months. If she answers yes, she is defrauding the NHS and you should report her so the NHS will bill what she owes.