Should NHS staff get prioritised treatment by the NHS

[mids2019]

Should NHS staff get prioritised treatment by the NHS.

The logic is that by facilitating recovery of NHS staff as a priority you actually make the whole system more efficient by reducing absence levels. To some extent this already happens with staff being allowed access to cancelled public appointments and there has been a hidden culture of serving or retired medical staff moving a little up the waiting list as a recognition of their service (but like a staff discount in retail I guess)

is this a good idea and should the NHS be more open about it?

@Pixilicious1 I'm quite surprised/disappointed noone else commented on it. Its a horrible thing to say

If a CEO earns a million a year and gets the best of private medicine quickly I get it he has plenty of money and deserves not to be on a waiting list.

Doesn't the band 5 nurse whose commited her life to improving patient lives deserve the same?

Actually yes I think so. It would be an incentive for people to work for the NHS too - what a perk!

Doesn't everyone... the bin man off sick with a hernia, the nursery worker with a bad back, the teacher with gall bladder issues. All are needed, all need seeing urgently.

It is ethically wrong for it not to be run by clinical need.

I work in a pharmacy, it would be like me getting penicillin put aside for my kids during the shortage... ethically wrong.

This already happens.
Long waiting lists for routine day surgeries round here.
Friend who is a nurse was "squeezed in"
Then when the time came she had covid and again was squeezed in after she was clear of covid rather than having to wait again

It shouldn't happen but it does

I'm very torn by this - I was once ill (and off sick from my nhs job) for 6 months because I was waiting for an operation. I was able to go back to work two weeks after operation so if I'd have had it earlier I'd have saved the NHS a lot of money/resources however at the same time I wouldn't want to have been prioritised above someone else who was suffering and no less deserving.
I'd worry it could be taken advantage of and where is the line you draw because not everything should be prioritised the same. For example fertility treatment (which I've had on the NHS) shouldn't be categorised the same as a treatment that can mean a person on long-term sick can return to work. I feel there's too many grey areas.

No. Clinical need only.

I don’t like the concept of - if that gifted surgeon gets his gall bladder out fast then he can crack on with his waiting lists. A surgeon - or any other member of NHS staff - needs to take the sick leave they require to adequately recover without being guilted about cancelled appointments. The NHS needs to be adequately resourced and staffed that there is appropriate cover in situations when staff are unwell in order to ensure continued clinical care without cancellations and to prevent clinicians working when not fit to do so out of guilt or leaving from stress and burnout.

If a ward is understaffed, and patients at risk, getting a nurse back to active duty makes a lot of sense.

My friend is a paediatric consultant surgeon. She worked with a chronic condition for years, she had to take 7 months off sick in the end while waiting for her operation. She was able to go back a month after her surgery.

So while I agree we shouldn't jump the queue, there were 6 months of surgeries she couldn't do while on a waiting list!

Well there are a number of categories of people currently fasttracked for various aspects of NHS provision including staff fast track for MH input, veterans, people at risk of family breakdown and where safeguarding are involved. This isn't hidden it is written into the SOPs for those services.

Nope. Clinical need only. For every person who jumps the queue someone else (equally in need) has to wait longer.

There's no one size fits all answer, but there are definitely times when it would be beneficial to service provision to prioritise staff care.
A few years ago I was on long term sick leave on a waiting list for treatment in the Trust I worked for. It was absolutely impossible for me to work until I had had the treatment. There was no priority for me. I was regularly reminded by HR that my status as a patient and my status as an employee were completely unconnected, usually at the same meetings where they reminded me of the stages of the Sickness Absence Policy that were triggered by long term absences.
But the most ridiculous part came when I was told that I was waiting so long for my treatment because of a shortage of specialist staff in a particular department. I already knew that, because it was my department.
I don't work there any more. Not because they wouldn't provide me with any "perks" but because it was the last in a long line of many frustrations. I finally lost any faith in an organisation that is managed by idiots. How is it better to have a senior member of staff in a hard to recruit to department sat at home for many months on full pay, delaying the treatment of hundreds of patients, than to do something as "unethical" as prioritise her treatment and get her back to work?

Yes, NHS staff should be prioritised for ambulances too.

I thought this already happened. I have a friend who is a doctor & recently sustained a sports injury. They went straight to the front of the queue for physio treatment & said it was with a view to getting them back to work.
I have also previously been told GPs could prioritise certain referrals based on people's occupations.

Absolutely not. The waiting time for ambulances is shocking just now. Imagine waiting 12 hours for an ambulance only to find less serious cases were jumping the q because of where they worked.

We have a staff physio service in our trust just to get staff back to work .
It's cost effective

No.

No. Obviously. Clinical need.

Absolutely. And exactly the same applies to any NHS treatment.

Reductio ad absurdum to demonstrate what a ridiculous idea this is.

i haven’t seen nhs staff jump the queue….but I have seen nhs staff get ‘perks’ ….I have been upgraded myself twice to the private wing of a hospital after surgery….no one said why….just ended up being taken there….I’m sure it was because I was a nurse ( although not working for that particular hospital staff)….very nice it was too😀

Most trusts offer physio service to staff…buts it’s not part of the general physio …so not jumping the queue so to speak…it’s part of occy health…along with counselling and cbt etc

It happens in our trust but it's hit and miss. Family member new hip in six weeks. Nurse rotor cuff tear moving a heavy patient three day wait. On the other hand a GP with torn tendons from a fall was off work for months on crutches at home awaiting treatment and surgery.

I'd like to see front line workers treated but there are so many. I suspect admin would head every queue anyway. So better to fly under the radar.

Logically it would save money if they had access to the private sector. It's a hot potato isn't it

Is this really a perk?

I feel like NHS care can be a mixed bag. I wouldn’t want my colleagues being able to access my medical records and find out personal details about me by virtue of them treating me. Imagine you have a STI or gynae issue or mental health issue. People do gossip - NHS staff are just human after all and some people will experience downsides of an insular system.

To clarify, I have no issue with NHS staff being given NHS perks. I’d rather go private but ultimately the NHS would never add private care as an employee bonus. It would be great if the NHS started paying their staff decently and not charging them extreme parking fees etc however

Back in the day it definitely happened a bit. My mum was a nurse for 30 years, she had an MSK problem that was caused/exacerbated by work. Had a chat with a consultant she knew in a corridor and he booked her in to see him, but this was long time ago-probay at least 15 years as she's been retired for years and i imagine it happens much less now.