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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

NHS still wasting money

115 replies

mollymole · 14/03/2013 16:01

I think I may be being unreasonable so I will put it out to you all to see what you think - my dear friend's mother has lost her life to cancer - my friend had booked 2 weeks paid annual leave, on the 2nd day her mother sadly died. her 2 weeks annual leave has been changed to 2 weeks paid compassionate leave
and then the 2 weeks leave she had booked has been transferred to tag after the compassionate leave has ended.
Whilst it is truly sad that her mother has died why are the NHS spending their money in this way when they are supposed to be strapped for cash ?

OP posts:
foreverondiet · 14/03/2013 22:16

Lots of examples of NHS wasting money but this isn't one of them!

MorningHandsome · 14/03/2013 22:17

Oh and have a Biscuit

cerealqueen · 14/03/2013 22:22

Spitting furious when I read this thread then lost internet connection and have calmed down since.

Why are you on an internet forum behind your friend's back calculating her grief and mourning period in relation to NHS costs???

Isn't it better that your friend has time to grieve properly, rather than rush back to work and then go off sick because she hasn't dealt with her grief ?

You really are a disgrace.

blobandsnail · 14/03/2013 22:29

YABU. Sounds like you're jealous to me. It's a perk of suffering the NHS demands and people constantly criticising your employer, with no knowledge of what they're actually talking about. The NHS, like every institution on earth, does have faults. But looking after its staff with regards leave entitlement is probably not one of them!

Also I think if you looked in to it more, I'd be surprised if your friend is actually having 2 weeks compassionate leave paid. Most trusts give I think 5 days pro-rata. I'd think part of it is sickness or unpaid. She's more than entitled to take her annual leave at another time that suits her.

You obviously have no knowledge of good people management in business. Yes it may be costing them 2 weeks wages. But by having such leave entitlements it keeps good people employed. Saves training and recruitment costs on new staff when the old dissatisfied ones leave and reduces sickness-which yes they pay for too! Makes sense to me. Keep the staff happy and they're more productive. Simple!

DreamingOfTheMaldives · 14/03/2013 22:37

My old employers were appalling in terms of employee benefits (there were none) and sick pay was dire (5 days) despite this being a professional job. But even they gave 2 weeks paid leave for the death of a close relative.

Bloody hell OP, I think YADBU - she's just lost her Mum not her pet cat!!

knackeredmother · 14/03/2013 22:38

I've known many be off for up to 6 months on full pay after parents died n the NHS. I took a week when my mum died. It is standard in the NHS for people to get their annual leave back if they are sick during it, not all professions in the NHS do this though. I would never.

frazzled74 · 14/03/2013 22:47

2 weeks isnt very long to get over the death of a close relative, she probably doesnt care if it is compassionate leave, sick leave or annual leave and to be honest you probably dont know all these facts either as it will be between employee and manager at managers discretion! and I dont know what job your friend does but it is not easy to look after sick ,dying patients when your mum has just died so it may warrant more time off. Anyway YABU and im very glad that you are not my friend , colleague or manager!

LadyBeagleEyes · 14/03/2013 22:49

How do you manage with only a couple of days compassionate leave, just how?
I lost my sister 3 years ago, and my mum last year.
There is so much to do, apart from coping with the grief.
Funeral arrangements, lawyers, clearing the houses of a lifetime of stuff.
My Dr gave me a line when my sister died as she could see I was falling apart and had to go down south 200 miles away to sort stuff.
I wasn't working when Mum died, but again there was so much to do and organise.
You can't imagine the stress and pain until you go through it.

eyestightshut · 14/03/2013 23:42

YABVU because making someone go back to work straight after they have lost a loved one, and expecting them to care for patients and support their families is just fucking cruel.
How would you enjoy having to expose yourself to the pain that sick patients and their families go through on a regular basis when you haven't even had time to come to terms with you own loss?
How you can claim you are a dear friend is just beyond me.

sashh · 15/03/2013 04:32

Exactly how much work would you get done, or be done well when you have just lost someone close? Do you really want that person in a position to do some real harm by accident?

The NHS is making a sound business decision and giving someone time to grieve.

BionicEmu · 15/03/2013 08:49

If it makes you feel better, I can tell you about the department I work in in the NHS...

A colleague's brother died, but we were due to have an important inspection that week. So my colleague was not allowed by our manager to take any compassionate leave. To make it even worse he wasn't allowed the day off for the funeral - funeral was at 11am so he had to use his lunch break, make up the additional couple of hours it took by working late, and come back to work that afternoon after the funeral had taken place.

And then they wonder why they have such a high staff turnover.

shesariver · 15/03/2013 09:02

I wasnt rude or said anything different to others here so no idea why my post was deleted, and have no email from mnhq telling me so Im none the wiser. Confused

YABU, there is that better!

Rhiana1979 · 15/03/2013 09:22

I work for the NHS and frequently have to purchase my own pens, paper even some recording equipment to ensure I could do my job better. We've had no printer for 5 months and even if we did there's no paper to put in it. All because we're constantly told "there's no money"

But I'd buy pens/paper for the rest of my career if I knew the money was going on compassionate leave for a bereaved colleague.

Shame on you OP.

lotsofcheese · 15/03/2013 10:07

Shesariver- that's shocking, even by NHS standards! What a shame your colleague wasn't signed off sick, especially for the funeral.

Like Rhianna below, my NHS trust is feeling the pinch. No stationary for us, either. No white paper (the stuff we're "allowed" to use is like recycled toilet paper!), study leave, leaflets etc.

To top it all, we have a recruitment freeze, meaning that we are not allowed to advertise the post. So when someone leaves, goes on mat leave etc, it goes to an extended panel process, before a decision is made to to fill the post - or not. If it is filled, it's usually downgraded or part-time.

So we're all struggling on, trying to cover the vacant post. Which means being so busy that we can't take annual leave. And then lose this as we're not allowed to carry it over.

My biggest bugbear abut waste in the NHS is patients abusing the system - what we call DNA's (no show's). Quite often a third of our clinic list doesn't show up, wasting the staff's time & the NHS's money. It's endemic throughout the NHS.

shesariver · 15/03/2013 11:59

lotsofcheese, think you are mixing me up Smile

I work for the NHS to and totally know what you mean about the paper though as it sounds like our trust have changed to the same stuff! I wouldn't even be able to describe it as white, its horrible. We do still get pens but I buy my own to as they are useless and run out after using them for about 5 minutes, thats if they even work in the first place!

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