To not give NHS discounts?

[LottieLot]

I own a small business making and selling a product.

As you can imagine it's been quite tough during Covid but we've stayed afloat and things are picking up a little thanks to Christmas. It's been hard going though and a bit worrying at times.

I seem to have a lot of people messaging me asking for discounts for NHS staff and I've felt under pressure to agree most of the time.

AIBU to stop though now? I am of course appreciative of everything NHS workers do, but I have struggled to get my business through this pandemic and I could do without offering discounts frankly.

Is it rude to ask a small business this in your opinion? I personally cant imagine ever doing so. I'm not a huge franchise, I am a genuine small business which is obvious from my page!

I'm a frontline nhs nurse working on covid ward and I would never ask for a discount, especially from a small business.

[quote Pomegranatespompom]**@Billben* @Newuser991* you do realise this is just virtual signalling from British airways and no nhs worker asked for this?

I work in a London trust - we had no quiet areas. This idea that nhs we’re starting around drinking free coffees is not correct.[/quote]
Yes, I do realise that. But I guarantee you that the CF who ask small businesses for a discount won’t be saying no to a free flight somewhere either.

Well the good feeling towards the nhs didn't last long! I know intensive care nurses who are still in the thick of this crisis and still mental processing the first wave.

There have been NHS discounts around far longer than covid, there is a website dedicated to it. Like Pp have said it's a huge employer.

Don't offer any discount. I hate all the forcing of clapping/ giving free stuff. I don't know anyone who has asked for free things in the nhs. I'm sure there are some who are cf- it employs all types and has over a million staff a tiny % of those will be cf. Many ARE low paid for the work they do and the responsibility they hold.

It makes me sad that after what felt like a country coming together at the start of the crisis there is so much turning against people doing honest jobs. Yes times are hard for the majority. The anger should be aimed at those in power who have made unwise decisions, underfunded our health service over the last decade, pushed austerity and allowed our society to become so unequal that we end up squabbling on a race to the bottom of who deserves what.

@Dreamylemon Absolutely spot on! Couldn’t have said it better myself.

@Noconceptofnormal what is stopping you getting a job in the nhs if you would love to work in it?

I don't know any cleaners actually employed by the nhs. Most are contracted out to private companies.

As for the nhs not treating a single health problem other than covid- I've worked throughout in an area that has had normal demand throughout. The constant adaptations meeting the needs of our patients has been exhausting as I'm sure it has for most jobs public or private sector.

That's so unbelievably cheeky!!! I work for the NHS and am incredibly grateful to of had a paid job throughout the pandemic. Yes it's hard but people with small businesses have it much much harder.

Whilst I don't want to or never asked to hero worshipped. As I am doing the job I signed up. I worked on Red ward (covid patients):

My ward has been busy throughout the pandemic.
We have had to change speciality off our ward.
We have had more dramatic deaths this year.
More heartbreaking admissions: sucidie attempts, elderly dementia patients who cannot see their loved ones.
I can't see my loved ones including my mum due to working on a covid ward as their are scared.
Nearly all my 24 work colleguages have had covid due to working on this ward. This means we are constantly understaffed, as people refuse to work on covid wards.
We have had to learn new procedures, skills with little help.
We are not allowed in the main staff room with proper facilities to make drinks and a toaster.

Our staff room is a tiny room with a broken fridge and no kettle, no tap, etc. If we're lucky the kitchen we let us have hot water when asked.

Our main priority in all this are our patients and the care we provide to them.

I don't want discounts, clapping etc but I would like the 'it's thier job' and the attacking to stop.

I didn't sign up for pandemic nor did my collegues. My lungs are ruined,

I remember and mourn for every patient that has died this year.

Yes, I have job security but how long my emotional and physical health can continue is another matter.

there werent many places giving NHS discounts
are there now?
i had to pay for a Bluelight card to get discounts

I work in mental health, trying to help people cope with the emotional fallout of this crisis on top of having my own covid related stress to deal with.

I always ask if a place is offering nhs discount. I am entitled to ask and they are entitled to say no. I don't see the problem with that.

Fine to ask, fine to say no. Many aren’t frontline and many won’t have had any COVID patients. They’ve had secure income and any incoming pay restraint for the public services won’t include them.

i dont think it is rude to ask though, as a customer

@Billben

I got an email from British Airways a few months ago asking me to consider donating my airmiles to nhs staff so they can have a holiday after all their hard work.

😱 Holy Cow 😱

i hate this anger against the NHS !

good idea from British Airways.

@missingeu

Whilst I don't want to or never asked to hero worshipped. As I am doing the job I signed up. I worked on Red ward (covid patients):

My ward has been busy throughout the pandemic.
We have had to change speciality off our ward.
We have had more dramatic deaths this year.
More heartbreaking admissions: sucidie attempts, elderly dementia patients who cannot see their loved ones.
I can't see my loved ones including my mum due to working on a covid ward as their are scared.
Nearly all my 24 work colleguages have had covid due to working on this ward. This means we are constantly understaffed, as people refuse to work on covid wards.
We have had to learn new procedures, skills with little help.
We are not allowed in the main staff room with proper facilities to make drinks and a toaster.

Our staff room is a tiny room with a broken fridge and no kettle, no tap, etc. If we're lucky the kitchen we let us have hot water when asked.

Our main priority in all this are our patients and the care we provide to them.

I don't want discounts, clapping etc but I would like the 'it's thier job' and the attacking to stop.

I didn't sign up for pandemic nor did my collegues. My lungs are ruined,

I remember and mourn for every patient that has died this year.

Yes, I have job security but how long my emotional and physical health can continue is another matter.

Exactly. I'm a nurse on the frontline too. I did sign up for nursing, I didn't sign up for a job that directly puts me and my family at risk of a deadly disease. I do ask if places do nhs discount and I'm fine when they say no

I think it's rude to ask small businesses for discounts. They may offer discounts to get new customers when starting up but they shouldn't be asked to subsidise people according to their job.

I would love to work for the NHS right now - no chance of being made redundant, decent pensions, job security

Come and join us then! Plenty of jobs going in the Trust I work for. Including cleaning jobs and nursing assistant roles.

You don’t have to be on ICU to be frontline. Paramedics, A&E, housekeeping, MAU, acute psychiatry staff (and more) all risk exposure to covid, and may not even have full PPE. Sometimes patients test negative on admission so get sent to a general ward. Then they develop symptoms, test positive and by then lots of staff have been exposed! Or they develop mild symptoms on admission but repeatedly test negative, so we have to isolate them but can’t send them to a covid ward (in case the tests are false).

It’s completely different to working in a supermarket, unwell people tend to avoid shops! And you’re not in close contact with patients like hospital staff or providing personal care or dealing with bodily fluids.

As for ‘queue jumping’ that was only really relevant during the first peak when supermarkets made people queue in lines outside. If I was nipping into Tesco before my shift to buy sandwiches for my team I used my ID badge to avoid the queue. If I’d waited behind 30 people with trollies just to get in and out with a basket (taking under 10minutes) I would have been over an hour late for work!
I didn’t use it for the family shop though.

YABU to ask now, risking a further eruption of anti NHS that is so prevalent on this site.
Staff whose work was cut, it was hardly their doing but the criticism they come under is awful

@missingeu

Whilst I don't want to or never asked to hero worshipped. As I am doing the job I signed up. I worked on Red ward (covid patients):

My ward has been busy throughout the pandemic.
We have had to change speciality off our ward.
We have had more dramatic deaths this year.
More heartbreaking admissions: sucidie attempts, elderly dementia patients who cannot see their loved ones.
I can't see my loved ones including my mum due to working on a covid ward as their are scared.
Nearly all my 24 work colleguages have had covid due to working on this ward. This means we are constantly understaffed, as people refuse to work on covid wards.
We have had to learn new procedures, skills with little help.
We are not allowed in the main staff room with proper facilities to make drinks and a toaster.

Our staff room is a tiny room with a broken fridge and no kettle, no tap, etc. If we're lucky the kitchen we let us have hot water when asked.

Our main priority in all this are our patients and the care we provide to them.

I don't want discounts, clapping etc but I would like the 'it's thier job' and the attacking to stop.

I didn't sign up for pandemic nor did my collegues. My lungs are ruined,

I remember and mourn for every patient that has died this year.

Yes, I have job security but how long my emotional and physical health can continue is another matter.

🌷I appreciate every single one of you!! Just knowing you are there, looking after people, doing your very best to keep people alive & provide some comfort & reassurance is worth more than you could ever know.

I am in awe of anyone working in a hospital right now, let alone actually on a red ward!!!

When I was younger & before I was dx with Diabetes I would have felt invincible enough to do it, but no way now.

There are some bloody awful comments on this thread & people should be ashamed of themselves.

Yes, people chose to work in the NHS, but I expect very few considered they'd be working through a highly contagious pandemic, with insufficient PPE.

Take care of yourselves, physically and mentally!!
X

@Retiremental

What I see is that it’s non clinical/non frontline NHS staff who are asking for discounts constantly. The rest of us are too knackered to care.

How on earth do you know which staff are and aren’t taking advantage of discounts offered to nhs staff, or asking about them? Do you shop with all your colleagues?

I think it's incredibly rude to ask

The proportion of NHS staff working on covid wards is very small compared to the entire workforce many of whom have seen their workload decrease due to cancellation of all other treatments

For those that say they didn't sign up for a pandemic is like saying they are a soldier who didn't sign up for war? We are just incredibly fortunate in this country that we haven't seen significant health crises like this in a 100 years.

the breast surgeon who couldnt operate, did the surgeon make this decision? of course not.
Many staff have put their advice on line now, due to the lack of face to face appointments.
of course they would prefer face to face, they would prefer it if there was no pandemic.

And whilst I don't hold this against the workers but I'm certainly not clapping for the NHS that's ignored every single health problem other than covid for nearly a year now.

Have they? Must be news to the many, many, many people within the NHS who have been breaking their backs trying to adjust to covid whilst still delivering care. Yes, when it reared its head many things had to stop for the safety of patients, yes some trusts for whatever reason have been very slow to pick back up again; but many are working really bloody hard to try and care for covid patients and extremely vulnerable patients under the same hospital roof. Not all GPs have 'closed their doors', and not everyone has gone without care. It's very sad for those that have and are now suffering because of it, but that's not a fair statement to make.

For those that say they didn't sign up for a pandemic is like saying they are a soldier who didn't sign up for war? We are just incredibly fortunate in this country that we haven't seen significant health crises like this in a 100 years.

Keen to know what training healthcare staff have been routinely having regarding pandemics, how many exercises they have been on to make sure everyone knows their role, how much was invested in facilities and equipment to help keep them safe in case of pandemic. What's that, hardly any? I have military friends and family, I lost a close friend in Afghanistan so I'm not blind to the horrors of war or the heartbreak of losing someone, but it's not comparable.

dont kid yourself that NHS workers have stable jobs,
particularly with the economy suffering

you can still lose your NHS job

I can’t say I think it’s rude for people to ask - as long as they gracefully accept a no.

Lots of places have offered or are still offering discounts, so what is rude about confirming the position ?

People won’t know your financial position and will likely have no idea how busy you’ve been, what your mark up is and how much you could afford to cut your prices whilst still making a profit etc...

If it bothers you that much, why not put a statement on your page saying you cannot afford to offer any discounts to advertised prices ?

@SentientAndCognisant

I was supportive of you til I read hero worshipping of key workers etc It’s an obnoxious sentiment.Key workers don’t want for or need hero worship. Nor do we need to be described as over feted and hero worshipped

exactly, i think the op is simply spoiling for a fight with those sentiments