AIBU re hospital staff begging for freebies on social media?

[Biscoffaddict]

I’m fully prepared to get flamed for this, and I want to say I really do appreciate everything NHS staff are doing at the moment, but I can’t help but feel it’s a bit grabby and entitled to be asking for freebies on social media. The post in question was from a HCA who was asking for hand cream for their ‘poor sore hands’. She tagged about twenty colleagues in the post and also named the ward in question (not ICU).

It would be understandable if there was nowhere open to get hand cream from but it’s sold in Boots, Superdrug, all supermarkets and online. Very cheaply available as well, which is why this seems really grabby, entitled and a bit unprofessional if I’m honest. Lots of body shop and Avon reps have been tagged in the post and no doubt they’ll feel pressured into donating stuff and meeting the cost themselves (I’ve done Avon in the past and know how it all works).

For some reason this has really rubbed me up the wrong way. But like Ive said I’m prepared to be told I’m out of order.

When charities and communities start taking this responsibility from the govt, the govt sits back and relinquishes responsibility.

Love how you've managed to spin this to be the fault and responsibility of charities!! Bloody hell.

because if I ever saw something being offered to me, even if its handcream that's nearing the expiry date, then yes I am going to take it and be proud of that bloody handcream

But that is ENTIRELY different than proactively going on social media and asking for it, playing the "poor hardworking NHS" card and asking other people to supply you with handcream.

I have seen posts like this too, a "lets support the NHS" post from a MLM bot who might well be donating her commission but needs the sales to keep her diamond gold triple platinum level. And the posts on the community page like "Please keep an eye out for my son's phone, he dropped it walking home from the station after a shift in the NHS as a keyworker".

I thought the NHS was really hot on hand health because dry cracked hands can harbour bacteria.

@GlobeUs

When charities and communities start taking this responsibility from the govt, the govt sits back and relinquishes responsibility.

Love how you've managed to spin this to be the fault and responsibility of charities!! Bloody hell.

This is exactly what I'm not saying. I'm saying it is the govts responsibility!! Have you ever known the govt to be shamed into taking action because someone else has taken action where they have failed to? No, me neither. This is the govts responsibility to sort out, to provide the necessary items needed in order that those workers can safely and effectively carry out their jobs.

My daughter is a nurse in ICU. She willl not accept any of the freebies sent in as she says there are more deserving people who need these things. She is a band 7 nurse and on £40000 a year she doesnt need freebies. The cleaners and porters on the other hand on minimum wage get nothing. They are just as essential as she is.

I'm less bothered by NHS staff asking for free things, but it can see a bit off for teachers and other professions wanting the same discounts - there's a clothing store who has increased their blue-light card discount to 50%, and almost the first post was a teacher wanting to know if they could have the discount as well. (I suspect the store in question may only have done it temporarily as a way to get rid of a lot of the clothes that might otherwise have gone in the sale, but still!)

I’ve seen it on local pages on my Facebook. I’m a healthcare worker and hate it. I feel these begging posts reflect badly on all of us and most us don’t want it. Particularly when so many people are suffering financial hardship. One of them is asking for money so they can use to for the nurses to treat themselves when this is all over. No mention of the other hospital staff who are also working hard or other key workers that are often in low paid jobs exposed each day. I couldn’t bring myself to comment on it but I was disappointed by it. I work on a covid ward- my hands are sore, I’m tired and I do fear for my safety as my PPE is crap. I have never felt this way in my career and my training certainly didn’t prepare me for this but I don’t want praise or freebies, or people begging on my behalf for things. I want the government to actually provide us with decent PPE outside of ITU and for people to follow the guidance properly. Please don’t think all is healthcare workers are this grabby, most of us just want to get on with our jobs and get through this.

@Completelyfrozen but the NHS are not the only ones in need of hand cream - yet it's only NHS staff that are asking for the freebies.

Plenty of people are needing to use hand cream at the moment - most are buying it themselves. It's not really the Government's responsibility to provide hand cream to people.

@RedFrogsRule

A local midwife posted a wish list for Amazon...it was embarrassing

Now that is awful. So grabby.

When I worked as a Nursery School Teacher ,We went through loads of the stuff! Really if they can get a few freebies at such a difficult time as this ,and it lifts morale for them why not?! They are risking their lives daily with an unprecedented workload rarely seen before if ever .Just a few "perks" mean it is a little bit more bearable for them surely?

FGS, they are asking for hand cream not a holiday in Dubai.

@ceecee32

I know of someone who is/was a mental health nurse She has not been in work for about 2 years as she has had children She jumps on every offer from small business, takes the discount and asks if they can deliver for no extra charge

It totally pissed me off when she posted on FB that she had the vaccine...she must be pretending to be front line NHS

That IS disgusting.

@RedFrogsRule

A local midwife posted a wish list for Amazon...it was embarrassing

Sadly being a midwife, nurse, doctor etc doesnt turn people into angels - some of them will be grabby.

If this is really true “as told” and the hospital & ward are named in her fb post, please report this to the ward manager. This is totally unacceptable behaviour and brings the staff into disrepute. There will always be some chancers in life but most nurses (myself included) do NOT want to be associated with this appalling begging attitude.

I think one key difference between NHS staff and other key workers that explains why they are traumatised is the death. One friend who is a critical care nurse said they had seen so much death during Covid-19 pandemic, so much more than in usual times and under much worse circumstances (e.g. no family allowed, people dying when they should not, fellow staff members dying).
You can be trained for many things but healthcare work is not just "viruses and sickness" and it is pretty evil to say that.

@Icantrememebrtheartist

YANBU

But don’t tar everyone with the same brush! My sister is a Sister in ICU and on Covid wards and she has never asked for a freebie, in fact she never used her NHS entitlement to go to the front of the queue in Sainsbury during previous lockdowns. And she works 12 hour shifts 8am-8pm for a week and then nights 8pm-8am for a week.

It seems as if it's the ones who really do deserve the freebies aren't the ones asking for them. That's sad.

[quote GlobeUs]@Completelyfrozen but the NHS are not the only ones in need of hand cream - yet it's only NHS staff that are asking for the freebies.

Plenty of people are needing to use hand cream at the moment - most are buying it themselves. It's not really the Government's responsibility to provide hand cream to people.[/quote]
NHS staff have to wash their hands before and after every single patient contact so no it’s not really comparable to any other occupation. Hands not only get dry but cracked which is a huge risk in terms of infection control. It’s an employers responsibility to provide safety equipment for work, whoever your employer is. NHS soap and hand cream are generally the cheapest brands available so yes many people buy their own as it’s preferable to having no skin left on your hands

@BungleandGeorge - NHS staff should have always been doing that in ITU areas though for infection control. Did the NHS provide hand cream before? (Honestly I don't know the answer to that, and yes I do understand they are seeing more patients now...)

But I haven't seen other professions asking for hand cream - care workers for instance...

80,000 excess deaths since last March, nearly all had healthcare workers caring for them, sitting with them when they died, dealing with their dead body, dealing with relatives. Over 600 healthcare workers dead of Covid-19. Whilst all key workers are amazing for their work during the pandemic, not many burdens are comparable to those of healthcare workers. No matter what the right or wrongs of asking for freebies.

You can’t just turn up at a vaccination centre for a vaccine without an invitation (which is done through employers). Surprisingly enough you can’t ‘pretend’ to be eligible to get one or half the country would turn up

Whilst all key workers are amazing for their work during the pandemic, not many burdens are comparable to those of healthcare workers.

People who are not key workers have been affected by the pandemic.

It should not be a game of one upmanship on burdens FFS - there are people who have been left severely traumatised but this pandemic who are not NHS workers - it's time NHS started to realise that and stop making statements saying they've been the worse affected or their burden is worse than others or be requesting feebies because they are NHS.

It's painting a really poor picture of those who work for the NHS.

No one is saying the NHS haven't been to tell and back, what they are saying is that other people have also had really traumatic and devastated experiences during this pandemic - and many of those who have had the worst ones have actually gone through them in sheer isolation - not with the commoradory and support of NHS colleagues and HR systems.

*hell not tell.

@Ilovenewyear

Our Avon rep did ask people to buy hand cream during the last pandemic and she donated a big box that she matched used her commission to do so. It didn’t offend me.

I have seen our hospital on FB asking local business for meals. Pre-packaged and able to reheat although granted, food is a bit different but I was surprised to see them so publicly asking for donations. I should imagine a lot of small businesses aren’t in a position to help right now.

It offends me. The MLM product sponsorship endeavour “please sponsor (buy) a hand cream to donate to NHS staff” is just creating a cynical commercial opportunity out of people’s goodwill even if donates her commission. I will concede that sometimes the MLM cannon fodder haven’t thought it through but most of them know full well what the agenda is and their uplines certainly do. The MLMs themselves aren’t going to shut this down because they basically don’t give a flying fuck what people do as long as it doesn’t cause them hassle and makes them profit. When it does cause them hassle they simply distance themselves from the “independent business owner” and say that they can’t control it (because the “sellers” are independent) and don’t condone it. But the MLMs control sellers absolutely and could put a stop to this and other much dodgier practices. MLMs need some serious regulation.

Think about it, if you can get lots of people to buy product you get to achieve your volumes; there are rewards in that for you and your upline and each sale Avon/Body Shop at Home/Tropic/ Arbonne etc gets then the MLM scheme they’re signed up to profits from that sale. The NHS get some hand creams that can’t be used on the ward.

There are lots of bona fide NHS charities that receive more of your donation if you give direct. Who wants to donate to some big scammy business - because that’s where your money is going when you buy an MLM product.

You’ll probably find that the person begging for hand creams in @Biscoffaddict ‘s OP is an MLM shill and connected to MLM herself.

@Lucieintheskye

I've seen NHS staff asking for coffee machines and pods, not for their staff rooms but for home use. I'd happily contribute to supporting them as staff but buying them a coffee machine when they're doing 16 hour days away from home seems ridiculous. There was even a nurse on FB marketplace asking for a kitchen to be fitted saying 'I'm a frontline NHS worker in need of some help, would anyone be willing to donate.' but in her bio it said she was a receptionist at a small surgery.

These people give deserving NHS staff a bad name and it makes it difficult to know who deserves our donations.

That's shocking and she should be pulled up.