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.

If people want to donate, nothing wrong in that. I disagree with 'begging' though, totally unprofessional IMO. I work in the NHS, had loads of stuff kindly donated last year, it trailed off and there has been nothing for many months, which is fine.

NHS workers don't need freebies, they need decent pay.

God this again - another chance to bash nhs staff.
I don’t know anyone who would ask for free things.
But I also don’t know why people get so het up about it.

@MissEliza disappointing attitude, I’d much rather not have to go to work than have my DC in school.

Yabu

I think this is just another way of criticising NHS staff. I haven't seen anyone ask for freebies, but I have posted a link to my hospital's charity, when asked if one existed. Those asking for anything are only a tiny minority.

HCAs are lowly paid, and many were and are working on the covid wards. As someone who has worked there, it is really damaging to the health of those working there, both physically and mentally.

Many of my colleagues have become seriously unwell, admitted to hospital, some to ITU, and some died. All of us are traumatised. Sore hands are a very minor issue in comparison, but my hands were cracked and bleeding as I was probably washing and/or gelling them over a hundred times a day.

We were and still are working in unsafe conditions, with unsatisfactory PPE. This still hasn't been resolved, nearly 9 months on.

I certainly won't be asking for hand cream, but focusing on this is a bit of a red herring given the much bigger issues. For example, why has this crisis been managed so badly and why haven't NHS been provided with satisfactory PPE.

I find the lack of empathy from many towards NHS staff shocking. When I posted prior about this I had a lot of incredibly nasty posts.

Bet she was an MLM not.

Yanbu

As an aside, i must be living in a parallel universe if people think that min £28k is such a low wage that there are constant calls for big pay rises from the public.
I can only conclude that eithet everyone is paid considerably more than most people i know or calls for higher pay are a knee-jeck reaction by people whk don't actually know what the pay level is.

@Katyppp

As an aside, i must be living in a parallel universe if people think that min £28k is such a low wage that there are constant calls for big pay rises from the public. I can only conclude that eithet everyone is paid considerably more than most people i know or calls for higher pay are a knee-jeck reaction by people whk don't actually know what the pay level is.

Omg Katy. Not that I'm surprised it's you.

They are nurses!! Nurses! Saving people's lives in the NHS in a pandemic! Of course there's calls for a pay rise!

[quote Pomegranatespompom]@MissEliza disappointing attitude, I’d much rather not have to go to work than have my DC in school.[/quote]
Don't get your comment. Surely we should all be committed to stopping the spread? I'm keeping my children at home for that reason while going in to look after dcs who could stay at home just like mine. Right now I'm constantly checking my email regarding a Covid test done for a key worker pupil whose dm doesn't work and is a SAHM. A bubble of key worker pupils will close if he tests positive. What will their parents do? He could have stayed at home with the SAHP but his dps insisted in having him in school.

Rigt back at you kimchi.
The usual emotional claptrap completely devoid of any rational thought.

As an aside, i must be living in a parallel universe if people think that min £28k is such a low wage

I said it was the Max at band 5 (most nursing roles) not minimum. Band 5 payscale attached. Top is actually £30k now, but you start below national average wage on £24k.

And HCSWs are usually band 3, which runs from just under £20k to just over £21k. Danger money, indeed.

@Pomegranatespompom no thoughts? School staff are enabled NHS workers to do their invalid jobs, risking their families, but we aren't begging for freebies and discover despite being paid poorly.

Titssoot, you said £28k excluding shift allowance. Am i rught un assuming mist nurses are claimubg an extra shift allowance? How much is that?
I ecoect most jobs start at below the national average wage. I know mine did.

Please excuse my typos! School staff are enabling NHS staff to do their invaluable jobs

YANBU

@Katyppp

Titssoot, you said £28k excluding shift allowance. Am i rught un assuming mist nurses are claimubg an extra shift allowance? How much is that? I ecoect most jobs start at below the national average wage. I know mine did.

My first job was £2.50 an hour and tips. Not sure that’s the standard we should be aiming for.

Lots of nurses don’t work shifts. The basic salary covers 37.5 hours a week. Shift allowances come in when nights/weekends are worked and are (from memory) up to 30% for that shift. This is the band 5 salary scale. It starts at £24k. Even if every shift attracted unsocial hours (the key is in the name) they’d be on about £30k. (Same with other emergency service payments.)

Capitalism generally undervalues key roles in society.

Add in a decade of Tory rule and you’ve basically devalued every key profession. (They’re mainly vocations, which is why people continue doing it regardless of all the shit thrown at them.)

What have nurses pay and some nhs staff sending their kids to school whilst they work got to do with a health care assistant hinting they’d like some handcream on social media? Maybe just start another thread about how awful NHS staff are, no wonder nurse was one of the top nominations in the thread about what jobs people didn’t want their children to do

Although no one disputes the hard work being done by a vast majority of nhs staff. However the nhs is a massive organisation and there are lot of non clinical staff, it is wrong to me that they are able to get the same advantages as front line staff whilst other key workers aren’t.

@MissEliza

Please excuse my typos! School staff are enabling NHS staff to do their invaluable jobs

Christ, if the virus wasn't so fatal I would say the worst thing about it is the selfishness and bitterness it has brought out in some people. Thanks for educating our kids. Most 'key roles' are also enabling jobs in some way shape or form. Nurses enable doctors to treat patients, doctors enable people to survive the virus, my asda delivery driver enables me to stock my fridge. Seriously, the vast majority of us really have shown the worst of ourselves here.

Is washing hands frequently a new thing then for nurses? Otherwise surely this would br s perennial issue, not just arising now.
Explains a lot about how we were thrown into a health crisis and why there ste do msy victims of hospital acquired other infections as well as hospital acquired Covid.

I work for a large coffee chain and we get asked daily by the NHS staff for freebies or discount.

The reason i asked about nurses' pay was because i suspect a lot, if not most, people will presume it's lower than it actually is.
I work with a lot of MW workers who were only saying yesterday how poorly paid nurses are. I suspect they don't know the actual level of pay just see the constant calls for rises, offering of freebies and rhetoric about food bank use etc.
I agree it's not what this thread is about, but it is relevent in the grand scheme of things and smokescreens about lowest bars and biscuits only make me wonder why there seems to be a vested interest in wanting the public believe the very low pay story.

@EmmanuelleMakro

Is washing hands frequently a new thing then for nurses? Otherwise surely this would br s perennial issue, not just arising now. Explains a lot about how we were thrown into a health crisis and why there ste do msy victims of hospital acquired other infections as well as hospital acquired Covid.

I do believe that hand washing is a new concept for all in healthcare, prior to discovering soap and water all nurses and doctors were picking their noses and touching their patients afterwards, causing every single hospital acquired infection going. 🙄