To wonder why healthcare is so short staffed.

[malificent7]

I'm a new-ish AHP and starting a new job in September. It will be my 2nd role since graduating. I'm not in nursing but I am aware of the stresses of that job.

I do like my role but have experienced some bullying but most people have been lovely, the pay is ok, the pension is good and there will always be jobs in pandemics and recessions. The degree course was especially interesting.

Of course I have some idea why there are staff shortages and subsequent workload but just wanted to gather your thoughts and see if my suspicions are correct.
Would also be great to hear from people who actually did leave and reasons why.

The main reason why I am moving is bullying though....most of the staff were wonderful bar 1 person.....who made me very anxious.

I was an HCP in a former life. My abiding memory of that time is the unrelenting guilt, however much you did it was never enough. The patients, senior management, the press, are all quick to criticise and demand more, better, faster when they have no idea the pressures frontline NHS staff are really under. There seems to be a prevailing attitude that if you work in health-care you should be totally selfless, almost to the point of being inhuman, an automaton who exists purely to serve others and does not need, want or feel for themselves. If you want a decent standard of pay, some semblance of work/life balance or to be able to do your job without the constant threat of phsyical/verbal abuse then this is seen as a failing on your part. You obviously aren't dedicated enough, you obviously don't care enough, what did you think you'd signed up for anyway?
Leaving was the best decision I ever made.

I remember you from previous posts OP just because we were both students (in the same AHP field) at the same time. I've been qualified a year now and I'm also in my second job. I kind of agree with you, I worked in private sector for twenty years and prefer working in the NHS now. The pay isn't amazing but with enhancements and a few bank shifts at my previous hospital I earn considerably more than I did before in office management roles. I'm about to apply for a band 6 role with strong encouragement from my managers and I feel pretty well supported.

I might feel differently if I was a nurse working on the wards though or a junior doctor, I do feel like they have a harder time.

Because

We don’t train enough in this country

We don’t pay enough compared to some European countries and nothing like North America to attract them from abroad

The ones we do hire have a high turnover rate due to shocking NHS managers. If you want to see how to badly manage, watch public sector managers.

Shit pay for the role

Tories

Covid

Brexit

Ineffective management

Ridiculous policies that have no basis in clinical care

Lack of forward planning (they've known about the retirement crisis for about 15 years)

Burn out from staff left to pick up the pieces

Abuse from the general public

Acuity of patients

Should have been a banker ! ( Tried it work experience but found it zzzzzzzz).

Agree re nepotism and low level bullying unqualified staff ruling the roost and having the confidential ear of senior staff , face not fitting, the loudest mouths are not necessarily the hardest working or the most competent, some without doubt lazy, contrary to popular opinion promotion isn't a given and once you are a top band 5
that's it as far as pay rises. I work in an area that has seen huge changes since covid.
Somehow we seem to have an extra layer of management now and band 5s are under a lot more pressure hence I'm flexi retiring in a few months.

To me this is why. 5 years training to be paid the same as someone who picks knickers in a warehouse. I personally couldnt imagine putting myself through years of hard work to get a job with unimaginable amounts of stress, a work load thats unmanageable to be paid the same as someone who works 6-2, 1 weeks training and no crazy workloads.

@ifoundthebread

The difference is the factory worker won't ever earn more.

The doctor will.

As a doctor, if you become a consultant you are talking a lot of money ( especially if you have a private list i expect).

For the hours, workload, stress, the pay is horrendous.

Insane caseloads meaning carrying unsustainable levels of risk, patient safety an issue, not offering a good service, constantly chasing your tail. Shit management, money flushed down the toilet.
soul destroying.

You will find out in time op.

From a relative that works in healthcare, (clerical)one of there hugest bug is that everything is so manual, there is a lack of joined up technology. It means they just throw budget and people at the problem, but invariably the budget isn’t enough so there isn’t enough people so people get stressed and burnt out.

if there was a better IT and people of the caliber to use it you wouldn’t need as many people, the ones working would be less stressed or more efficient and the budget saved could be put back into the front line.

I've been a qualified nurse for 30 years, part time since my children were born.
Looking at my wage slips the other day, realised my take home pay has only increased by around £200 or less per month in the last 12 years for my set hours, I've been the same grade.
I do extra shifts when child care allows and have just joined an agency that pays a lot more, at least double what I earn in the NHS.

It's been relentless for years with austerity and cutbacks bit the burnout is real atm. I've worked as an AHP for almost 20 years and hearing the stories of therapists qualified in the last 3 years and how they have treated is heart breaking. Many will leave and I don't blame them.

Never seeing management unless the shit hits the fan, then you just get the finger of blame.
No staff, everyone’s off sick or leaving.
Despite the workload being heavier, patients bring sicker, more and more extended roles, more paperwork the staffing template remains the same.
Lack of recruitment and retention.

One of my jobs is to support newly qualified staff but I’m constantly being pulled to work on the wards which means I can’t support them, so they leave because of lack of support. No one can win.

Everyone is burnt out and exhausted after covid.

Pay is shit so lots of staff do bank to earn extra to just stay afloat.

I started in 2000 bringing home £1000 a month. I quit in 2018 and was bringing home around £1300 a month.

Management avoiding any responsibility and you getting the blame for everything.

Ridiculous and dangerous caseloads.

Zero flexibility in shifts, in fact so much so that it's clearly awkward on purpose. As a newly single mum with primary aged children and no support, I temporarily reduced to 3 days to help with childcare. I was given late Friday, late Saturday and early Sunday every week. I was not allowed requests and ended up going off sick in order to find a new job.

I worked in mental health and saw horrific things. I had no supervision or support.

Managers who have never been nurses, shouting at you in front of everyone else, like you're five years old.

It's not the job. It's just the system. It's toxic.

Shit pay for the expertise, knowledge and actual work we have to.
Under staffed
Under valued
Majority of patients are lovely.
Entitled patients.
Having to fight for equipment that's essential for your work.
Lack of equipement
Unsocial hours, I work 2 weekends in a month and it's meant to be only 1.
Unfair staff treatment -because I can do deal with the difficult patients - I'm the default person.
Constant messaging to work extra hours.
Never being able to take break due to the work demands.
High managers sending emails on Friday evening for urgent work to be covered over the weekend when theres no staff.
NHS England recevied NO special payout that Scotland and Wales received for there work they did over Covid.
Social care, how underfund it is and the knock on effect that has.
You can earn more money working for Aldi/lidl.

Theres nothing stopping a factory worker moving up the ranks?

Because they don’t replace people to keep costs down.

My youngest daughter left the army (so she’s not afraid of hard work or long hours) and after a few years of being at home with her children she returned to work.

After a year or so working as a NHS nurse she left to pursue a complete change of career. She worked various wards and clinics, then A&E
Long hours, low pay, lack of appreciation from her colleagues, bosses and even patients (she was spat at, sworn at, threatened, punched and slapped etc)

She now works for a cleaning firm, she pretty much sets her own hours, never has to work a night shift, never finishes two hours after her contracted hours have finished and is on comparable money. After traveling to her local hospital 30 minutes + each way on the train, she is financially and mentally better off.

weird isn’t it, people leave jobs where they are not appreciated and not really paid appropriately to do lesser jobs but with different benefits.

her husband has his own business so between them childcare is much easier now he knows exactly what hours he is needed to be home with the children.

Technically she can still work bank shifts if she wants some extra cash, but I don’t think she misses it.

This. Took us 6 months to replace one receptionist as no one wants the job

No-one wants the job with the current pay and conditions!

I remember when public sector jobs were highly sought after, valued and better paid than others.

I mean i hope i manage to stick it out for a bit as the pension is good but I am keeping my options open. It all sounds very familiar to me!