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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To wonder why healthcare is so short staffed.

111 replies

malificent7 · 05/08/2022 17:56

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.

OP posts:
Rewis · 07/08/2022 07:36

Shit management and inability to remove unfit people from management positions. Instead they get moved to another higher made up position. The pay at a lower level management position is is poor that it doesn't attract anyone decent.

cushioncovers · 07/08/2022 08:42

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

Cornettoninja · 07/08/2022 09:13

@cushioncovers that link doesn’t go straight to that persons post but to their photos. You might want to report to MNHQ and try again Smile

ulteriorbread · 07/08/2022 09:14

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

cushioncovers · 07/08/2022 09:19

Cornettoninja · 07/08/2022 09:13

@cushioncovers that link doesn’t go straight to that persons post but to their photos. You might want to report to MNHQ and try again Smile

Thanks. Reported it. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Crochetandcoke · 07/08/2022 09:20

Low wage, high stress job
Hard to fit around children
Some people are not well suited to this kind of work
Cost of childcare
Enhanced DBS would be an issue for many people (11 million people have a criminal record in the UK, 1 in 3 men have a criminal record)

Fimofriend · 07/08/2022 12:38

there is also a weird attitude to working in health. In the Scandinavian countries, no one bats an eyelid if the daughter of a CEO, a politician, or just someone very rich becomes a nurse, but apparently, it is "just not done" in Britain. Why not? It is a very respectable job. You have to have an education and a strong psyche to be a nurse. Why would it be anything but something to admire? (And no, I am not a nurse)

Jagoda · 07/08/2022 12:42

Bullying is completely rife throughout NHS
BREXIT
The amount of violence from patients
The amount of general abuse from patients
Overwork
Insufficient pay
Lack of flexibility in shifts
Ageing demographic means demand is increasingly outstripping supply.

JudyGemstone · 07/08/2022 12:58

AndreaC74 · 06/08/2022 14:26

I’m a senior AHP. We’ve not been able to recruit properly for ages.
I think it’s partly as people want fully remote jobs. We offer hybrid but that’s not good enough apparently

No wonder with that attitude..

No AHP expects to work from home, thats a ridiculous suggestion, would they have to take home visits????

If you want to retain staff (the easiest and quickest thing to sort out) try pay?

After than look at free training, parking, more leave, more flexibility.

None of this is rocket science.

BUT we chose to leave the EU and then charge EU workers a fortune to look after us in visas and health insurance, so its hardly surprising, as the world starts to value healthcare staff (a lot better than UK) we are struggling.

What attitude?

we can’t do anything about the pay, the bands are set nationally not by the trust.

we’re a psychology team so perfectly possible to offer phone/video appts and work remotely, however we also like to offer clients a choice of f2f appts. Many services don’t do this and offer full time remote working contracts which appears to be attractive to colleagues (not me personally, I don’t enjoy doing therapy remotely at all).

JudyGemstone · 07/08/2022 13:02

plenty of CPD/accredited training on offer, zero issues with parking, 9-5 Monday to Friday hours, never refuse to approve leave, 33 days leave a year, lots of flexibility for staff with family etc - I don’t know what more we can possibly offer and yet I’ve got an attitude?!

ContentInLife · 07/08/2022 13:03

You are a body/bum on a seat to management, not a person.

You are a servant/robot to the general public, not a person.

Pay doesn’t reflect the responsibilities.

Poor investment in ongoing professional development/training and education.

Lack of progression opportunities.

Relentless assaults/harassment from patients and their families. I have been punched and slapped in the face, kicked in the stomach, stabbed in the neck with a fork, had a tray of dirty cat litter thrown at me, been bitten on the arm, had my finger broken and been threatened with a machete to name the worst ones. Alongside that is regularly being groped, verbal abuse, sexual comments etc.

Inability to effect any meaningful change or improvement because management aren’t interested.

No real long term planning in place by senior management.

Experience is no longer valued because it’s cheaper to get graduates in, break them after a few years and then get more shiny new ones. There’s no desire to retain experienced staff anymore.

Bullying and highly misogynistic culture.

Lack of diversity and real experience in management roles.

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