How would you fix the NHS?

[PinkFruitbat]

The Government is asking for ideas on how to fix the NHS.

https://change.nhs.uk/en-GB/

What would you do to fix it?

So you would reduce holiday entitlement, reduce sick pay and cut other 'benefits' for NHS workers? Isn't working for the NHS unattractive enough currently?

How about not throwing expenses bags of chemo away, or 98 brand new pairs of surgical gloves still in the box or a box of 98 individually wrapped antiseptic wipes after 2 have been used and after every single patient has had their chemo session

Stop the wastage

Stop the false economy.

That would do more than any reducing holiday entitlement etc.

You are targeting the wrong issue

I would bring it inline with other social care services. Equal it out. I don’t know any nys worker who would moan about their working conditions, if they experienced how it is to work in public social care. I’ve done both. I’ve seen the funds that haemorrhage from the nhs.

So it's not contractual entitlements or benefits you want cut? I believe that's what @MyMauveWasp was alluding to?
You want workers not to waste supplies?
I think we can all agree on that.

A lot of this is wrong…..the trust I work in has removed the extra holiday entitlement that used to be given after 10 years (I got mine awarded and then it was removed a few years later).
The sick pay is good compared to many jobs though I agree. If you are off sick on a bank holiday you lose the days annual leave allowance whether you were rostered on to a shift or not.
There is sometimes funding for study leave/ course fees but it depends on the budget each year and this year is vastly reduced and staff enter a kind of lottery for funding (I work in ICU so these courses are important to meet nationally agreed education levels for ICU nurses). Remember that the study leave only covers taught aspects of the masters/post grad course - you will do the other work towards your assignments in your own time and you are expected to do these courses in addition to your full time role and other commitments as I’m sure people in other industries are.
There is no yearly increment - they are spread out over a few years now and I spent 10 years at the top of my band with no increment until a recent promotion. There are not opportunities for promotion “like you wouldn’t believe” and many nurses spend their entire careers at band 5.
Maternity leave is not “paid in full” - mine was 6 weeks full pay and 4 months half pay and then statutory mat pay for 3 months. I’m not complaining, but it is certainly not “in full”.

Also we do not get paid for 2-3 days mandatory training in my trust we get a few hours a year. Also do you not want the staff to remain up to date on important aspects of care such as resuscitation? Or do you think updating staff is not important?
There is no emergency dependent leave now either and you will often be asked to work those hours you missed during a family emergency.

And of course @Memyaelf you are welcome to work for the NHS if you think it is so much better

I don't want to work for the NHS, or to pay for the profligacy. I want to pay a doctor for a diagnosis, and to use social health insurance that I pay for after tax to choose which doctor and which hospital. As is totally normal in most of Europe.

Ok then but don’t try to make out that NHS staff are stealing anything from you - they are working within the system that exists and 99.9% are doing their best for patients. They are not trying to get more than they deserve and staff in a hospital in another set up would also want the best terms and conditions they could possibly get and that comes at a cost.

You seem to have difficulty expressing your self now, with that level education, i doubt very much you've had anything to do with GP integration with the NHS.

I'll leave you to your issues.

How on earth will that fix the NHS??
I mean, I get it's annoying for you, but it's a somewhat bespoke issue to base overhauling the entire NHS on!

Why does someone always come on threads like this to say that?
I don't suppose you would be able to do Memyaelf's job, why should she want to do yours? You know, the job you trained to do.

NHS is more efficient than almost any other European health service, i ve used both the Swedish and France systems, they are both very admin heavy and can leave patients high n dry too, as happened to a friend of ours when he lost his leg, the ins wouldn't pay for a better prosthetic, even though one was available.

The UK has consistently paid less in per head of pop. than our European neighbours, thats the issues, its got nothing to do with insurance models, they just fund theirs to a higher level.

I think the problem is that lots of staff are at the top of their pay scale. They are used as mentors to people coming from abroad and then palmed off to other areas as a way to save money.

Stay and be played for a fool or leave and play the NHS for a fool as an agency worker? I think I’d hold my head up high and choose the latter…

Well no I probably couldn’t do hers just as she couldn’t do mine but the difference is that I didn’t point out that everything she has and does is wrong and that she has it too good and that I know how it could be done better and cheaper

@dreamingofsun unfortunately you are wrong. Lots of doctors and nurses trained here are not getting jobs. GPs are driving Ubers. Any staff from anywhere in the world can apply for jobs in the NHS and be treated the same as our own staff. Only country in the world to not prioritise staff already here.

We have enough doctors, they'd just all like a job.

TBH @Alexandra2001 , I would simply prefer to pay upfront for a consultation with a general practitioner for diagnosis, and then use my social insurance to choose the hospital and specialist, as is normal in most of Europe.

@dreamingofsun and NOT top of pay scale. Very much at the bottom in most cases. Newly qualified nurses and F2s struggling the find to find work. Locums have pretty much gone in lots of places. Not that they're not needed, they are just not funded.

I did 33yrs thank you… and I know in-depth where the most funding goes

I think you’ve won this argument.

Yep!

Thank you! You are right… RGN, RM. MA… 33yrs in NHS.. I talk with experience and knowledge.

Rubbish. There are RN jobs available everywhere if they want to do the shift work.

That’s outrageous. Just horrendous.

@Memyaelf not true. RNs struggling to find jobs this year, even locums. If you're prepared to travel 100s of miles every week then you'll find work but most people can't afford to do that.

www.nursingtimes.net/education-and-training/new-nurses-struggle-to-find-jobs-despite-national-shortage-20-06-2024/