[quote beckypv]@Motorina how does it work with extra shifts? Surely the nurses and doctors get paid when they work more shifts. I know some obviously don’t want to work more as it disrupts their work life balance (which is totally fair enough). But I’m not sure i’d solely describe it as ‘good will and volunteering’ when they do get paid for it. I imagine it’s a staffing and space problem as there aren’t enough employees in the system to cover it, partly because they are broken by the stresses they have been under in the last year.[/quote]
It's a good question, and the answer is it depends.
Most staff work the nominal contracted hours they want to do. If you want to work part-time, you apply for a part-time job. I'm contracted to do 30 hours a week. I like working part time, because it allows me to do all the other life stuff (laundry, housework, whatever...) and still get some down time.
In practice, I work 35+ hours a week. Nearer 40, most weeks. My lunch hour is unpaid, I always work through it. I invariably work late. I not infrequently come in for stuff on my day off. That's never paid - it's simply expected. That's 5-10 hours a week I do for free, because that's the culture in a chronically understaffed service.
If I work an extra day then, yes, I get paid for it. But I don't want to work fulltime. If I wanted to, I'd be working full time hours already. So I'm not going in thinking, "Yay, more hours - the money will be really handy." I'm going in because my patients/my team need me. Because someone's off sick and there's a gap that needs plugging so patients aren't cancelled. Because we're chronically understaffed and waiting lists are growing, and I feel bad about that. Sometimes I have to cancel personal plans to cover unfilled shifts. I don't want to work those hours, but the need is there, so...
It's paid. But the motivator is good will and a sense of duty. If that good will gets ground down then people start saying no. This has already been a problem in covering gaps - people are exhausted already and have run out of caring to give.
Right now, there's additional covid stuff to be done, too. I - like lots of people - have volunteered for vaccinator shifts on non-working days. That's paid, too. But it's paid at a much lower band than my normal one. If I'm used (haven't been yet) I will be paid about a third of my normal rate. If you asked me pre-covid if I'd be willing to work a sunday shift for a third of my standard pay you'd have got a laugh or a rude word, depending on how knackered I was. Right now, with covid, lots of people are doing that. Again, the motivator is good will and service, not the money. When I could earn literally three times as much doing my normal role, then to do those shifts definitely feels like volunteering, even though they're paid.
The NHS as a whole runs entirely on that sort of good will, because it's chronically understaffed. Yeah, that means I earn more. But believe me when I say that I dream of being fully staffed so I don't end up having to work on my day off so patients don't suffer.