NHS and socialising

[Cococola]

Interested to know people's thoughts

I work in the NHS (triple jabbed, daily LFTs). We have been advised to be very careful with socialising and have known others getting told they shouldn't be going for drinks with any colleagues. I completely understand the rationale but I feel like with 2 years of complete graft they seem to have forgotten were humans with family and lives too.

Just feeling deflated as I want to see some friends that I haven't seen since pre pandemic without feeling guilty about it.

Prepared to be flamed.

Non-clinical managers who've sat behind their desks for the past 18 months

The ones I know have “worked from home” with the luxury of home delivery and planned how to expose frontline staff to the relentless of it all

I think anything more than a mild request from managers about this is verging into illegal territory.

Loved the post upthread about how staff should be paid when they're not at work if management want to have any say about how they spend their time 😄.

It's a bit rich, isn't it? Go to work and put yourself at risk while many others don't have to - Oh, and don't please don't see your fitness and family either.

^friends 🤪

They can fuck off.
I am being sensible at the moment because I don't want to put my own family xmas at risk.
But lets be honest here, why should I put my life on hold for a government that doesn't even think we deserve a pay rise,

Tell you what if the shit hits the fan and public services are decimated. I,ll stand on my step and bang a few pans for people.

@Cococola

I know some colleagues that have got into trouble for meeting up, even though they have followed all the legal rules

This is not okay. You work for the public sector but they don't own you and they can't dictate what you do in your previous free time.

We wouldn't get into trouble or even get a comment in my trust but I've reduced contact where I can. Sickness is so high I'm trying to keep working

I know of a works Xmas party and then few days later more and more positive covid cases in that workplace

@AnyFucker

Non-clinical managers who've sat behind their desks for the past 18 months

The ones I know have “worked from home” with the luxury of home delivery and planned how to expose frontline staff to the relentless of it all

Quite. Don't get me started on the "all hands" 🙄 ms teams meeting where the exec team introduced us to their pets.

(There had actually been an online vote about whether we wanted to 'meet' their pets. Majority said no but they did it anyway lmao).

Jesus. I could not give a fuck about non-clinical managers pets. That tone deaf bollocks gives me the actual rage

Tbh I feel like NHS workers are property in the sense that we have to consider everyone around us but no one really cares about us as people. As long as everything keeps ticking over no one really cares if you’re ok or not, the only thing that matters is being jabbed. I keep hearing save the NHS but the reality is we are inundated covid or not and the stresses have just gotten worse.

You need to risk assess for yourself and make your own decisions on what you are comfortable with. Dh is a consultant and he’s decided not to go his department’s Christmas party tomorrow night, but he’s not judging anyone that does. It should be up to the individual.

As long as everything keeps ticking over no one really cares if you’re ok or not
Sad but true.

Indeed

I think for me, what management say doesn’t matter- it is in your own time. The consideration is for the rest of your team. Should there be a positive case, which based on daily numbers is quite likely, what will the impact be on those in your team left working whilst you isolate? You would be increasing pressure on your peers so you could have a drink. This only applies when socialising with your team of course not family or other friends

I work for the NHS. I think it is very reasonable to ask staff not to socialised between themselves, because if one has covid will pass it to the others and then it will be a lot of the workforce with covid. That's very sensible.
I don't think they can tell you what to do with your family and friends as long as you don't break any rules.

Nope. We teachers have been told we shouldn't have foreign holidays during shorter hols and towards the end of summer during Covid. Will I fuck curtail my socialising for as long as it's fine for me to mix with many, many close contacts of positive cases daily. If you were being paid a substantial retainer on your out of hours time it would be a reasonable expectation, but as things stand, nope.

@Kshhuxnxk

God I'm so sick of bleating NHS workers thinking they're the only bloody people that worked through the last 2 years.

YOU chose to work in a hospital, there was always a risk and a high one at that you were going to catch something.

It's the flipping cleaners and supermarket workers on minimum wage I feel sorry for.. You don't want your job - go work in supermarket then! As soon as they privatise the NHS the better IMO.

That seems very unreasonable and ungrateful.

I wonder what you do for a living?

Probably not something that involves sensitivity or emotional intelligence, I'd guess.

@Kshhuxnxk I think you're missing the point. No whinging about being NHS just a discussion about whether your employer can tell you to stop socialising

How many other sectors have been told not to see family friends or have parties to ensure their sector doesn't collapse?

@Cococola

I know some colleagues that have got into trouble for meeting up, even though they have followed all the legal rules

You can go out with whoever you want but I don’t blame managers for being worried about a whole team going out together. If you go out with friends you don’t work with and get it then it’s less impact than if you and all your colleagues get it together.

I'm a non NHS HCP, I was feeling pretty confidant before the Omicron popped up. All my work colleagues are double jabbed and had boosters and we all had covid in the beginning. Then our manager went down with it again. Totally threw me for a loop she was pretty sick, not that mild of a case.
It's like going back to the beginning, we really do need to stay away from others, even with twice a week LFT and weekly PCR it's not getting diagnosed in some people.
I won't socialise with work colleagues and am only doing our weekly shop in public, mask on and socially distanced. So I can keep my elderly relatives safe.

I was meant to be at a social gathering last weekend, that I was really looking forward to. I cancelled because our rota is currently so fragile that even one of us isolating could completely fuck the department.

We have also had an email saying to not have nhs Xmas parties so no teams going out together so my work Xmas meal has been cancelled but I have a night out with my own friends who do not work for nhs tomorrow night and I’m sure as hell not cancelling

@Cococola

We have been advised to be very careful with socialising and have known others getting told they shouldn't be going for drinks with any colleagues

Whilst I'm the first to agree they don't own you out of work hours! (Nor in them, but you know what I mean!), I do understand them asking you to be careful & best not to socialise with colkeagues. Lots of management are saying the same.

I would do it for my colleagues/department, not because they said so!!

It just makes sense to me, because the majority of a team coming down with covid will cause utter chaos.

Thank you for doing your job through all of this! despite some gobshite earlier in your thread, kicking off about NHS not being the only ones to work through, I think most people with a brain cell understand the nature of your Job puts most NHS staff at greater risk! (I wouldn't want to be a teacher either though!)