Where is Boris going to get all these spare staff from to redeploy across the public sectors? What is going on across ALL sectors? Something has got to give.

[ItchySnoof]

Schools are apparently going to use support staff for Teaching roles so the schools stay open. He has now also declared that NHS staff will be redeployed to "fill the gaps". The problem is there are no staff to fill the existing roles!

Where are these staff going to be magically pulled from? How can he expect low paid teaching assistants to fill in for teachers?

A video was recently released by our Trust (on behalf of the entire county) begging relatives of patients to take their loved ones in so they can discharge them and free up beds because we are over capacity and have zero staff to actually man the wards as it is.

Honestly, the whole world of employment seems to have collapsed in on itself. Shops, pubs and restaurants are closing all over the show, offices can't function unless staff can WFH, and management can't hire people into ANY of these roles, regardless of sector, because they refuse to be flexible and/or pay people (especially Key Workers) more.

Something has got to give because this is totally and utterly unsustainable across the board.

I work in the private sector and we were hit hard by Covid this time last year. It's skilled manual work (upholstery) so you can't just hire temps to do it and obviously it can't be done from home. It caused horrendous delays and we lost customers. All sectors will suffer. No idea what the answer is.

Itll all likely be short term. Yes itll spread and theyll be disruption but it should pass lover the worst in a month as everyone recovers

In the short term it will be horrendous in some areas.

Mid term some people will make changes to their employment state to fill some gaps.

Long term: the whole of employment and benefits sectors will need reshaping. From better pay, more specific work/tax benefits and a hard look at the long term unemployed (those who are able to work but, for whatever reasons do not).

Brexit plus Covid should become a very strong catalyst for lots of social change. We just need to lobby and shout to ensure those changes are for the good.

But short term really will be awful for many.

NHS redeployment will mean certain services will be decimated like March 2020 again - no children services, no falls services, no community rehab amongst the many that I know of.

@Whitefire

NHS redeployment will mean certain services will be decimated like March 2020 again - no children services, no falls services, no community rehab amongst the many that I know of.

Yes sadly I'd assume this is what they mean. Not sure how widespread it was (probably was), my friend is admin and as appointments were halted on her ward she was offered the chance to redeploy as a HCA, she did and loved it. Although of course many corporate roles need to continue on, perhaps some will be given the chance/voluntold again.

BBC website

As NHS trusts warn of staffing pressures, Mr Johnson said the government was looking at what it could do to "move people into those areas that are particularly badly affected".

The army?

Public sector roles tend to be the must have stuff like the NHS, police, teachers, fire brigade and the government have cut the funding for this stuff year on year so they'd cut all the slack and there are many unfilled vacancies. Knock 25% of that off and those services cease to function adequately.
A lot of private sector stuff is nice to have.
Some private sector stuff was public sector but was sold off and is a must have. The people profiting from those industries (care, utilities, transport) need to be held to account as they should have robust contingency plans. The government that sold them off need to account for letting them get away without those plans.
The must haves that were always private like food retailers? We're going to have to keep our fingers crossed.

it will be nothing like march 2020!

no contact isolation
Half the isolatiion time
people have had vaccines and half staff likely had covid already!
Its a milder illness so absence will be shorter. It could plough through entire NHS in a month and be done!

in my public sector role, more than half had it over xmas so are back in work - the rest may get it this month so a few more weeks and we'll all be back to normal.

It's just awful that we are all suffering, regardless of what sector we are in. Some worse than others of course.

I keep seeing things in America about campaigning for a general strike (I believe their social care, Healthcare and teaching sectors are in exactly the same boat as us despite the different models they work from) and thinking that the UK needs some of the same, alongside lobbying and talking to unions.

I know the short term will pass and as others have said it will be awful for some - especially service users (the kids, parents, patients etc) but long term something needs to happen and I am surprised it hasn't given the two years we have all had!

@JanglyBeads

BBC website

As NHS trusts warn of staffing pressures, Mr Johnson said the government was looking at what it could do to "move people into those areas that are particularly badly affected".

The army?

He has already mentioned bringing in the Army after a Lincolnshire Hospital declared a staffing emergency. I also know why the article only focuses on Lincolnshire as our Trust has been in extreme measures for months and months as have others, so it's not just one trust being affected.

But Covid is not a one off - you don't just catch it and you're done.

@Watapalava

in my public sector role, more than half had it over xmas so are back in work - the rest may get it this month so a few more weeks and we'll all be back to normal.

You can get it more than once though…and other variants will soon appear. Not sure it’s so simple.

I've said it on another thread, but children simply won't get any kind of quality education I'm afraid if led by support staff.

It will be holding Bay time.
They could be at home, taught by a teacher and not missing a beat but this is what people want. A friend of mine is a supply teacher, she's extremely highly educated but has no teaching quals at all and is merely someone to be with the class.

Public sector has been cut to the bone, we just don’t have any slack and huge recruitment shortages in lots of areas too. Some people are really going to struggle. If this had hit 20 years ago we’d be in a stronger position staffing wise, although not scientifically.

Not sure what the answer is. Better funding, pay and work conditions might help, but seems unlikely under a Conservative government.

A lot of private sector stuff is nice to have.

So you don't want the tax revenue then? Cool, good to know.

We will have three of our six nursing staff off self isolating from tomorrow whilst they await PCR results. That's three clinics full of patients cancelled. If they test positive, they'll be cancelled going forward for the next several days. That's hundreds of patients needing immunisations, urgent blood tests, smears, cancer injections, dressings etc. The clinics are already full until the end of the month. So move them to February? At best.
There are no extra staff to draft in. Current staff don't want anymore overtime.
I don't know what the answer is.

Total misrepresentation Keating. Nobody will die if DH and his team in the private sector can't do their job for a week. They'll catch up and tax take will be unaffected.

The teaching assistants can become shop staff to cover store shortages.
The shop staff can become healthcare assistants to prop up the NHS.
The healthcare assistants will be rapidly redeployed to the classrooms up and down the land to educate our children.
What can possibly go wrong?

Total misrepresentation Keating. Nobody will die if DH and his team in the private sector can't do their job for a week. They'll catch up and tax take will be unaffected.

Not necessarily. Contracts can be lost or curtailed and as a result jobs lost and tax revenues down. Most of our contracts are for international jobs, clients can go elsewhere.

Maybe. But that's one reason why I said 'A lot' rather than 'All'.And if all your business is dependent on overseas clients then Brexit will surely be a bigger concern?

Just talking to a lady from West Yorkshire about the huge numbers of NHS staff who are off sick/ shielding etc
They are all being instructed to attend their Occupational Health department for a PCR test " within two hours" of reporting sick etc.
I think this is a really good initiative and will surely help solve problem of staff absence ( be it for legitimate or other reasons)

Local Authority employee here. We've been asked to either work additional hours or be redeployed entirely to local care homes. Anyone who agrees will be given a virtual training session before they start.

This request has gone to all employees, i.e., those with no experience in the care sector.

Can't see anything going wrong with that...

It’s a disgrace.

TAs stepping up to be teachers, leaving the kids who need 1-1 support from the TAs with no support.

@123MothergotafleA

Just talking to a lady from West Yorkshire about the huge numbers of NHS staff who are off sick/ shielding etc They are all being instructed to attend their Occupational Health department for a PCR test " within two hours" of reporting sick etc. I think this is a really good initiative and will surely help solve problem of staff absence ( be it for legitimate or other reasons)

How will it help? Unless you're suggesting they're skiving.