NHS scotland

[oOiluvfriendsOo]

So as if things aren't bad enough for NHS staff.......

They are withdrawing use of agency staff (fair enough as costing mega money)

If one of our own staff phone in sick the shift will not be put out to bank or offered to own staff off duty. So we're short staffed.

Staff will be pulled from wards with adequate staffing to cover shortages which in effect means barely any wards are going to be fully staffed.

Eg...nurse went home sick, 1 nurse left to cover a big ward that requires 2 nurses. Nurse didn't get a lunch break till 3.45 because there was no cover to allow her to do so.

It's unsafe and we are run off our feet. I've had 2 hellish days and it's not going to get any better.

I will never leave my job but if things don't improve they are going to lose a lot of really good staff.

The recruitment process is absolutely shocking too. Interviewers are being told that unless the person appears really incompetent at interview then get them recruited.
Due to this there are a lot, and I mean a lot, of lazy, incompetent and uninterested nursing staff coming onto wards.
It's making our jobs so much harder, we're carrying people who are only there for a wage and good holidays and not interested in doing a good job.
It's hard enough doing your own job without having to tell others (been in long enough to know) how to do theirs.

It's a shambles!!

I feel your pain!
You're lucky you get people applying for jobs. We have several that no-one applies for. The staff shortages in NHS are massive and getting worse. It's not just funding, its lack of planning to train enough staff to replace the high % of workers over 55 and loads taking early retirement.

The pandemic has caused an already creaking NHS to be on its knees and massive issues for future healthcare.
It's only going to get worse. Let's face it, who really wants to go into nursing etc with the state of things now🤷🏼‍♀️

Agency staff do cost a lot of money but they save on the 20% employers superannuation and obviously don't pay sick pay or holiday pay so it would be interesting to see what the net cost actually is. I would agree with you on all you have said though, having a relative who is a nurse in Scotland. Relative is working for an agency at the moment being used to cut waiting lists and the stories I hear are horrendous concerning the NHS staff. Morale is at an all time low. I've just retired as a GP as workload awful

What's their reasoning for not using bank staff? I don't really understand that because on the whole I'd be surprised if there's an abundance of fully staffed wards in any hospital that can safely lose staff on a regular basis.

I don't work frontline so forgive me if I've misunderstood, but I thought board were supposed to be bringing the banks in-house. So effectively NHS boards would have their own 'bank' of staff to draw on for these kind of scenarios, and not paying the wild agency fees with restrictions on contracts.

What you've described sounds completely unsafe and unfair on everyone.

Sounds grim

Plenty shifts put out to bank in NHS Lothian; where are you OP?

Where are you op? I work across two boards and both definitely have bank staff called in daily. Agency staff are very difficult to get approved and are really only for non nursing shortages, which I think is quite right as there are plenty of nursing Bank staff.

Moving staff from one ward to another (or different teams in the community) if possible is normal and good practice if done correctly, as is moving to business continuity plans if staff shortages.

What you describe is unsafe and why the safer staffing act is being implemented. Escalate to your rep or confidential contact.

The board I work for uses bank staff. I think this might depend on your board.

And don't even get me started on the fees paid for locum consultants! the wastage of money is shocking in the NHS.