NHS

The Indian doctor running the agency recruiting them said that they gained valuable expertise when working for the NHS which they supposedly take back with them after two years to benefit the patients in India.

I'm not so sure.

Yes I know that trisher we have allowed the nhs to be ripped off ( blackmailed) by agencies. Where does it end ?

gillybob, I acknowledge your frustration but - what's happening in public service is that staff are under constant criticism from Ministers who would like to see no public, all private services.
Workloads are steadily increasing and pay hasn't increased. Administrative support for teachers, social workers, nursing staff, police etc etc has been demolished with the result that 80% of their working hours would be spent on a computer but everyone I know manages to do much of that in non working hours.

People who work for agencies get paid more by the hour but they do not get sick or holiday pay or any kind of pension scheme. No one wants agency staff, we need permanent dedicated nursing/teaching/social workers - it's a bad deal all round but it does enable staff to have a semblance of control over the hours they work.

I agree that it is a terrible haemorrhage of cash out of the NHS to private agencies, but as has been said the hospitals are so short staffed that they cannot function without, it's difficult to blame poorly paid staff for working for these agencies. Surely the blame lies in years of lack of investment in nurse and doctor training, and made worse now by nurses losing their bursary. When I worked for NHS they ran their own staff "banks", to enable staff either to work over time if they wanted, or to work hours that suited them. These have largely disappeared but when my mum was in hospital some nurses said that they had offered to work on a "bank" basis after early retirement, but hospital's are unable to do this apparently.

When they quote these waiting times in A & E. Is that the time to see a doctor or time to see anyone? Last time I went to A and E. I saw a triage nurse and then a nurse practitioner. Never actually saw the doc. as such.

The laws have changed with regards to agency staff rights Iam64 . We occasionally take agency workers if we get a rush job. They are entitled to holiday pay the same as a permanent member of staff.

I also disagree with anyone in the public sector taking early retirement and then selling themselves back via agencies at inflated costs. This appears to be rife in teaching as well as the NHS .

I am a strong believer in 'never blame the person, blame the system gillybob'. It would not be impossible to stop people going down the early retirement /agency route. Just have all your currently vacant position filled and there would be no need for the number of agency staff but there are often freezes in recruitment and the pay of agency staff coming out of another pot. They could also look into giving permanent staff some of the flexibility agency staff.

I have just seen that the campaign group "999 Call for the NHS" has been successful in gaining permission to bring a judicial review of NHS England's draft Accountable Care Organisation contract, which they believe is unlawful under current NHS legislation. It will be held in Leeds in April. This campaign is being financed by crowdfunding, and if it helps to put a spanner in the works of the Government's progress in privatising the NHS, good for them.

Good for us, not just them.
You can still contribute if you want.

Yes and you can also contribute to 38 Degrees fundraising for their huge advertising campaign to publicise the message "NHS crisis is the Government's fault" and "they need to boost NHS funding now". This will be on side of trucks and targeted leaflet drops.

www.crowdjustice.com/case/healthcare4all-stage3/

If you can't contribute, they would like you to send the link to others who you think might be able to.
They need another £12,000 for the stage three court case.

If you retire early on health grounds, the grounds have to include the fact you will never be fit to work in teaching/social work etc again
If people retire a bit early and then do part time with an agency, surely that's their right. Working 70 hours a week as a social worker or teacher is doable in your 30's, less so in your late 50's or 60's.
As GracesGran says, it's the system that may be at fault, not the individuals who try to survive in it.

The government says that the problem in A&E happens every year. It didn't, not until the Tories took over.

Iam, I thought the Tories wanted all Waspi women to take on apprenticeships, which means they want them to work part-time.
In hospitals and schools?

A Calais hospital is carrying out medical procedures for the NHS.

Who are we going to turn to after Brexit ?

My friend had a face lift done in Cuba....

My friend went to Bulgaria to have plastic surgery on her eye bags. She said it was nice to lie by the pool and recover whilst the swelling went down. Cheap as chips, apparently.

Some English hospitals are doing procedures for Welsh patients

This is not something new or a uniquely Tory government problem. The issues reported by the press have not changed for over 20 years. That's what is really shocking.
1995
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/251375.stm
2000
www.theguardian.com/society/2000/dec/04/health2
2005
moneyweek.com/the-traditional-nhs-winter-crisis-kicks-in/

I guess you haven't looked at the link at 19.30, Primrose.
One chart shows you.

fullfact.org/health/how-much-money-does-nhs-need/

It's one measure Jen and it only goes back to 2004. No idea where it's from and the NHS is more than just A&E waiting times. 11% of people are just sent home without advice or treatment in A&E according to the Kings Fund report you quoted. A further 39% get advice only. So it's likely that a high percentage those people waiting longer than 4 hours are not waiting for treatment.
But that's all from links you've posted, so you know this already.

Even the term winter crisis wasn't common until 2013.

fullfact.org/health/nhs-winter-crisis/

It actually came from the King's Fund report.

Yes, it only goes back to 2004, but your links are only during the Labour government. Can't think why.