NHS Strikes

[mph1977]

Sheepshanks said:

Yet my daughter was here last night and saying that her colleague's laptop needs a new HDD. The internal service agreement with the Trust's IT department covers the labour, but she's been without her laptop for weeks as the £40 cost of the new HDD is stuck in a signature loop.

most service / quality improvement systems in industry try to devolve the decision making authority as low as possible, the trend i nthe NHS is to push decision making authority ever upward ...

in any organisation other han the nhs WHO would be the signatory on ordering a member a new set of uniform (assuming you can;t just order against an allowance) the First line Manager ? perhaps the department Manager ?

in some NHS trusts it's the DIvisional Director of Nursing which is a band 8b post and

four levels of manager from the worker (manager 1 = 'Sister' a team leader /fFLM role , manager 2 Senior Sister / department Manager , manager 3 Matron - manager of a group fo departments manager 4 DDN )

by making it so convoluted they hope people will just patch up their tunics and buy their own trousers thus 'saving' money...

[sidicks]

mph1977 said:

most service / quality improvement systems in industry try to devolve the decision making authority as low as possible, the trend i nthe NHS is to push decision making authority ever upward ...

in any organisation other han the nhs WHO would be the signatory on ordering a member a new set of uniform (assuming you can;t just order against an allowance) the First line Manager ? perhaps the department Manager ?

in some NHS trusts it's the DIvisional Director of Nursing which is a band 8b post and

four levels of manager from the worker (manager 1 = 'Sister' a team leader /fFLM role , manager 2 Senior Sister / department Manager , manager 3 Matron - manager of a group fo departments manager 4 DDN )

by making it so convoluted they hope people will just patch up their tunics and buy their own trousers thus 'saving' money...

Which actually goes to confirm what many of us have been claiming - there is a huge amount of inefficiency and needless beurocracy in the NHS and we don't need to keep throwing ever more money at it to get improved outcomes for patients.

[Rovinghawk]

Do the leadership try to seem more important by the use of jargon & acronyms?

I'm still curious as to what that six sigma stuff you mentioned is all about, btw

[mph1977]

Rovinghawk said:

Do the leadership try to seem more important by the use of jargon & acronyms?

I'm still curious as to what that six sigma stuff you mentioned is all about, btw

Six Sigma is a service / process improvement methodology

for whatever reason the different levels of ceritfication use a martial arts style colour belt title

"Six Sigma identifies several key roles for its successful implementation.[14]

Executive Leadership includes the CEO and other members of top management. They are responsible for setting up a vision for Six Sigma implementation. They also empower the other role holders with the freedom and resources to explore new ideas for breakthrough improvements.

Champions take responsibility for Six Sigma implementation across the organization in an integrated manner. The Executive Leadership draws them from upper management. Champions also act as mentors to Black Belts.

Master Black Belts, identified by champions, act as in-house coaches on Six Sigma. They devote 100% of their time to Six Sigma. They assist champions and guide Black Belts and Green Belts. Apart from statistical tasks, they spend their time on ensuring consistent application of Six Sigma across various functions and departments.

Black Belts operate under Master Black Belts to apply Six Sigma methodology to specific projects. They devote 100% of their valued time to Six Sigma. They primarily focus on Six Sigma project execution and special leadership with special tasks, whereas Champions and Master Black Belts focus on identifying projects/functions for Six Sigma.

Green Belts are the employees who take up Six Sigma implementation along with their other job responsibilities, operating under the guidance of Black Belts.

Some organizations use additional belt colours, such as Yellow Belts, for employees that have basic training in Six Sigma tools and generally participate in projects and "White belts" for those locally trained in the concepts but do not participate in the project team. "Orange belts" are also mentioned to be used for special cases.[15]"

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Sigma

My emboldening

if you use six sigma properly the green belt would be someone from the area of the business the project is located in, not an external consultant or 'in -house' project person ... the green belt would be supported by a black belt

if an organisation had a Process improvement dept and followed the six sigma methodology that dept would have one or two CHampions, a handful of Master Black Belts and a small number of black belts , plus any admin support - it would not have 'green belt' or 'yellow belt' staff ...

[Sheepshanks]

Rovinghawk said:

Do the leadership try to seem more important by the use of jargon & acronyms?

I'm still curious as to what that six sigma stuff you mentioned is all about, btw

To be fair, Six Sigma is used widely - although it's usually more associated with manufacturing industries.

The NHS specific jargon that keeps appearing detracts from posts as the content becomes meaningless to 'outsiders'.