Is Her Career Finished
Discussion
My Partner is a Registered Nurse and Midwife. She left frontline nursing and midwifery for a career in healthcare management as shiftwork and a young family are pretty much mutually exclusive. She worked, initially, in the public sector but then took a position with a private contractor specialising in home visits to the very elderly and infirm. In her position she was tasked to ensure compliance with her employer's care requirements as set within contracts with their clients.
The company has a hard nosed, very commercially driven philosophy. The carers are paid minimum wage less travel time (basically you get 6 hours' wages for eight hours' work, two hours deducted as it is deemed carers are not working but travelling between visits). They also have pay deducted for uniforms and training and receive a mere 20p per mile as full expenses for running their own car. In return for these rewards staff are expected to wake, get out of bed, shower, breakfast and medicate a pensioner in about 25 minutes. It can't be done.
My partner, on carrying out various performance audits, ruled that the contractually obligated levels of care could not be delivered within the timescales set by the management. Her crime was she said it "out loud". She had gone out to deliver a day's care assisting one of her best girls to see what best practice could be replicated by less well performing staff. What she found was care was delivered with a mass of cut corners and at a level way below clients' specification. She then said to this girl that she does far too many visits in a day. This statement went through the company care-staff like wild fire (in't Facebook brilliant). A senior manager had finally said what they had all known for years.
When questioned about her statement by powerfully built, BMW driving director types she replied "I'm not here to make the company money, I'm here to deliver care". She was sent home on the spot.
Moving on. She was suspended on full pay, subject to an investigation and let go as she had not been with the company for a year. She signed a compromise agreement promising not to whistleblow in return for the company telling DHSS she had been let go rather than had been sacked or had left allowing her to claim, jonseaker's, housing and child benefit. Her big problem is that inspite of being ensured that she would receive a good reference she has gone from a very employable person to someone no one seems to be prepared to touch with a bargepole. Question is inspite of her reference are her old bosses having a "quiet word" with her future employers and, if so, where does she go from here?
The company has a hard nosed, very commercially driven philosophy. The carers are paid minimum wage less travel time (basically you get 6 hours' wages for eight hours' work, two hours deducted as it is deemed carers are not working but travelling between visits). They also have pay deducted for uniforms and training and receive a mere 20p per mile as full expenses for running their own car. In return for these rewards staff are expected to wake, get out of bed, shower, breakfast and medicate a pensioner in about 25 minutes. It can't be done.
My partner, on carrying out various performance audits, ruled that the contractually obligated levels of care could not be delivered within the timescales set by the management. Her crime was she said it "out loud". She had gone out to deliver a day's care assisting one of her best girls to see what best practice could be replicated by less well performing staff. What she found was care was delivered with a mass of cut corners and at a level way below clients' specification. She then said to this girl that she does far too many visits in a day. This statement went through the company care-staff like wild fire (in't Facebook brilliant). A senior manager had finally said what they had all known for years.
When questioned about her statement by powerfully built, BMW driving director types she replied "I'm not here to make the company money, I'm here to deliver care". She was sent home on the spot.
Moving on. She was suspended on full pay, subject to an investigation and let go as she had not been with the company for a year. She signed a compromise agreement promising not to whistleblow in return for the company telling DHSS she had been let go rather than had been sacked or had left allowing her to claim, jonseaker's, housing and child benefit. Her big problem is that inspite of being ensured that she would receive a good reference she has gone from a very employable person to someone no one seems to be prepared to touch with a bargepole. Question is inspite of her reference are her old bosses having a "quiet word" with her future employers and, if so, where does she go from here?
Edited by Tannedbaldhead on Sunday 11th May 12:08
technodup said:
Tannedbaldhead said:
The company has a hard nosed, very commercially driven philosophy.
It's a business, what would you expect?Tannedbaldhead said:
When questioned about her statement by powerfully built, BMW driving director types she replied "I'm mot here to make the company money, I'm here to deliver care". She was sent home on the spot.
The directors will be (and were) the judge of that.The morality of care for profit will run to pages but it seems she was naive as to the primary motives of a business. Understandably perhaps coming from a presumably NHS background but nevertheless she is/was there to make/save money for the company.
Question is does she now accept the company standpoint? If not then maybe the NHS is the best place to look for work.
The problem, the bad employees were the commercial managers who underpriced a contract decided to cut a mass of corners to keep said contracts profitable then got rid of their quality control manager when she flagged up the job wasn't being done properly. She wasn't even sacked. They just told her she wasn't suited to the position and as she had not two years employment just let her go.
HRL said:
What's the worse that could happen if she went to the national press?
They already knowhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21430956
http://blogs.channel4.com/victoria-macdonald-on-he...
http://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/201...
And if you google the subject you'll find much much more.
Looks like someone has blown the whistle on a similar organisation. They're all as bad as each other it seems.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31869447
http://liveincarer.liveincarejobs.co.uk/discussion...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31869447
http://liveincarer.liveincarejobs.co.uk/discussion...
Edited by Tannedbaldhead on Thursday 26th March 19:15
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