NHS Staff Sickness
Discussion
My wife works for an NHS trust and the stories she tells me about abuse of their sickness policy are scandalous.
The opportunities to game the system sound horrendous with the same people off for months on end every year with various BS minor ailments.
I looked up the policy and of course with this being public sector I found that it’s a load of overly complex tripe but looked like in any 12 month period they could get 6 months on full pay and 6 months on half pay.
Within her trust it’s common knowledge among colleagues that these people privately admit to gaming the system but nobody with any authority cares and/or can do anything about it.
This is not victimless as the waiting lists for the services these people are being paid to provide are years long as a result of their regular absenteeism.
I understand that there’s millions of NHS sacred cow believers out there who don’t want to hear things like this and that’s one of the reasons that the organisation will always remain terribly inefficient.
The opportunities to game the system sound horrendous with the same people off for months on end every year with various BS minor ailments.
I looked up the policy and of course with this being public sector I found that it’s a load of overly complex tripe but looked like in any 12 month period they could get 6 months on full pay and 6 months on half pay.
Within her trust it’s common knowledge among colleagues that these people privately admit to gaming the system but nobody with any authority cares and/or can do anything about it.
This is not victimless as the waiting lists for the services these people are being paid to provide are years long as a result of their regular absenteeism.
I understand that there’s millions of NHS sacred cow believers out there who don’t want to hear things like this and that’s one of the reasons that the organisation will always remain terribly inefficient.
DickyC said:
Thanks, william. I'll write up a cautionary tale when it's over. A few years into retirement, DIYing, gardening and still driving too fast then, wallop, couldn't walk 100 yards without resting. It happened so fast. And the NHS, bless em, have reacted almost as fast themselves. My 'episode' was in March, my 'at least' quadruple bypass is scheduled for Friday. At St Bart's! World class medical attention on the NHS. This is Off Topic, obviously, and i know there will be shirkers in any organisation. But they're being kept well away from me, I can tell you that.
However, if I don't make it, I reserve the right to change my opinion
Well you’re not going to see the staff that are off sick regularly are you.However, if I don't make it, I reserve the right to change my opinion
I’m not stupid or naïve enough to think that there will never be lazy employees but (if the aim of the organisation is to be productive) the system has to be designed to prevent these people behaving as they wish not to facilitate it. The truth with the NHS sickness system is that whatever (committee) has designed it has given the malingers an open goal.
If you want to know why the NHS performs so badly compared to other first world healthcare systems this abuse seems so widespread that it has got to be a factor.
As somebody else suggested the result is corrosive to organisations because other employees aren’t stupid they see what the malingers are getting away with and think why should I bother.
My partner reports this evening that the same two usual suspects are absent again. One for the next 3 weeks and the other the next 4 weeks however she fully expects these periods to be extended as time moves closer to potential returns to work for the pair.
No accountability, no consequences and the gravy train rolls on for those motivated to exploit the system.
No accountability, no consequences and the gravy train rolls on for those motivated to exploit the system.
Franco5 said:
My partner reports this evening that the same two usual suspects are absent again. One for the next 3 weeks and the other the next 4 weeks however she fully expects these periods to be extended as time moves closer to potential returns to work for the pair.
No accountability, no consequences and the gravy train rolls on for those motivated to exploit the system.
So the latest is that the nurse returned two weeks ago but the speech and language therapist AHP lead is not expected to return within the next two months. She sounds the worst everyone knows she is existential unhappy and disappointed with life despite getting Grade 8 pay for sitting at home.No accountability, no consequences and the gravy train rolls on for those motivated to exploit the system.
For anyone wondering this is in an NHS mental health foundation trust so not acute hospitals.
Public services are eating themselves with their sickness/woke policies. I’m hoping that everything collapses under the weight of supporting the unproductive employees and that some kind of reset happens because they are coming after you for more and more tax to fund the lack of productivity. I’m hearing more stories now of the personnel that have brought in from abroad going on long term sick as they are learning what they can get away with that is never an option in their native countries.
williamp said:
Does anyone honestly believe those figures they’ll be falsified like all the other NHS stats are. You do know that they manipulate waiting lists numbers etc right?Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff