loss of RURAL doctors.

[Silvercloud]

If staff throughout NHS would like eg, a taxi to get to another hospital after arriving eg for a meeting, instead of perhaps using normal hospital transport than they should pay for the added luxury themselves ,this should only ever be option when there are is no hospital transport/public bus etc to then need use of a taxi.

[Silvercloud]

I'm sure some good discounts could be arranged for the NHS at the lower end type accommadation just much as those accommadations above 3 ***

and be able get latest offers and vouchers etc.

[Silvercloud]

Oh and instead of flying ,perhaps the board could consider £18 pod and use public shower is included in price on Northlink and as for the food they would eat anyway when arrived home from work so they can pay for meal themselves.

 

If services have to be cut back, rural drs etc so must other areas.

In these times there should be no jollies and perks only hard graft like most people have to.

[enkelt skapninger]

Silver cloud, all that is the norm for NHS travel.

Except for getting the ferry, which is thoroughly ridiculous. Do you want doctors working a full shift straight off the ferry?!? Really?

 

Most meetings are done by video conference these days anyway.

[shetlandpeat]

I know that there seems to be a sustained attack on the healthcare, many surveys have shown, the superfluous reasons folks have taken up doctor time when a pharmacist could have advised. As well as attacking practices, some attention should be given to those who waste time as well.

[Silvercloud]

Hi,

 

Travel arrangements that I suggested using low end accommadation and using public transport and hospital accommadation where absolutely possible are you saying this is the norm for higher managers and other staff ??

 

You sleep on the ferry overnight unless staff are singing and dancing/ drinking all night and I wasn't necessarily saying doctors come off the ferry to work the wards , but if higher staff are going to meetings then no reason why sometimes this should not be the main choice of travel sometimes to save money.

[Silvercloud]

I personally think all accommadation and travel booked for NHS ,meetings , conferences, study days and courses , fact finding missions think most thing are covered in that list, should be audited and printed to demonstrate exactly where the money on what type accommadation and travel is being spent and who by .

 

If higher managers saying cuts have to made then same should apply top end too.

 

They might be audited but they are not printed as far as I know could be wrong maybe someone will know?

[Speccy]

You sleep on the ferry overnight unless staff are singing and dancing/ drinking all night and I wasn't necessarily saying doctors come off the ferry to work the wards , but if higher staff are going to meetings then no reason why sometimes this should not be the main choice of travel sometimes to save money.

 

Staff have lives, children, pets and other dependents to arrange care for when they are away. 'Sleeping' on the boat? Well, maybe some folk can. Staff do a job, they don't sell their life and leisure time to the NHS too. Yes, reasonable price ceilings are needed, but I expect they already apply. Going South for work is not a beano - most folk find it hard work and consuming of their own time.

[Silvercloud]

Staff must know when they apply for such posts and jobs they may have to go away as part of their job for training etc you cannot expect the NHS to pay for added luxuries It's up you to make sure pets and family are looked after whether working for NHS or not. When you go away, yes people have lives, just don't expect pay for added extras , and mainly going for higher management as they probably take more time away then average nurse off island for example.

 

I didn't say take the ferry ALL the time just sometimes to help make savings where possible and the accommadation certainly does not need to be anything above 3*** in fact probably get away with 2** or hospital accommadation in most cases and using bus service more than perhaps taxis for some things etc .

 

If not a pod at least cabin there is no need to fly every time we do live on an island and we should taking the cheapest option to get off it when need arises when working .It is not be abused by using higher star accommadation as added luxury if people want better they can top up out their own pocket.

[Silvercloud]

So all our managament staff all use low end accommadation/travel *when possible* to help save money within NHS majority of the time especially when they themselves are suggesting or making cuts in our services ?

[Silvercloud]

Perhaps an outside team should investigate and report the findings of how expenditure on travel /lodgings is carried out for staff and whether it has been most cost effective way that has been achieved.

The public have the right to know in this area too how NHS money is being spent .

[enkelt skapninger]

So all our managament staff all use low end accommadation/travel *when possible* to help save money within NHS majority of the time especially when they themselves are suggesting or making cuts in our services ?

 

Yes.

 

A little DOI: I no longer work for NHS Shetland, but used to.

 

There are strict rules on how much we could claim for accomodation. If I went to a meeting in London, it would not be possible to find a hotel for the allowance allocated. I would end up out of pocket to make up the difference. So, I was effectively subsidising the NHS.

 

There are strict rules on getting the cheapest possible trains, flights etc. Everything has to be accounted for.

 

I spent a week doing some work in Aberdeen on behalf of NHS Shetland, and stayed in a crappy little room in Woodend Hospital with somebody elses pubic hair clogging up the shower, a light that flickered, a bed that should have been condemned 30 years ago, and a table with a wonky leg. There was no phone, no telly, nothing. So I spent a week in a room thoroughly miserable so as to save the NHS some money. This was what people tended to do.

 

The cost of flights were not significant - everybody has an ADS card, and quite frankly I'm buggered if I'm going to spend days away from my family for the NHS unecessarily, for the sake of 20 quid. The managers who have to go to lots and lots of meetings on the mainland - why should they miss out on their family life day in day out? What about the 1 hour meetings the government insists they attend face to face? Should they get the boat to those meetings?

 

And as I said, significant investment has been made in videoconferencing facilities which have cut the number of off-island visits significantly, realising big savings.

 

You seem to have this impression that everybody in NHS Shetland is on the make, or is lazy, or incompetent.

 

Here's a suggestion, Silvercloud: Apply to be the next Chairman of the Board. Show the lazy incompetent money-grabbing staff how it should be done. I think you'd be amazed at how resourceful and hard-working the people who work in NHS Shetland actually are.

 

The good folk of Shetland seem to think that NHS Shetland is a poorly performing board. Believe me, it isn't. The levels of service that you have is astounding compared to many places in the UK. This sense of entitlement when you live hundreds of miles away from the nearest major population centre is unrealistic. If you were to transplant Shetland to England's NHS, you'd find Gilbert Bain Hospital closed, all the consultants made redundant, half the GPs gone, maternity gone, support services pared to the bone.

 

I'm going to step away from the keyboard now.

[Silvercloud]

Hi,

 

Maybe you do have a few more morales some don't.

 

If you had to go to London for a meeting stay in hospital accommadation.

You do not need to necessaily stay in a hotel.

 

If your accommadation was so bad maybe you should have complained to hotel services and the accommadating board pay for suitable hotel for you, and this would not cost Shetland anything. Maybe Aberdeen would sort the rooms in future to prevent happening to someone else.

 

When people take certain posts they know they may have to go away a lot, their higher pay reflects their position. Its's the same with other managers in other industries. You cannot expect to have a highly paid job/post and be at home with your family ever night theres always a compromise like for many hardworking normal families.

 

I'm not saying everybody in NHS Shetland is lazy or on the make but there are duplicated jobs/posts that could be amalgamated and people not working as hard as they perhaps should, just waiting for their pension to come along.

 

If you did put NHS in England yes they would shut it due to the disproportionate ratio of patients to managers and lack of services.

On island you cannot expect all services most people understand this but what services we do have people would expect to be run efficiently instead of hearing excuse why you cannot have something even when it can be possible to provide sometimes. Only few people will ever put themselves out.

 

As for me being elected for the board I think I would get *blackballed* due to the comments I have made as some people would not like the changes

[enkelt skapninger]

If you had to go to London for a meeting stay in hospital accommadation.

You do not need to necessaily stay in a hotel.

 

Hospitals don't have accomodation like this. Also, my meeting wasn't at a hospital. Plus, NHS England isn't the same body as NHS Scotland, and will charge.

 

If your accommadation was so bad maybe you should have complained to hotel services and the accommadating board pay for suitable hotel for you, and this would not cost Shetland anything. Maybe Aberdeen would sort the rooms in future to prevent happening to someone else.

 

It isn't up to the accommodating board to pay. Aberdeen was doing Shetland a favour. Aberdeen don't have the money to do up the rooms.

 

When people take certain posts they know they may have to go away a lot, their higher pay reflects their position. Its's the same with other managers in other industries. You cannot expect to have a highly paid job/post and be at home with your family ever night theres always a compromise like for many hardworking normal families.

 

I think you are overestimating the pay. And underestimating the other responsibility that commands that pay. I'm sorry, but I'm not a charity and I'm not going to kiss my family life goodbye. This is why it is difficult to recruit and hang onto good staff.

 

I'm not saying everybody in NHS Shetland is lazy or on the make but there are duplicated jobs/posts that could be amalgamated and people not working as hard as they perhaps should, just waiting for their pension to come along.

 

Really? Name those people who are not working hard. Name those people who are just waiting for their pension. Put your money where your mouth is. Name names.

 

Duplicated posts? Do you have any idea how many hats many people wear in NHS Shetland? I was at least three people when I was there. This is the norm. The requirements (both legal and political) from central office that are put upon boards mean huge amounts of work. Frankly I'm amazed that Shetland manages to do it with so few people.

 

If you did put NHS in England yes they would shut it due to the disproportionate ratio of patients to managers and lack of services.

 

Quite the opposite. The range of services you have far outweighs what a population of this size should get.

 

On island you cannot expect all services most people understand this but what services we do have people would expect to be run efficiently instead of hearing excuse why you cannot have something even when it can be possible to provide sometimes.

 

Please provide examples.

 

Only few people will ever put themselves out.

 

The milk of human kindness is finite. People end up getting sick of running themselves ragged in return for hostility and criticism. They'll end up doing what they get paid for and no more. I have seen people work themselves into an early grave on behalf of the NHS-using public, and then be criticised by patients for having the temerity to selfishly die without giving anyone due warning.

 

As for me being elected for the board I think I would get *blackballed* due to the comments I have made as some people would not like the changes

 

Well why not give it a go?

[Silvercloud]

Hi,

 

If NHS England would charge for accommadation it would certainly be less than hotel.

Hopspitals do have accommadation otherwise where would student nurses ,drs and other staff live and use?

 

They do have money to do up the rooms just to a very basic standard comes out hotel service budget surely ?

 

Nobody asks you kiss family life goodbye bit over exaggeration here but do have to accept you will not see your family if you leave the island for meetings its goes withthe job/post.

 

You also have also otehr benefits of living on an island . You can't have the cake and expect to eat all of it.

 

Naming people is not the done thing on an open forum you should know this, someone who work for Nhs Shetland .

I'm sure people within NHS would know any indviduals who may do this.

 

Yes i'm surprised we manage so well with so few nurses and its most of ours nurses that are the ones that go that extra mile and its more nurses we need not managers.

 

No more to say really about hospital travel /accommadation expenses

accept it would be nice to see in print where exactly the money is spent on travel accommadation.

 

If ist true that the higher management use the cheapest and most efficient

travel/accommadation they can hold their head high knowing when they have to cut or reduce services the public can rest assured they are doing the same too.