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A friend of mine was a nurse 25 years ago, and the problems were already the same in principle back then. Overly expensive, constantly-changing, casual agency staff without any knowledge of the ward had to be called in all the time and caused the regular staff almost more problems in having to manage them and explain everything than if they hadn't been there. The 'privatisation'/'internal market' merely drove costs up rather than down, as promised because of 'competition', which was, of course, the real intention. All this nonsense about 'we need more funding' is caused by the increasing inefficiency of completely Balkanised structures designed to hide how public money is siphoned back into cronyrupt pockets. Rinse, repeat--it's a lot harder to change the tax regime than to stealthily couch in obscurantist management jargon how your favourite party political donor can recoup their investment.
Keeping people dependent through ineffective work is one way in which this is perpetuated, knowing that sanctions or punishment are very unlikely.
Well done to your wife there. I take it she has to be with a private company, too? Or does she have her own company?
Oliver Schick-
Sorry, I’ve just seen your reply. My wife is with the NHS, working at the Maudsley Hospital in Denmark Hill. She wants to set herself up as a private consultant but right now she’s got so much on there and so many people that desperately need proper help that she doesn’t want to quit because she loves what she does. But it also drives her mad, and worse. No wonder she’s stressed to shit all the time.
jj72
Cawston Park: Deaths of three patients prompts hospitals warning https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-58466839
Anyway, this makes appalling reading too. My wife is a behaviour analyst who works with adults with learning disabilities, autism etc in Southwark, and although she doesn’t have clients in hospitals like this, mostly care homes and supported living, she comes home every day with grim stories of poor treatment, uncaring, untrained minimum-wage staff and private companies charging thousands per week for appalling service, driven purely by profit at any cost.
She was at a service yesterday. Patient is hot and probably has a headache because he’s dehydrated. He’s non-verbal. He’s clearly thirsty but staff won’t make him a a drink because “they’re busy. Wife asks if he can make one himself, staff say he’s unable. So J quickly makes up a picture board showing him a cup, where they’re kept, where the squash is, etc etc. and pins it on the wall. She goes through it with him twice, just twice, and then watches him as he gets it right first time on his own. He’s been there two years and no-one has bothered to do with with him. The look of happiness on his face as he makes his own cup of orange squash is wonderful.
She sees this kind of shit every single day. All the services in London are private, and this particular one doesn’t even have its own staff - they’re entirely agency provided, so there’s no continuity. It’s a fucking disgrace.