nhs Managers.net
18th January 2018
3

Live Health News  |  Weather  

Health Chat
25th January - 5.30pm - King's Fund
Shirley Cramer
CEO - Royal Society of Public Health.
 In conversation with Roy Lilley
4 Free Bursary places for people working in public health.   Apply here.
Tickets and Details here - Special Deal for IHM Members.
Honesty...
 
News and Comment from Roy Lilley
I don't know why I let them upset me but they do.  They irritate me beyond belief.  

I've tried everything.  Deep breaths, counting to ten, think-calming-thoughts, relaxation, calamine tea... but they still drive me BARMY!

I'm talking about the Department of Health Press Office.

Why don't we dump them?  We could have one of those press-button, dial yer-own-answer, premium phone lines; dial-a-quote.

Press one for; 'The NHS has had more money than any time in the history of coinage... there is more money than ever before'.

Press two for; 'The NHS is expected to provide more care, better care... whatever... there will be more care in the NHS than ever before.'

Press three for; 'The NHS has commissioned a report on this and it will be published when it is published and it will address  these issues, or not... there are more reports in the NHS than ever before.'

Press four; 'Although you may think today is Thursday, actually, because yesterday was Wednesday and tomorrow is Friday, does not guarantee you have got the day of the week correct.  There are more days in the week than every before....'

... and there is the latest.  Infuriating.  But first some context from the BBC;

The NHS is "haemorrhaging" nurses with one in 10 now leaving the NHS in England each year.
More than 33,000 walked away last year, piling pressure on understaffed hospitals and community services.... a rise of 20% since 2012-13... there are now more leavers than joiners.

In up-sum: more than 10% of the nursing workforce have left the NHS in each of the past three years; leavers would be enough to staff more than 20 average-sized hospital trusts; more than half of those who walked away in the last year were under the age of 40.

Leavers outnumbered joiners by 3,000 last year.

The DH press office; what did they say?  Brace yer-self... here it is

'There are 11,700 more nurses on our wards since 2010...'

Reach for the calculator;

11,700 in 7 years = 1,671 nurses a year
There are roughly 157 trusts; 
1,671 new nurses divided by 157 Trusts 
= 11 new nurses per Trust.

Less than one new nurse a month...

Does the Press W allah think we are all stupid.  Can't add up?   Is this careless or Machiavellian?  Dissembling, misleading an attempt at being smart.  Is this good ethical press management?

As the BBC say;

'They (the DH Press office) have picked 2010 and nurses on wards.  If you look at the entire nursing workforce, the numbers have only risen by 1%... demand across health care has gone up between ten and twenty percent...'

It is the role of the DH press office, funded by the taxpayer, to be truthful, accurate, objective and impartial.  They are accountable to us all.  They are not accountable to Tory Central Office; to gift wrap, polish or present the facts sunny-side up.  We want stripped pine facts. 

And the facts are nursing is a great profession, a wonderful vocation but a rotten job.

It's a rotten job because the DH have got the numbers wrong, training wrong, funding wrong, safe staffing wrong.  On any measure they are on the wrong side of right. 

Three days a week twelve hours a day, understaffed wards, getting through a shift with fingers crossed there isn't a disaster.  It's not a job it's torture.

Car-parking charges, child care, flat-line pay increases, patients in the corridors.  No breaks.

To make ends meet a couple of shifts in a care home.  Exhausting.

All the nurses I have met love nursing.  None of them leave a job they love.  They leave management, bureaucracy, bullying, anxiety, rehearsing for CQC inspections, daft policy and unnecessary pressure.

What's not to like about working for an agency; work the shifts you want, where you want, no management hassle.  I'm surprised the whole of the workforce isn't agency.

Organisations get the workforce they deserve.  Nothing changes anything faster and quicker than honesty.

The Health Select Committee report on nursing next week.  Let's hope they can find some honesty.
---- ----------------------------    
 Contact Roy - please use this e-address
Know something I don't - email me  in confidence.
Leaving the NHS, changing jobs - you don't have to say goodbye to us! You can update your Email Address from the link you'll find right at the bottom of the page, and we'll keep mailing.
----------
Disclaimer
Medicine for Managers
Dr Paul Lambden
... I do like the Doc's remedies!
---------------
CTCT-20160921_214058_1
FREE eBook 
For IHM Members
A-Z Cover
Tool-Kit for Changing Times
Tips, anecdotes, ideas, fun and deadly serious.
Over 100 downloads on the first day.
Get yours
..................................
New Chair of the IHM advisory board
Ed Smith
Former chair of NHSI
joins
Sam Jones
and former Trust CEO
Peter Homa
New member of the iHM ADVISORY BOARD
Jim Mackey
More  announcements coming soon!
------------
Look out for our fully accredited learning programme.
Coming Soon
------------
JOIN the New 
IHM 
here.
---------------------
FREE For MEMBERS
View the best panel discussion I've been involved with.
Ed Smith, Sam Jones, leading NHS lawyer Rhian Vandrille and GP and CCG lead on emergency care, Virginia Patania.
Cuppa-builder's and packet of Hobnob watch.
Log-in to members area from here.
-----------------
NEW HEALTH CHAT
Micheal Adamson
Boss of the British Red Cross
In conversation with Roy Lilley
'the silent epidemic of loneliness'
'Refugees in our health system'
Special deal for third sector workers and if you are quick 10 bursary places - click here for details.
----------------------
FabSafe!
How do we make the NHS the safest healthcare system in the world?
Don't reinvent the wheel, don't wait for reports, 
Find out more, how to share your safe stuff, HERE
------------------------------
The 
Fab-O-Meter 

The early adopters are well under way, finding out about morale in their
organisations.
Confidential voting for staff translates into realtime dashboard
-----------------------
Follow us on Twitter
Please share your good stuff!
-------------
News and Stuff
News boy
Gossip
shh
This is what I'm hearing;
if you know different,
tell me here
-------------------
>>  I'm hearing - Guys has poached King's head of comms.
>>  I'm hearing -  life expectancy in some regions is falling.
---------------
Need inspiration, a good idea or solve a problem
---------------------
----------------