[Archived] Rant (4?)

[onlyonejackwalker]

Contact the Doctors direct

Yes Yoda that is what I have done. A locum is in situe. But pleasingly she has shown a degree of customer service and interest beyond the comprehension of the receptionists. The doctor is Nigerian. 6 foot 2 and about 22 stone. Female. Could frighten a police horse.

[adopted scouser]

Who are you on about?

'Steve' Wright. I changed Wright to something else, that's why it's censored

[Al]

'Steve' Wright. I changed Wright to something else, that's why it's censored

With you now. In spirit too.

[Baz]

WTF,

What makes you think, I think, any of those payments you posted are justified.

£370k may be a drop in the ocean to you, not me sunshine and dare I say it not the NHS.

If the NHS can afford to pay £370k over time when the normal salary is £90k to £150k someone has some explaining to do as to why they are not employing the consultant full time.

The NHS is short of money and making payments like these does not help one bit.

So get off your left wing high horse, see reality and don't preach to me about priorities.

Its a supply and demand thing, theres not enough trained staff to cover the shifts there are rostered. So to cover them they have to try and get existing staff to continually do overtime, or bring in agency staff, most of whom are already working full-time in other trusts.

The result is to be either to run with less staffing, close down wards, or pay the agency fees.

To stop this J Hunt stopped trusts paying above the normal overtime rates, but that meant most agency staff couldn't be bothered doing the extra hours as its not worth it to them, and you end up with the situation as at Chorley, where they had relied on agency staff due to being unable to find full-time staff, of having to close a&e.

We need to bring back decent level bursaries for nursing and doctors- as long as they commit to 10 years NHS work after graduation.

[yoda]

Its a supply and demand thing, theres not enough trained staff to cover the shifts there are rostered. So to cover them they have to try and get existing staff to continually do overtime, or bring in agency staff, most of whom are already working full-time in other trusts.

The result is to be either to run with less staffing, close down wards, or pay the agency fees.

To stop this J Hunt stopped trusts paying above the normal overtime rates, but that meant most agency staff couldn't be bothered doing the extra hours as its not worth it to them, and you end up with the situation as at Chorley, where they had relied on agency staff due to being unable to find full-time staff, of having to close a&e.

We need to bring back decent level bursaries for nursing and doctors- as long as they commit to 10 years NHS work after graduation.

If there are agency staff working full time in the NHS then that defeats the object.

If you keep paying £370k above someones £90k salary then the issue will not go away.

The situation at Chorley A&E was a planning problem with the trust, not finance, Lyndsey Hoyle the Labour MP for Chorley said so when he got involved.

According to the trust the issue is going to be resolved soon but the demonstrators are out in force again this morning, just drove past them.

[Baz]

If there are agency staff working full time in the NHS then that defeats the object.

If you keep paying £370k above someones £90k salary then the issue will not go away.

The situation at Chorley A&E was a planning problem with the trust, not finance, Lyndsey Hoyle the Labour MP for Chorley said so when he got involved.

According to the trust the issue is going to be resolved soon but the demonstrators are out in force again this morning, just drove past them.

You cannot magic the issue of agency staff away by just saying, well don't pay them. I'm sure if there was a cheaper option it would be taken. Have as many trained people as positions, and then the situation resolves itself. Given the time it takes to get students through medical school and up to consultant level, its a long-term plan thats needed to solve this in the future, but currently you have NHS trusts without sufficient trained doctors to meet their shifts, and they effectively end up in a bidding war to get those agency staff to fill their rosters.

The situation at Chorley is, as I wrote earlier- they didn't have enough consultants despite trying for nearly 2 years to recruit both in the UK and overseas - so ended up reliant on running A&E on a mix of full-time, overtime and agency staff, and once they weren't able to offer the funding to get the overtime and agency staff interested, they had no choice but to close the department. Despite what Lyndsey Hoyle says, thats a mix of both recruitment (long term) and finance (short term) issues.

As normal though, apart from the few people stood outside, us northerners just grin and bear it, Id imagine protests of much larger scale if this was to have happened a couple of hundred miles south of here. There are rumours of some trusts using other incentives to get around the rate cap - access to cars, housing, expense accounts etc...

This is the exact reasoning given by the trust:

combination of consultants, middle grade doctors, and doctors in training.

In recent months it has become increasingly difficult for us to staff the middle grade doctor rota at our emergency departments.

This issue has arisen because of a combination of factors :

There is a national shortage of emergency medicine doctors.

We havent been allocated enough doctors in training, and so we have gaps in our rota.

The way in which the national agency cap has been applied elsewhere is affecting our ability to attract locums

These three things combined means that we dont have enough of the right type of doctors to safely staff the emergency department.

We should have 14 middle grade doctors to safely staff the department but we only have 8 middle grade doctors in post.

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

Money eh. The NHS needs more money, the police force needs more money, teachers need more money, income in real terms in the private sector has been declining for decades so they need more money, and the government is worriedly scratching their head about our £1.56 trillion national debt so they need more money.

What is the solution? Seems simple to me, you make more and on all fronts you spend less. So raise taxes or simply collect taxes by all means. And equally stamp out unnecessary inefficiency and costs right across society, in all of these areas:

United Kingdom Government Spending

FY 2016 in £ billion

Central Local Total

Pensions 154.7 0.0 154.7

Health Care 135.3 3.4 138.7

Education 37.5 46.6 84.0

Defence 44.8 0.0 44.8

Welfare 57.9 55.0 112.9

Protection 15.5 14.4 29.9

Transport 17.8 8.5 26.3

General Government 9.4 4.8 14.1

Other Spending 71.9 37.2 109.1

Interest 44.9 0.7 45.7

Total Spending 591.2 170.7 761.9

Few humdingers in there, I'd love to know what others is.

[Paul]

Exactly. For decades taxes have been too low to provide the services the population requires. Two simple choices, spend less or earn more. Balance income and expenditure and only borrow to invest in capital projects.

The three problems are most people won't consider paying more tax, no political party will go the polls in increased taxation and no one will vote for said party.

A percentage of our population want something for nothing AND we need a massive clampdown on the failure to collect all unpaid taxes.

[Norbert Rassragr]

You could save a few million by not giving Tony Blair tax payer funded protection. He can pay for that out his own money, he has enough of it.

[davulsukur]

Whoever thought up that yogurt advert with Chris Akabusi in it needs some serious torture inflicting on them.

[adopted scouser]

Match day at Ewood (near the ground), sister parks briefly without a permit near a ground two thirds empty, gets a ticket in seconds.

Whalley range, car after car after car on double yellows, no tickets issued at all.

?

[yoda]

Match day at Ewood (near the ground), sister parks briefly without a permit near a ground two thirds empty, gets a ticket in seconds.

Whalley range, car after car after car on double yellows, no tickets issued at all.

?

That is why I suggested the other day that someone takes a walk down the Range to see what goes on !

maybe I should have referred to it by its proper name

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

That is why I suggested the other day that someone takes a walk down the Range to see what goes on !

maybe I should have referred to it by its proper name

I did that one time after nearly getting a ticket. It's a great conversation ender because they just mumble something uninteligible and scuttle off.

[yoda]

Exactly. For decades taxes have been too low to provide the services the population requires. Two simple choices, spend less or earn more. Balance income and expenditure and only borrow to invest in capital projects.

The three problems are most people won't consider paying more tax, no political party will go the polls in increased taxation and no one will vote for said party.

A percentage of our population want something for nothing AND we need a massive clampdown on the failure to collect all unpaid taxes.

Like this

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36986483

[Baz]

Like this

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36986483

Exactly like that - the film industry is a favourite investment engine anyway. A film tends to either do nothing, so you can legitimately write off the losses vs tax, or make a fortune. Ramping up the losses to avoid tax across other income is a fraudulent activity - whether or not it's deemed legal.

Seems like HMRC should have some kind of registered accreditation for tax advisors, and in cases like this those advisers should be blacklisted. That should stop some of this activity.

[adopted scouser]

I did that one time after nearly getting a ticket. It's a great conversation ender because they just mumble something uninteligible and scuttle off.

I've emailed the council, apparently it's the same situation in Nelson town centre.

[yoda]

I've emailed the council, apparently it's the same situation in Nelson town centre.

It will be relocated in the white trash bin/spam

[MCMC1875]

Match day at Ewood (near the ground), sister parks briefly without a permit near a ground two thirds empty, gets a ticket in seconds.

Whalley range, car after car after car on double yellows, no tickets issued at all.

?

Old news AS I'm afraid. That's 21st Century Blackburn for you. I saw a 'parking enforcement officer' booking a car on a cul-de-sac off Livesey Branch Road last season for 2 wheels on the pavement by a foot. Considerate parking by the driver. Nil pedestrians. Gate c 10k. Garbage.

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

It will be relocated in the white trash bin/spam

Undoubtedly. Complained to them about the anti-Semitic banners on that derelict house near Tesco about a year ago. No reply, nothing. It's kinda scary in a way.

[MCMC1875]

Old news AS I'm afraid. That's 21st Century Blackburn for you. I saw a 'parking enforcement officer' booking a car on a cul-de-sac off Livesey Branch Road last season for 2 wheels on the pavement by a foot. Considerate parking by the driver. Nil pedestrians. Gate c 10k. Garbage.

Saw em again turning down Moorgate Street at 2.15 today.

[K-Hod]

People posting videos of press-up challenges on Facebook. What's that all about? Can't folk just do some exercise without documenting it on the internet?

[Paul]

Oh Yes!! Every day I get these from friends. Relieved I haven't been nominated.......yet!

[Mike E]

If I get nominated, I'll tell them where to go. I give about £20/year to various army charities, but doing press-ups on Facebook achieves naff all.

[Paul]

With you all the way on that one Mike.

Sponsoring people to do something they enjoy is another which really irritates me. If you want sponsorship do something which is challenging.

[DE.]

People posting videos of press-up challenges on Facebook. What's that all about? Can't folk just do some exercise without documenting it on the internet?

People can't do anything these days without wanting to tell the entire world. It's why I barely use social media any more... the state of modern society is so depressing.