NHS Staff criticised as "lazy,unproductive,obstinate,millitant & agressive"

[Wildcat]

As the figures are averages I would assume it all comes out in the wash.

 

The problem with public\private sector comparisons of sickness is that private sector employment includes particular types of employment that aren't replicated in the public sector. Small businesses for example employ and are run by a large number of people but that don't generally declare sick days. I know my ex-partner for example when she worked for a small employer they never recorded sick days for her or themselves. It was a fmily run business and they didn't feel any particular need to. Private sector work also includes contractors and self employed who simply don't work on days they are sick.

 

If you do a comparison of public sector sickness absence with large private sector employers like banks or other large firms then you find the stats are about the same.

 

The stats you are quoting come from a CBI survey. a campaigning organisation for the private sector that appears to spend most of its time denigrating the public sector to maximise access of its member organisations to public contracts... Contracts that they then deliver poorly, at the expense of staff, at high cost to the tax-payer and with big profits for themselves and their shareholders.

 

http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2006/e06073.htm

 

http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2010/03/29/55022/public-sector-staff-work-when-sick-more-than-private-sector.html

 

You should be careful about what information you take for granted from the press and check the sources and consider what their vested interests are, how and why they are making their statements rather than taking them at face value.

[JFKvsNixon]

As the figures are averages I would assume it all comes out in the wash.

 

I don't think that they do actually, because as a rule the public sector tends to deliver the services that society turns to when they are in the middle of a personal tragedy, such as the police, the fire service and Healthcare professionals.

 

There are very few public sector jobs where you watch people die every day, in fact there are very few nurses that see people die every day if that’s what you were suggesting.

 

Very true, but countless people are given life changing diagnosis's every moment of every working day, and it is the health care professionals that work hard with the patients to try to find a way forward.

 

So my point stands, perhaps if we stopped putting a lot of the public sector workers in buildings full of sick people, having to witness personal tragedies on a daily basis the sickness absence rates may improve. I am sure that the police and fire services too could give compelling reasons as to why their sickness absence levels are higher than normal.

[mj.scuba]

According to the Star tonight, David Forster policy & strategy director at Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust criticised the NHS in an online discussion (Facebook) for employing "too many who are lazy, unproductive, obstinate, millitant, aggressive at every turn". He went on to claim some employees "couldn't secure a job anywhere outside the bloated public service where mediocrity is too often shielded by weak & unprincipled HR policies"

 

Now why would he say that?

 

He is possibly correct, ironically a Policy and Strategy Director might be one of the non-jobs the Ambulance Service could do without (and probably be £100k+ better off).