cake indeed!
This is a problem that frustrates me no end.
I am afraid that i am a bit of a pain in the butt to the companies and i make sure that we get our monies worth out of them....over and over.
They dont seem to mind and they never say no, so i must be doing something right. (they dont charge either)
There are more and more companies out there with "reps" and with "clinical specialists". These specialists in my opinion are worth thier weight in gold.
They mostly apear to be ex critical care/A&E nurses or techs.
They know their stuff inside and out.
This is an issue of quality and i aim to deliver good quality training cutting out chinese whispers and blind leading blind.

I have done it all, i have chosen very carefully staff who i think will deliver as trained trainers....trouble is, it looks great on ones CV, but the problem comes when i try to pin them down to actually training staff....its like pushing water up hill with a rake.
So i get the clinical specialists in for a block of training, then a year later, invite them back to get the new starters and the stragglers.
I am the only person i can rely on so i get myself trained up to a high spec, then i get down to the training, my problem is i have upwards of 30 pieces of kit, i simply cannot retain that much information so i chose carefully the high risk stuff and go from there.
We also have the competency paperwork which is presctiptive and ensures that the most important aspects are covered in training, again as Moira says, this cuts out the chinese whispers.
Maybe we should get together Jo and formulate a policy, i know i would like to compose an "agreement" that staff sign when agreeing to become a trainer to then ensure that they honour their commitment to the role.
Geoff, can you think of a suitable punishment for staff if they do not honour this sacred signing? (something that draws blood i fancy)

I can't imagine what makes you think that I should be the arbitrator of punitive action, there, Quinny. Surely by now it is well known that there are two basic motivators:- threat and reward.

Donkeys usually respond quite well to both the carrot and the stick!

But if you insist on punishment ... well, the punishment should always fit the crime. Nothing more (and nothing less).

OK ... next case please!

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/content/1/c6/02/56/58/PolicyIssue18.pdf

hmmm !!!

I think I may have mentioned before that policy without compulsion is just an exercise in wishful thinking!

And there, in a nutshell, you have the whole dilemma surrounding the acres and acres of "policy", not only in the NHS, but in Public Sector Britain as a whole.

It's a bit like having a zillion laws ... but without law enforcement (again, just like our wonderful modern society).

Yup

Job satisfaction?

I reckon you will agree with this article on the same website, Geoff?
Whiny Workers

Indeed, Jon. As I may have already told you, when I was overseas I used to avoid the whinging Brits whenever I could!

The trouble is that now I'm stuck back in the UK, there's no escaping them! In fact it's worse, as at least the Brit expats out there had a bit of "go" about them. Around here, most of (what you might call) the indigenous people (when, indeed, you actually come across them) are benefit dependent low-life. In fact, thank Heavens I live in an "ethnically diverse" area (or whatever this week's PC BS term is) ... it makes me feel like I'm still lodging in the back streets of Riyadh!

I came across this word on a forum recently:- sheeple. A lady from Scotland was wondering why the Brits are so, er, tolerant (lazy, complacent ... pick a word). I think we know what she means, do we not? Yes, the Brits are great moaners ... but unlike that other great nation of complainers (that is, the French), we never do anything about our grievances, whether real or imagined.