EBME Forums Forums Management Professional Issues Redundancies

Very true, from a basic pay perspective. It’s only in recent years that the basic pay and other benefits/perks of the NHS have exceeded the private sector. But now it is disproportional.

However, from ‘screw’ I don’t just mean pay and benefits, I also mean ‘work’. You have to work a lot harder in the private sector than in the NHS, irrespective of pay and all that.

The NHS is like the London underground, it was ok in its day but now needs a complete overhaul to its infrastructure to meet modern day demands and to correct the years of poor direction and management. The outlook of the NHS would not survive in the private sector.

It’s frustrating that patient care is ultimately the real looser and this should not be allowed to be the case.

As for Clinical Engineering, we are front line; whichever way you look at it, but different trusts have very different views as to how big an asset we are. Without us, patient care suffers as equipment cannot be supported, staff medical training cannot occur and broken equipment cannot be turned around and downtime results in cancelled cases, etc. Can the money men not understand this, not even in baby language?

Outside companies and/or putting the equipment on manufacturers’ contract cannot be long term cost effective and the level of service in most cases will not be as good.

@brains : it's because (like politicians, rather than statesmen) they (that is, the suits, the bean-counters and their kind) tend to think tactically rather than strategically. That is, they're too busy fire-fighting, attacking the problem at hand, to have the time (or the inclination, or perhaps even the wit) to address the "big picture".

As I have observed previously, such people tend to be of short tenure. As in, "grab the money and run"!

@Graham : who* was it who famously said:-

"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there".

(and I should know, seeing that it's where I spend most of my time)

But, on the other hand, another wise old dude mumbled:-

"Choose the future, as against the past"!

Meaning, of course, to look ahead instead of glancing back.

For what it's worth, that same sage advised (almost fifty years ago now), to "aim high - aim for something that will make a difference, rather than something that is "safe" and easy to do". In other words, find something that needs to be done, and do it. But persevere!

* It was L.P.Hartley in the opening lines of "The Go-Between"

Here's another thought for you, the NHS has been transactional in its dealings with Providers but will now have to be transformational to achieve an efficient, cost effective service.
The days of "we've always done it like this" are now behind us and we need to be looking forwards with leftfield ideas.

I've read that twice ... but still can't figure out what it is you're saying! I suspect a deliberate (attempt at a) wind-up!

No way. People on this site wind others up. I'd have never thought such a thing possible.

Geoff
I'll try and explain: all contract negotiations with Providers by the DH, SHAs and PCTs has historically been transactional; in other words, this is how much we are going to pay for this amount of activity.
With the economic crisis and decreased investment in the public sector, the negotiations will have to become transformational and look at changing the way healthcare is offered.

Do you mean that outside service providers will be able to make proposals ... and these proposals will be considered (rather than simply binned)?

Do you mean that RFP's (Requests For Proposals) will be announced, and that contracts will be awarded through a process of competitive tendering (generally, but not necessarily, to the lowest qualified bidder)?

If so ... good!

Geoff
I wasn't referring to outside service providers but current providers within the NHS: Acute Hospitals, Private Hospitals, Community Services etc.

Oh, not the so-called "Internal Market"? I thought we were talking about going forward.

"Creative Accounting" ... the same old same old.

(OK, I've lost interest now)

Still Confused. Transparency would be nice!