It was some twenty or more years ago when I first encountered guys working on overseas projects who were on leave of absence from the UK NHS. At the time I was a freelance expat, and must say that I was rather against the idea of blokes coming out on holiday, on the grounds that they were generally under-cutting the going rates of pay we were trying to achieve. After all, we were trying to build a business.
I had assumed that this practise had fallen out of fashion (especially as the overseas new hospital projects seem to be few and far between these days). Imagine my dismay, then, when I recently heard of a company employing (the wrong word, actually) NHS biomeds to fulfil a contract to service equipment in a remote oil-field location overseas. This was not a voluntary effort, but a commercial contract.
My personal beef is that, those of us who operate in the private sector, and risk our own money, have to jump through many hoops to get those contracts (including, for example, arranging expensive insurance, making detailed proposals, and all the rest), only to find that we have been beaten to the punch by a guy promoting “experts from the British Health Service”. These guys go out on daily rates lower than ours. They can afford to, can’t they, as they draw a salary from the NHS? They say that all’s fair in love and war. We don’t mind competition, but let’s make it fair competition.
Doesn’t the British tax-payer expect that NHS biomeds are giving their full attention to supporting NHS equipment, after all?
Those of us who work on the Dark Side, who are generally despised, vilified and shunned by those working in the NHS, welcome any good tech who is prepared to jump ship and join us. Putting your own money into a venture is a great way of concentrating the mind.
So here’s an invitation to any NHS biomed thinking of taking a trip to the Dark Side – put your money where your mouth is, and join us (if you have the balls for it, that is)!
