Nurses to strike

[Nick]

[highlight]Frankly Nick it is you who does not have a clue[/highlight], (on a wide range of subjects.) There has been mass lobbying of the MPs in Cornwall and Cornwall council for a long time. The only way I expect it would be possible to get them off of their backsides and do something would involve kidnap and the application of Electro Corrective Therapy.

Same old lines trotted to every post, change the record cause you're....

[papasmurf]

Your posts are the equivalent of a woman fainting in Victorian times to avoid a situation they didn't like, you comment that someone doesn't have a clue as a get out for actually showing proof.

I would hazard a guess I can't find property to rent for a grand or more in virtually any area of the country, I just had a look and I can find properties for £3,500 PCM in Glasgow. I can also see loads of properties for rent in Cornwall, some as low as £600 PCM, so your comment is pointless. As for parking, I don't know a single person that agrees with hospitals charging for parking, it's an outrage, doubly so when you work there. The answer is, lobby the local councils and vote one in that promises to lift the charge.

Frankly Nick it is you who does not have a clue, (on a wide range of subjects.) There has been mass lobbying of the MPs in Cornwall and Cornwall council for a long time. The only way I expect it would be possible to get them off of their backsides and do something would involve kidnap and the application of Electro Corrective Therapy.

[srb7677]

It is a question of geography.

Pappy may well be corrected in his description of the the unending horrors and deprivations suffered by the Cornish people, but that is because his Cornwall is on the planet Zog.

There is actually a real issue with property to rent and the level of rent in parts of both Devon and Cornwall. Principally in those areas most favoured by tourists, retirees and second home owners there can be almost nothing locally available and affordable to locals. But the problem is patchy because there are also less desirable areas of both counties where more affordable properties to rent are available. Smurf might not live near one of these.

One of my best friends lives in the small Cornish town of Lostwithiel. And affordable housing to rent is very scarce there. She and her boyfriend had to compete with a dozen others for their current property. They won through principally because the landlord knew my friend from the time when she used to work in the local coop and he admired her work ethic, whilst her boyfriend was well known in the town and grew up there. 

But the situation is typical. A dozen people or couples chasing a single let. It's little wonder that with no restraints bar the market and the landlord's conscience, landlords can virtually charge what they like.

[patman post]

Not a bad idea. The ex squaddies of my acquaintance speak fondly of their treatment in military hospitals, as opposed to their experience of the NHS.

Maybe it is time to take the NHS out of the hands of its current masters and hand it over to the quiet competence of the British army

Personally, I'd be hesitant to hand over any civilian service to the military. But the military being more closely associated with the NHS and other emergency services, could be a cost effective move...

[Borchester]

Your posts are the equivalent of a woman fainting in Victorian times to avoid a situation they didn't like, you comment that someone doesn't have a clue as a get out for actually showing proof.

I would hazard a guess I can't find property to rent for a grand or more in virtually any area of the country, I just had a look and I can find properties for £3,500 PCM in Glasgow. I can also see loads of properties for rent in Cornwall, some as low as £600 PCM, so your comment is pointless. As for parking, I don't know a single person that agrees with hospitals charging for parking, it's an outrage, doubly so when you work there. The answer is, lobby the local councils and vote one in that promises to lift the charge.

It is a question of geography.

Pappy may well be corrected in his description of the the unending horrors and deprivations suffered by the Cornish people, but that is because his Cornwall is on the planet Zog.

[Nick]

The Cambridge in Aldershot was a superb hospital. I had a brief stay there many years ago. My elder son was born in BMH Rinteln, a superb hospital. My younger daughter was born in BMH Munster, also a superb hospital not as modern as Rinteln perhaps, but just as good. Army medical services used to be second to none. From the mid 1990's with cost cutting, or as politicians euphemistically call it 'a strategic defence review' it went downhill very fast.

Did you ever go to Gutersloh Or Bielefeld?

[Red Rackham]

Not a bad idea. The ex squaddies of my acquaintance speak fondly of their treatment in military hospitals, as opposed to their experience of the NHS.

Maybe it is time to take the NHS out of the hands of its current masters and hand it over to the quiet competence of the British army

The Cambridge in Aldershot was a superb hospital. I had a brief stay there many years ago. My elder son was born in BMH Rinteln, a superb hospital. My younger daughter was born in BMH Munster, also a superb hospital not as modern as Rinteln perhaps, but just as good. Army medical services used to be second to none. From the mid 1990's with cost cutting, or as politicians euphemistically call it 'a strategic defence review' it went downhill very fast.

[Nick]

In Cornwall rent could be over £1000 a month (if there is anywhere to rent.) Then at nurses get charged to park their car in some cases. Frankly Nick you don't have a clue.

Your posts are the equivalent of a woman fainting in Victorian times to avoid a situation they didn't like, you comment that someone doesn't have a clue as a get out for actually showing proof.

I would hazard a guess I cant find property to rent for a grand or more in virtually any area of the country, I just had a look and I can find properties for £3,500 PCM in Glasgow. I can also see loads of properties for rent in Cornwall, some as low as £600 PCM, so your comment is pointless. As for parking, I don't know a single person that agrees with hospitals charging for parking, it's an outrage, doubly so when you work there. The answer is, lobby the local councils and vote one in that promises to lift the charge.

[Borchester]

My reasoning was to compare nursing staff with nursing rather than US and Indian military personnel — though I've no reason to think that either would not be as good as U.K. military in rapidly erecting Nightingale hospitals...

PS — though I've just seen the i suggests the army may be brought in if the nurses strike
https://inews.co.uk/news/health/nurses-standoff-strike-ballot-unrealistic-pay-demand-1962549

Not a bad idea. The ex squaddies of my acquaintance speak fondly of their treatment in military hospitals, as opposed to their experience of the NHS.

Maybe it is time to take the NHS out of the hands of its current masters and hand it over to the quiet competence of the British army

[patman post]

Fair enough. We will let the Americans take over the NHS if that is what you want, although you might have a job selling the idea to Steve and Pappy.

Personally I try to avoid hospitals as much as possible. The staff mean well but the places are full of sick people coughing and farting and spreading disease. And I never get a good night's sleep. Still, if that is the sort of thing you enjoy Pat, then go for it.

My reasoning was to compare nursing staff with nursing rather than US and Indian military personnel — though I've no reason to think that either would not be as good as U.K. military in rapidly erecting Nightingale hospitals...

PS — though I've just seen the i suggests the army may be brought in if the nurses strike
https://inews.co.uk/news/health/nurses-standoff-strike-ballot-unrealistic-pay-demand-1962549

[Borchester]

Are military headcounts relevant?

The US, alone, has 4.2 million registered nurses — with an average salary of $77,600 per year — out of a total 20 million healthcare and social assistance workers.

https://www.aacnnursing.org/news-Information/fact-sheets/nursing-fact-sheet
https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2020/10/health-care-still-largest-united-states-employer.html

So it could be argued that adequate pay gets enough employees...

Fair enough. We will let the Americans take over the NHS if that is what you want, although you might have a job selling the idea to Steve and Pappy.

Personally I try to avoid hospitals as much as possible. The staff mean well but the places are full of sick people coughing and farting and spreading disease. And I never get a good night's sleep. Still, if that is the sort of thing you enjoy Pat, then go for it.

[cromwell]

Nurses (and other staff) often have to pay extortionate car park charges at their place of work often over £100 over five days which is scandalous.

They are not angels but they're not devils either just plain old human beings but work unsocial hours dealing with our and quite often societies ills and should be rewarded accordingly.

[papasmurf]

The starting salary for an SRN is £31,200, thats £2600 a month. Do you want to tell me how they cannot live on that unless they prioritise other stuff above eating?
There will of course be the ones who are single parents and spend an inordinate amount on child care costs but that is not the fault of the government.

In Cornwall rent could be over £1000 a month (if there is anywhere to rent.) Then at nurses get charged to park their car in some cases. Frankly Nick you don't have a clue. 

[srb7677]

The starting salary for an SRN is £31,200, thats £2600 a month. Do you want to tell me how they cannot live on that unless they prioritise other stuff above eating?
There will of course be the ones who are single parents and spend an inordinate amount on child care costs but that is not the fault of the government.

It depends upon living costs. In some areas, notably but not exclusively London, housing costs are utterly extortionate. And people can and do suffer changes in their circumstances, eg another wage earning partner leaving them and dumping the kids on them. So different people can have very different circumstances, including some that were never planned for. So blanket assumptions across the board are a bit out of order.

Speaking personally, I could manage very comfortably on £2600 a month. But I have no kids and a cheap low cost social rent.

And nurses need uni educations these days with all the student debt that entails - unlike retail workers like me - and have much more important and knowledge-based jobs than I do. It is absolutely right that they are paid substantially more than me. And currently there is a recruitment and retention crisis so nurses' pay is clearly too low already to attract and retain the right people in sufficient numbers

[Nick]

That may well be true of some. But it is unlikely to be true of all.Well I have heard nurses calling into LBC in tears claiming to have been driven to use food banks. I don't think it was left wing dross I was hearing. And their means are getting ever less to the point where it is getting difficult to recruit and retain them.

The starting salary for an SRN is £31,200, thats £2600 a month. Do you want to tell me how they cannot live on that unless they prioritise other stuff above eating?
There will of course be the ones who are single parents and spend an inordinate amount on child care costs but that is not the fault of the government.