OT as hell: ready meals

For whom?

I'm not trying to argue that this is not so, but I'm intrigued to know
what has actually got better?

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Has it? Cool.

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Do you reckon that an NHS outside of Government control would be a good
thing?

Phil

 

I can still pick 'em..

I actually see this in my work where I'm working with people at the DoH
and other NHS bodies - the people that do have power are far removed
from the people who actually do things (and hence know how they run).
Which means that in practice decisions are either made ad-hoc on the
ground by people who are too embedded in the problems or by people who
really don't know who the decision will affect end-users.

I think what it *will* fix is removing the 'creeping targetitis' - if
targets are to be used then changing them at the drop of a ministers
hat isn't going to help them be achieved.

Indeed. The OHSC system I look after has always had the problem that it
isn't mandatory - which is slow death for a system that's supposed to
be universal in the Acute Trusts in England and Wales!

And from my perspective paying decent wages to their IT staff would be
a plus. Some of the ones I have dealt with are top-drawer that I
wouldn't mind hiring but some of them are basically scraping the talent
pool after all the good stuff has been distilled..

Aye.

Phil

 

I've found that across Plod and local government. The emphasis on targets
and meeting them has meant that the real job is sacrificed. Oh look - if we
implement the Planning Portal we get 23 points and an extra 100 grand to
offset council tax. So, time, effort and thought gets diverted.

And found that too. I've done a lot of work with low level folk in Land
Charges who are paid shit and care desperately about doing their jobs well.

Ali

 

The richest 1% owning a greater proportion of the nation's wealth than
at any time since 1930.

A fine legacy for a Labour government.
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<eyes Blad 1000>

I really, really don't have any space for more 'puter gear.

 

Yeah, but you would say that.

"What do we want?"
"Jobs for PMs"
"When do we want it?"
....

)

 

Bear said:

Hahahahahaha...

As someone leaving the NHS (and paid employment I suspect) in the next
few days, remind me to tell you the amusing (if it wasn't so fucking
sad and a waste of millions of public money) tale of the meeting I went
to a couple of weeks ago with the SHA about this very thing...

They screwed a lot of good people. I had one chap who was fucking
brilliant. 56 years old - worked in the NHS for 38 years - firstly in
finance then IT. Brilliant bloke. A4C screwed his pension and
therefore his retirement to the point where he topped himself.

It's the same everywhere. A4C means you can only attract scum to the
jobs (or people fresh out of uni with no experience) so they wonder why
projects fail...

 

I couldn't agree more. Uncertainty about authority, lack of support or
guidance, and unrealistic expectations are all contributory factors.
Of course, some people are more prone to, as you say, accept the
stress, which can mean just the inability to say NO to yet more work
piling up, all of which is high-priority, or in some cases a desire to
be seen as a go-getter.

But in most cases it's down to a gap between one's time or ability
(usually the former, IME) and what is expected, although it's usually
the individual whose expectations aren't being met, rather than their
peers or management.

'Just Say No' is a motto I've been trying (with some success,
latterly) to get my wife to accept over the last couple of years. She
has failed to see that the reason she's constantly overworked and
under-resourced is largely that she doesn't refuse additional workload
and therefore isn't making others aware of the situation.

--
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`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

Bear said:

Not a bad thought - I'll bell you in the next few days.

Oddly though, you are right. No-one wants the responsibility, no-one
wants to (or has the money to) fund the staff at the Trusts and no-one
wants it.

SHA's are shouting that they are under pressure to deliver and are
piling that pressure onto Trusts - the Trust CEO's are just putting up
two fingers and saying come back in 12 months - if this new strategy is
still the way forward then we'll listen and maybe (just maybe) commit
to spending time and money. Oh - and if you could have an application
(just the one will do) that's fit for purpose by then, we'd be jolly
grateful.

As you said earlier - it was OK if you are a clinician, or a recent
graduate (from one of the lesser uni's obviously - otherwise you'd be
nowhere near the NHS).

NHS has the choice of too few people, or loads of dross who don't have
a clue. They are even recruiting Americans round here now.

 

I've been in the latter siutation before, most recently two years ago
when I was still working for a French financial institution.

 

Aye. Once I'd realised that the symptoms I had were of stress-related
depression, I mamanged it myself and I've managed to never get into the
situation since by knowing when it's starting and stopping it early.

No. I don't know where your /here/ is (apart from being in
EC-something), but I was based in Marylebone.

Got out of there (and EKS-dom, which also contributied to my situation
somewhat) pretty soon after.

 

Likewise. Or as I put it yesterday "I shouldn't have pulled all those
rabbits out of hats early on. Because now everyone expects me to do it
on a daily basis".

That was the hardest lesson I had to learn in support..

Phil.

 

Stress is one of the prime factors in high cholesterol, & according to
my quack, stock brokers on average have higher cholesterol than any
other profession.

I don't /think/ I suffer from stress[1] despite an average working day
being from 7.30 - 5.00 without any breaks, but as I write software for
stockbrokers/investment managers, I tried to claim 'stress by
professional association' as a reason to get drugs. It didn't work.

[1] Just the opposite if anything. I'm frequently accused of being too
laid back for my own good. If my boss asks me to do something that's
patently impossible, I just keep telling him to **** off until he's
descoped enough of it to bring it into the realms of possibility.

--
Krusty
www.MuddyStuff.co.uk
Off-Road Classifieds

'02 MV Senna '03 Tiger 955i '96 Tiger '79 Fantic Hiro 250

 

At times in my sales career, I've worked 80 hour weeks, run around like a
mad thing, had extreme management pressure, and loved every minute of it.
For one thing, I had clear goals, and could achieve something. Now, that
could be construed as a stressful job, but I'd call it good stress. The
boredom thing is FAR more bloody stressful.

Ali