NHS trusts reveal thousands of job vacancies with some posts unfilled for months

[Northerner]

Some NHS hospital trusts have more than 1,000 staff vacancies including North Cumbria which has 48 vacant consultant roles, an investigation has revealed.

The ITV News probe across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland asked every acute trust to disclose how many staff posts were unfilled.

The biggest gaps were in nursing at each one of the 92 trusts that responded to freedom of information requests, the broadcaster reported.

The figures reveal the largest number of vacancies are at Barts in London, which has 1,732 unfilled roles but is also the biggest hospital trust in the country.

http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/N...onths-6c513d5b-5b41-46f6-9590-80d11d969998-ds

 

[Bill Stewardson]

Interesting stuff.

I'd like to know if those posts exist outside of the NHS, if so, are those places also struggling to fill the posts ?

Also, is the NHS having to pay over the odds for locum/agency staff?

Or, is it all nothing to do with the above ?

 

[mikeyB]

At the moment, Barts is in big trouble because cleaners and porters are taking strike action. They are now employed by Serco, who are making millions out of the contract, but the workers are paid minimum wage, and their conditions of employment have changed such that stress related illnesses are epidemic. This could shut down the whole of Barts trust, and I hope it does.

 

[Amigo]

Last time I was in hospital, every second nurse wore an agency logo. They're paid a lot more than in-house staff and some almost seemed to be a permanent fixture. No surprise they don't want to work for the NHS though if they'd paid more as contractors!

 

[Bill Stewardson]

At the moment, Barts is in big trouble because cleaners and porters are taking strike action. They are now employed by Serco, who are making millions out of the contract, but the workers are paid minimum wage, and their conditions of employment have changed such that stress related illnesses are epidemic. This could shut down the whole of Barts trust, and I hope it does.

Take your point Mike, however, and I can say this as a former union rep, adversely affecting the care of patients really should NOT be an option.

Better to use media channels and hammer home the true message, I firmly believe that the public would be horrified if they knew the real state of affairs.

Sky and the BBC are not reflecting the truth.

 

[mikeyB]

I was a Union Rep too, but not when I was doing clinical medicine. We were all happy then.

 

[Bill Stewardson]

I was a Union Rep too, but not when I was doing clinical medicine. We were all happy then.

If anyone has the complete support of the public it's NHS staff.

The Govt loves the fact that they won't walk off the job,, despite their attempts to demonise the rest of the "evil" public sector the NHS enjoys utter empathy.

 

[mikeyB]

That's the thing about the Barts cleaners and porters. They aren't NHS staff thanks to this governments push for privatising anything that isn't screwed down.