Rant about the EWTD and stuff...
Oh god... I will finish this someday
Basically the European Working Time Directive (EWTD or wank for short) only works if:
1. you work to the hours set, ignoring patients and the situation
2. you have enough people to cover the rota
3. you don't need to train the people on the rota
4. people don't mind seeing hundreds of different doctors during a two day stay!
Now the NHS are all in favour of the EWTD as of course it gives them an excuse to pay people less... What people fail to realise is that newly qualified nurses and newly qualified doctors are on similar salaries - in fact a nurse's basic salary is more! Plus for london weighting they can get up to £4000 as opposed to £2000. The difference is then that doctors are on-call - nights, weekends and evenings. This mean's that despite working a 48 hour week (band 1) lots of that/all of that could be out of hours. Obviously nunrses do work out of hours too, but generally, not in addition to their weekly normal hours. I am not calling for nurses to be paid less, I think when allowed to nurse and not be forced to do the pointless bureacracy that most managers want them to now, nursing a hard but rewarding job. As is being a medic. Unfortunately being a medic means fighting off the media and Nu-Labour crap of being overpaid.
The way a rota should work is:
1. Training jobs should include training.
2. Jobs should involve continuity
3. Consultants should have input into training.
4. Guidelines and protocols are for guidance.
5. There should be support available.
6. Floor time should be maximised.
7. Service time should be minimised.
But that wouldn't work as it would cost too much and be far too beneficial to the patients and the managers might be out of job. Or whatever it is they decide to call it next.
See Dr Rant for clarification on any points...
Basically the European Working Time Directive (EWTD or wank for short) only works if:
1. you work to the hours set, ignoring patients and the situation
2. you have enough people to cover the rota
3. you don't need to train the people on the rota
4. people don't mind seeing hundreds of different doctors during a two day stay!
Now the NHS are all in favour of the EWTD as of course it gives them an excuse to pay people less... What people fail to realise is that newly qualified nurses and newly qualified doctors are on similar salaries - in fact a nurse's basic salary is more! Plus for london weighting they can get up to £4000 as opposed to £2000. The difference is then that doctors are on-call - nights, weekends and evenings. This mean's that despite working a 48 hour week (band 1) lots of that/all of that could be out of hours. Obviously nunrses do work out of hours too, but generally, not in addition to their weekly normal hours. I am not calling for nurses to be paid less, I think when allowed to nurse and not be forced to do the pointless bureacracy that most managers want them to now, nursing a hard but rewarding job. As is being a medic. Unfortunately being a medic means fighting off the media and Nu-Labour crap of being overpaid.
The way a rota should work is:
1. Training jobs should include training.
2. Jobs should involve continuity
3. Consultants should have input into training.
4. Guidelines and protocols are for guidance.
5. There should be support available.
6. Floor time should be maximised.
7. Service time should be minimised.
But that wouldn't work as it would cost too much and be far too beneficial to the patients and the managers might be out of job. Or whatever it is they decide to call it next.
See Dr Rant for clarification on any points...
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