UK National Health Service

[Jan]

A Uk Surgeon was performing an operation on a child and as he was asking for certain instruments he was met by blank stares from the staff who were supposed to be assisting him,

He realised that the staff did not have a good understanding of the English Language and stopped the operation,
quite rightly so in my opinion.

How could this happen you may well ask,well it happens because the UK NHS are recruiting nursing staff from abroad, the Phillipines
Spain and other countries where English is only a second language, While these staff have nursing qualifications they do not have a good command of the English language so why are they allowed to work in our hospitals?

And guess what

The Surgeon could now face disiplinary action for racism and not being politicaly correct

Has our government gone completly mad, I think so, we may have staff shortages but if they continue with this practise how long before a serious mistake occurs?

regards to all

Jan

 

[hensylee]

Hi, Jan - you may as well get used to it. This occurred in the US many years ago. We have doctors and nurses from everywhere. They have blended into the American scene very well. My own doctor of many years is Philippine. He studied here in the US in Philadelphia and then took his residency in Boston. He and his counter-part (both Philippine) became noted surgeons. Don't know what I would do without him. In our country we have a major shortage of nurses. The gap is filled with nurses from the Philippines. It's a government program that seems to have worked, mostly, for us. Others may come after me to disagree, however. God bless

 

[Mara]

Jan-
I agree with Henseylee. The US has a shortage of nurses. A lot of nurses are recruited from other countries.
I am not sure that anyone can be blamed. I think people see nursing as a "low" job. Why be a nurse when you can be a doctor. I think teaching has suffered the same fate. Traditionally, theses were jobs that women had and now more women want to have big-time corporate jobs. I mean, I went to law school. I could have gone to nursing school like my mom, but she discouraged me from doing so. Sometimes I wish I had gone into nursing.
So, it's not a "problem" exclusive to the UK.

 

[FloralD]

Hello Jan

In The Times yesterday there was a list of the numbers of nurses from overseas working in the UK now, and... how many of them have got AIDS. In the future overseas staff will have to be tested for AIDS before they can work here. It was interesting to see in the list where the largest numbers affected came from. I believe the worst was South Africa and other high numbers from other African states. It is scary, but our hospitals are so short of staff and a surgeon on a programme about the NHS on Sunday mentioned the huge sums being spent on agency nurses so the regular dedicated nurses are leaving to go on the agency lists. Who can blame them. I believe our present government are doing their best to sort it out but if they fail I think this will be their last term in office. I'm off now - back to being a nice patient patient, waiting for heart surgery. Diana

 

[joy]

Hi guys. It's actually good for me that our country has a shortage of nurses. I am starting nursing school next year. Early winter, actually. Looking forward to finally getting my career started. I would like to be a NICU nurse, and I know that is a tough job, but I want to be there to help the babies who are born crack babies, preemies, or other ill babies. It's not their fault, they didn't ask to be born like that. The only problem I can forsee is with the crack mothers. I really hate that. But I will have to get over that and deal with it.
I come from a long line of nurses in my family. My gramma, my aunt, and I think there were more, too. I think there are too many people that are trying to get out of helping people who are in need. I'd love to see that changed. The medical situation in this country is rediculous. There is the technology, but not the will to help out . Insurance companies would rather watch people be sick, than let them see a good doctor...a specialist. I remember growing up, I never had a pediatrician. I hated that. Ialways had to go to the urgent care and wait for hours. Anyways, I just thought i would add my two cents worth.
Joy

 

[Stevo]

Until the government sorts out the pay scales for the 'ancilliary' staff (myself included) they are going to have problems. I don't see my pay as being worthy of my 8 years of University. Selfish, I know, but when I can go to Germany or the US and get a far higher salary, then they are going to have problems.

As for the Phillipino nurses, from my experience they don't even have the skills that our home grown staff do.

 

[FloralD]

UK hospital staffs/Stevo

UK hospital staffs/Stevo

Hello Stevo

I did not know that people like yourself were classed as "ancillary staff". Also, it is interesting to read your comments about Phillipino staff as, during one of my frequent stays during the last year, I did notice that they were very pleasant but did not seem quite up to the job. I do hate to criticise but a lot of the stuff that goes on in UK hospitals these days is worrying. Some of the things I saw were hair raising. As a so called 'informed' patient I felt that I was in a better position to watch out for myself even after major surgery but an awful lot of other patients, particularly my age group and older, have no idea what is going on. Our American friends have a much better idea about their own health and what to expect from medical personnel. Diana

 

[Nancy]

Hi FloralD-

Don't kid yourself about the health of the American health system. My husband has been in and out of hospitals for many years. The care he's received has for the most part been exemplary, but there have been other times, well, I won't go into details, but I'm really glad that we know as much as we do about his conditions and some of the pitfalls of his care. There have been a few potential disasters that have been averted by being informed.

I advocate that everyone and their loved ones learn as much as they can about what is at hand. As time goes on, the situations become very, very complicated.

AND---I've found that not everyone cares to read a complicated chart the way they should.

Patient-Know thyself! And watch what's happening.

 

[Mara]

I am with Nancy. Don't kind yourselves that the situation is better in the US. I mean, we don't have waiting lists, but there is a lot of substandard care. When I had my Ross Procedure the CCU was short staffed and it took a while for the nurses to get to you. Fortunately, my mom was there a lot, she's a nurse, but my husband was angry that it took the nurses a long time to answer the call button. Still, I never felt that I was in jeopardy. I could get out of bed to go to the toilet and stuff, there were some on the ward that really needed the nurses more than me, and others who were complainers...the pillow's too hard, the pain killers aren't working, I need water. Sad really, that the older patients did not have anyone to care about them to visit them. One poor lady passed away and her family wasn't even there.

Joy- Good luck in your studies. I am sure you will find the job rewarding, but the hours long. Still, we need more nurses. I am proud of you.