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Hospital could stop paying staff breaks
Health news: Peterborough City Hospital - PeterboroughToday.co.uk from The Evening Telegraph
DOCTORS and nurses could end up working an extra shift a month for free in a bid to cut costs at Peterborough’s cash-strapped super hospital.
The struggling Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Peterborough City Hospital, is consulting with staff on whether workers should take unpaid breaks.
Currently, most clinical staff are paid for their breaks while working three 12-hour shifts a week.
If the plan is adopted, their pay will remain the same but they will have to do one extra six-hour shift a month to make up the short-fall.
It will also bring clinical staff in-line with administrative staff who work 37 and-a-half hours a week.
It has been met with scepticism by the Royal College of Nurses.
Adrian Ing, regional officer for the RCN, said: “It is important to stress this is not set in stone, it is a consultation and we are urging our nurses to make their views known, either direct to the trust or to us.
“Breaks should be taken when appropriate but we are particularly used to not being able to take substantial time away from the clinical areas. It’s normally grabbing a quick five or 10 minutes.
“We would not be able support terms where nurses had to take a break at a set time. That just isn’t feasible. We can’t leave a clinical situation just because it’s break time.
“There is a recognition that every trust has financial constraints but this suggestion of saving money around unpaid breaks is difficult to swallow.
“Nurses are working harder to deliver services under increased pressure.”
Retired nurse Mary Cooke, who campaigns on health issues, said the trust should not be considering the move.
She said: “The doctors and nurses are already doing unpaid over time. It seems a bit much to ask them to do even more. Morale at the hospital must be at an all time low.
“On the one hand the management say they appreciate the hard work the staff are putting in but then do something like this. They are sending mixed messages.”
A spokeswoman for the trust, said: “The trust has launched a consultation with staff on an initiative that proposes to standardise the way breaks are paid for throughout the organisation.
“At the moment some staff have paid breaks while others do not. This proposal will have no impact upon the quality of patient care.
“There are savings to be made if all staff are not paid for breaks. As the trust faces significant financial challenges, it makes sense to look at this option as a way of safeguarding jobs.”
The consultation ends on February 29.
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Comments
There are 10 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
number_17
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 02:43 PMThis information is incorrect as far as to bring the clinical staff inline with administrative. Currenty all clinical staff who work a 12.5 hour shift will be paid for 12 and take a half hour lunch break unpaid. Staff work 3 12hour shifts and then every 4 weeks do a 6hour make up to bring the hours to 37.5 a week. The new rules will mean my wife will work an extra 12 hour every 4 weeks as the 15 min break in the morning and afternoon will no longer be included, therfore working a 12.5 hour shift and being paid for 11.5hours.
smalllove2
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 01:13 PMIt's always been the same throuhout history, when times are difficult the people who do the REAL work get a kicking. The nursing staff at Peterborough Hospital are brilliant but seem to get very little recognition for what they do - sod the management - reject this silly ruling!!
The Admiral
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 01:03 PMIf they are doing a 12hr shift - Why ? ,,,,If they are doing a 12hr shift then they cannot be expected to be any use for the final third of that time - especially if they havent had any form of break. .....This sort of thing should be stopped, we have all heard what can happen if the staff are hard pressed, tired and OOPS sorry didnt mean to kill you. .....But how arduous are these shifts, or is it just a case of they are present but not doing much ? ? ?
thewideangleco
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 10:08 AMMy recent experience of hospital is that there was never a time when I couldn't look up from my bed and see at least one nurse doing nothing at all, and no obvious staff management of any kind going on. Yes, there were plenty of busy nurses, too, and no, I wouldn't want to do their job. But that doesn't mean the hospital shouldn't be making some effort to improve its time management. It wasn't as if my stay wasn't without evidence of lax attitude; the porter got lost on the way to theatre; I went to anaesthesia without my medical records and had to go through all the questions again just before my pre-med. The ward had a big smear of something brown on the floor which stayed there all day without nurses doing anything to get it cleaned. We need the old matrons cracking the whip again....
glossyflower
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 09:05 AMMyself and many of my colleagues are very unhappy about this. Not only do we not always have our full breaks anyway I can not remember the last time I even finished on time. Mary Cooke is right morale is at an all time low, if this is implemented people would be more likely to take their full breaks and make sure they do leave on time regardless of what is happening on the ward. Sorry to have to say it but I would rather just cut my working hours by 6 hours a month than do an extra shift. We also do not get paid overtime pay but the trust is happy to spend money on agency staff nurses at extortionate rates. Last year as a temporary measure we we given an extra £90 per 12 hour shift for overtime shifts, which was appreciated greatly, this year they are doing the same but will only receive £30 extra per shift. I would like the ET to use the freedom of information act to see just how much the trust has paid on agency nurses. I would like the trust to show they have appreciated what their nurses do not just say it with empty words.
azakeen1980
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 05:22 AM@4. You are completely right. My Wife has to take a quick break when she can, sometimes she comes home with her dinner uneaten because she only had time to grab a quick cuppa. If this is impplemented what happens when there are emmergencies and someone is on break? At the moment they would not think twice about leaving their dinner and rushing to help. Having unpaid breaks will this change?. I can also tell you my wife does not work 37 hours a week either! Sometimes her rostered hours are at the end of a week and the next week at the start so she ends up doing 6 or 7 in a row and they are not all 12 hours so sometimes more!
woody
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 11:58 PMKnowing what I do about how staff work at the hospital many don't even take their full breaks anyway. I've know some to work through without even stopping to eat.
Dalek Sec
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 08:20 PM@2 By a plan you mean penalising the staff who have done nothing wrong?
Zanni
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 08:07 PM@1 Yes but to get the money the trust has to have a plan that they will manage their resources in the future, show that they are delivering high levels of annual productivity savings and still deliver clinically viable, high quality services and low waiting times.
woody
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 07:22 PMWhy ? The Government has just agreed to bail out all the PFI Hospitals up to and including the last day of the PFI contract.
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