Hospital bosses defend tea break crackdown
Monday 26th April 2010, 11:05AM BST.
SHROPSHIRE’S HOSPITAL boss today defended a decision to crack down on staff taking tea breaks during shifts at the county’s two main hospitals.
Tom Taylor, chief executive of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, also said there was no recruitment freeze at Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital or the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
He said that the number of nurses working for the trust had increased not decreased.
It comes after staff claimed they were no longer able to snatch a tea break, mid morning or mid afternoon, without having to make the time-up.
Staff claimed the rule created bad working conditions for part-time nurses who could not make up the time they had taken.
One nurse also claimed that staff at the two hospitals were not being replaced when people left.
But Mr Taylor today said: “Many of the concerns that have been raised on the issue of staff breaks highlight the need to ensure the same rules apply to all staff, regardless of role.
“This is what the nationally agreed Agenda for Change terms and conditions are designed to deliver in the NHS.
“These terms and conditions provide staff with a clear and fair framework that also offers flexibility to frontline workers to deliver the care their patients need.
“This also gives reassurance to the tax-paying public that all NHS staff are doing the work they are paid for.”
Mr Taylor added: “There is no recruitment freeze in place at the Trust.
“In the last 12 months the number of nurses employed by the Trust has increased from 1,467 to 1,528.
“If any member of staff has suggestions for improving the way we provide fair treatment for all our staff under the national terms and conditions then we would encourage them to talk to their manager, staff representative or HR lead.”
One nurse, who did not wish to be named, had claimed that staff were not being replaced.
The nurse said: “When staff leave they are not replaced leaving the remaining staff to cope with heavier workloads.
“On our ward we are one member of staff down already. Our reward is to cut the breaks,” added the nurse.
By Brett Gibbons
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They have a work contract they adhere to it, like everyone else in the work place.
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This is appalling. If any group of public sector workers deserve a tea break then it’s the nursing staff. I wonder whether refreshments were served at the meeting they had when this decision was made!
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And presumeably, when I give my patients the time they require that runs outside the clinic times, I get that time back from the Trust? The rest of today’s news…. A new star appeared in the East……..
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so the pen pushers are cracking down on tea breaks what they should be doing is cracking down on the lack of care and to make sure that the wards are staffed at the weekends by nurses and not care workers , cheaper to employ
my wfe spend 60 days in Shrewsbury Hospital and as a family we had to battle with staff/management for better treatment and you could always guarantee that my wife`s condition would be worse after the weekend,the hospital could not co-orinate the care with other departments unfortunatly my wife passed away on Good Friday after spending 128 days in various hospitals after a Mitral valve heart replacement operation normally this operation is 10 days in hospital killed by the Nationnal Health,but a least the management have priororities right clamp down on tea breaks
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Our NHS already relys on a great deal of goodwill offered by nurses and other health care professionals. Ill informed individuals like the one above should not be so quick to criticise. Forcing nurses to pay £80 per year to register and carry out their work is scandalous.
As David Cameron states about nurses
“…….angels in uniforms” maybe we should start treating them so.
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it is writen in agender for change that the management can change brakes but not if the staff are worse off. its thare in black and white from thare own hr dept thay are just picking the bits out that suit them at the end of the day thay are braking the rules that that thay made??????
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““These terms and conditions provide staff with a clear and fair framework that also offers flexibility to frontline workers to deliver the care their patients need”
For flexibility read: “We will make them do the work on two or three people.”
And this is what I noticed on a recent visit to the PRH.
You must think the patients and staff are stupid.
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Sorry! That should be the work OF two or three people.
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I would far sooner have someone refreshed and attentive from a tea break changing my iv drip than someone tired, irritable and distracted.
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I do not think anyone disputes most nurses do a good job in the main . The medical services in the UK are brilliant however personal care is not good or as good as it use to be. All workers no matter who they are I believe are entitled to 1 15 minute break per 4 hours am I right or wrong?. As for unpaid overtime well the latest facts are millions in all work sectors do it in the uk every day. As for one comment above, David cameron said “we should start to treat them as Angels”….Well was it not the torys who said they should not strike over money the job they do is a vocation??.
Lets be honest here how many have heard stories of nurses standing around chatting having tea breaks etc while an individual requires their attention ? or them to do what they are paid to do . Do not dress the NHS up to be this oh so wonderful institution with Walking Angels on the watds get real.
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Andrew Finch writes
“They have a work contract they adhere to it, like everyone else in the work place”.
Should the government and BA be doing the same then, instead of unilaterally changing the contracts of civil servants and cabin crew respectively?
I see no reason for people objecting to nurses / staff taking refreshment when the pressures of work allow.
If they are leaving the building / ward for a smoke break then, yes, this should be an unpaid break.
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This is absolutely pathetic! If any member of the workforce deserve a tea break, its the nurses! They are charged for parking! Not allowed a tea break without making up the time! Whatever next? Charging them for their uniforms and plastic gloves?? I agree with Mark, rather a refreshed attentive nurse than an overtired, irritable and distracted one.
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What’s all this “nurses deserve a tea break” crap? Do policemen deserve a tea break? Firemen? Teachers? MPs? Refuse collectors? Forklift drivers? Office workers?
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I think some are missing the point as i have said they have a work contract they adhere to it what if all employees decided to have a break when ever they wish?, what if you went to sainsburys on friday night busy time qued and all the till operators said hold on its all been rather hectic im having a cuppa?.It does not matter who these people are you adhere to your works contract no exceptions and no employee is taboo .
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Andrew Finch and David Cameron have no clue about the NHS or nursing as a job.
Some are lazy or they like the power that a carer has over the vulnerable or they do the minimum to comply with standards which is what Andrew Finch suggests. So some people meet someone who they would never describe as an angel and putting on a uniform does not result in wings growing.
In my experience those people are very much in the minority and will always exist.
Most nurses/hospital staff do their best in often distressing, frightening and sometimes unpleasant situations and rarely finish shifts when supposed to.
If you took into account unwindng/debriefing after work in some areas of the job, particularly hospital wards then the extra hours the job consumes outside work would be a shock to many people.
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I am confused as to what this article is about
Is it about staff taking unauthorised tea breaks – or is it about the level of staffing / recruitment freeze?
I just cannot believe that mangagment are seriously concerned about the time taken for tea breaks – when there are obviously far more serious things they should be worrying about.
I also actually can’t believe that staff – particularly nurses – are taking excessive time out for tea breaks – not if my visit as a patient to Telford recently was anything to go by.
However – what I WOULD say as a general observation of “Front line NHS staff” – PARTICULARLY RECEPTION staff – and that goes for everywhere, Telford, Bridgnorth Shrewsbury,
is that:
” You seem to have forgotten who the customer is”
- Treating patients booking in for appointments etc with disprespect does no good whatsover – and puts the patient in a bad frame of mind for the REAL staff that follow (i.e nurses, doctors etc)
If those people with such attitudes to customers operated in a privately owned operation – they’d have been sacked long ago!
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Anyone confronting me after a day of changing catheters with the attitude of “askeric dotcom” would most certainly go on the list for tomorrow afternoon . Rub my fur the wrong way and your appointment will be in a fortnight’s time.
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Well mike with an attitude like that you clearly should be sacked ,if you are a nurse as you clearly abuse or would abuse your position.
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I’ve worked in PRH, Shrewsbury and Kidderminster hospitals, as a Healthcare Assistant on a temp basis. On some wards I worked on there was just 1 sister and me for 18 patients. Getting a tea break? Didn’t even have time for lunch let alone anything else.
Is it really that much of an issue for someone to have a 10 min break? paid or unpaid?
Too many chiefs and not enough indians……
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Well Andrew, You wouldn’t last very long working with the public because one thing you need to get you through a hard day of bodily fluids and angry relatives …. is a very big sense of humour! :p
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Eva land have you ever wondered why the relatives get angry
its about time you all stepped it up a gear,
you all think your different to patients, ( or is better the correct word ), your hospital from my exprienced is the worst in the country. So get off your backsides like you bosses require you to do.
Mike what a disgrace to your profession, you dont need a break you need to be fired.
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It is many yeras since I worked in the NHS and in Shrewsbury Kev J.
Last year my daughter was a patient and on her ward an extremely unpleasant and spoilt woman patient with even more unpleasant relatives made constant unnecessary demands on the staff. She tried to upset my daughter and her relatives provoked the staff and then threatened to make complaints without good reason.
My own experiences and those of relatives treated at Shrewsbury Hospital has been exemplary except for one nurse who made a racist remark when my mother was ill, shortly before she died.
She did not upset my dear Mum who was of a generation that held views I do not share but she upset me at a difficult time and was quite unprofessional.
I hope whatever causes you to have such knowledge of most other hospitals gets better Kev and that you never meet Mike when he’s got a tube in his hand. :o
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