BOSSES ASK NURSES TO WORK FOR FREE; New row hits pounds 64m hospital.BOSSES at Scotland's flagship NHS NHS abbr. National Health Service NHS (in Britain) National Health Service hospital have pleaded with nurses to work busy weekend shifts effectively without pay. Unions are outraged and say staff at the pounds 67million Hairmyres Hospital Hairmyres Hospital, or simply known as "Hairmyres" by local residents, is a busy district general hospital with 24-hour Accident and Emergency facilities and has 434 inpatient beds and 20 day beds in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, Scotland NHS Lanarkshire. in East Kilbride East Kilbride (kĭlbrīd`), town (1991 pop. 70,454), South Lanarkshire, S central Scotland. Established in 1946 under the New Towns Act to absorb the growing population of Glasgow, East Kilbride has engineering works and manufactures automobile - which was built in partnership with the private sector - are already working flat out. It has been plagued with problems since it opened this year and was heralded as the way forward in hospitals. There have been strike threats by overworked staff, sewage seeped through floors and patient records went missing. Staff morale was said to have been at rock bottom even before managers asked senior nurses if they would work for free one weekend - with future time off in lieu of payment. But the request was slammed as an insult by nurses who say they could never get the time back because of acute understaffing which already means they struggle to find dates to take holidays. One young nurse said: "We could not believe it. Do they really expect us to work for nothing? "It is just a bad joke. When are we supposed to get the time off? We are struggling to be able to take our statutory holidays because the place is so under-staffed as it is. "This was an insult and everyone thinks the same." Complaints have been sent to nursing union Unison who want to know why the hospital, which was hailed as a new beginning for the Scottish NHS, has become so run-down run·down n. 1. A point-by-point summary. 2. Baseball A play in which a runner is trapped between bases and is pursued by fielders attempting to make the tag. adj. also run-down 1. a. . A spokesman last night said the hospital was becoming intolerable to work in. He said: "This is shocking. Nurses are in a tough profession and yet the management seem to think they can use them as slave labour slave labour, slave labor (US) n → trabajo de esclavos slave labour n → travail m d'esclave; it's just slave labour (fig . "If they have run out of money because of bad management that is not down to nurses. Would managers work for nothing?" He added: "Staffing levels are being cut back and nurses are genuinely concerned that patients will suffer and fear someone could die because there is not enough staff. "Morale is very low. Absenteeism is high because of that. People do not want to work here." Last night, a spokesman for the Lanarkshire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust National Health Service Trusts (NHS Trusts) provide many services of the National Health Service in England and Wales. They are not trusts in the legal sense but are in effect public sector corporations. claimed staffing levels were correct. He said: "Clinical nurse specialists clinical nurse specialist n. A nurse who has advanced knowledge and competence in a particular area of nursing practice, such as in cardiology, oncology, or psychiatry. were asked if they were willing to work extra hours at the weekend for time off in lieu in lieu prep. instead. "In lieu taxes" are use taxes paid instead of sales tax. A "deed in lieu of foreclosure" occurs when a debtor just deeds the property securing the loan to the lender rather than go through the foreclosure process. . "It was an idea which was put forward to staff and, following discussions, we didn't take it any further. "We believe Hairmyres has the correct staffing levels and is putting in place mechanisms to monitor the workload and working practices in all our hospitals." l Complaints against nurses are soaring to a record high as more turn to drink and drugs to cope with work stress, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a new report. The Central Council for Nursing, Midwivery and Health Visiting says more nurses are losing their tempers with patients and suffering from mental illness. |
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