Author Topic: Health  (Read 64788 times)

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Offline Ian

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Re: Health
« Reply #60 on: July 16, 2014, 06:22:21 pm »
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Amazing how the former Head of the ridiculously named Betsi Cadwaladar Health Trust received a £200,000 payoff after quitting because of her almost complete incompetence.

It's been a thorny issue, that, but had she actually demonstrated 'incompetence' the board could have mounted capability hearings. I don't know if anyone has read the entire report but the board and executive were something of a nest of vipers and it seems that many of the top management were actively engaged in fighting each other or actively sabotaging routine tasks.  There is no doubt in my mind that she certainly had to go but proving she was incompetent in the strictest sense is very tough, and the cheapest option might well have been to settle on her terms.

A good example of her approach is this:

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An example of this is the tabling of a paper at the April 2013 in committee Board meeting setting out the need for the recruitment of 72 additional clinicians by August 2013 to meet the requirements identified by the Deanery8 27 in relation to junior doctor training. Albeit the Chair advised the Board that a decision on this matter should not be reached as there had been insufficient time to consider the issues. Similarly, although considered by the Finance and Performance Committee, the Annual Income and Expenditure Budget for 2012-13 was only circulated to the full Board the evening before the 26 April 2012 Board meeting, with copies tabled at the meeting.

But in the end I suspect her real failing was that she simply wasn't up to the job of dealing with a large structure whose members had loyalties to previous structures and institutions.

If you're interested you can download the entire report here



Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline DaveR

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Re: Health
« Reply #61 on: July 16, 2014, 07:59:36 pm »
I suspect her real failing was that she simply wasn't up to the job of dealing with a large structure whose members had loyalties to previous structures and institutions.
I'm sure you're correct. She should have been fired then.


Offline Fester

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Re: Health
« Reply #62 on: July 16, 2014, 11:36:09 pm »
I was at Llandudno Hospital yesterday, and two maintainence guys were discussing this pay-off issue with the man running the Reception.

The level of annoyance, anger even, was palpable.

The common theme being that if any of them had been under performing in their jobs, there would have been swift procedures to correct it, or movement toward dismissal.   Certainly no £200k pay off.

As Merddin and all concerned are saying... it's OBSCENE.
Fester...
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Offline Ian

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Re: Health
« Reply #63 on: July 17, 2014, 07:08:41 am »
Not sure what the answer is in these cases, because it's far from unique.  The top people are almost always employed on detailed contracts, which specify what they're supposed to do, how and to what standards but also what they will be paid in compensation if they're persuaded to leave early. And the maintenance guys were correct: they'd have been out on their ears if they'd failed as badly. But if the accepted wisdom - that you have to pay very high amounts to get the best people - is correct, then what happened in this case?
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline Fester

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Re: Health
« Reply #64 on: July 17, 2014, 11:47:39 pm »
Not sure what the answer is in these cases, because it's far from unique.  The top people are almost always employed on detailed contracts, which specify what they're supposed to do, how and to what standards but also what they will be paid in compensation if they're persuaded to leave early. And the maintenance guys were correct: they'd have been out on their ears if they'd failed as badly. But if the accepted wisdom - that you have to pay very high amounts to get the best people - is correct, then what happened in this case?


A very good point, and one that has affected me personally in the past.  (but in a different way)
Basically, when I was leaving my last employer to come to live in Llandudno,  a 'rumour' circulated that I was actually going to work for a competitor in Manchester.
This was completely untrue, and I told my employer as much.

However, the CEO, and the HR department decided I should be given a large sum of money if I signed an agreement NOT to join the competitor.
I was only too pleased to bank a cheque for agreeing NOT to work for a company who DID NOT want me to work for them in the first place!

I think my point is, issues like this seem to revolve around the incompetence of management, coupled with the easy access to sums of money to make problems go away, without actually tackling the problem itself.   Weak management?
Fester...
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Offline Yorkie

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Re: Health
« Reply #65 on: July 18, 2014, 07:50:28 am »
And it was you who started the rumour, no doubt?       _))*
Wise men have something to say.
Fools have to say something.
Cicero

Offline Ian

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Re: Health
« Reply #66 on: July 18, 2014, 09:07:36 am »
 _))* _))* _))*

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I think my point is, issues like this seem to revolve around the incompetence of management, coupled with the easy access to sums of money to make problems go away, without actually tackling the problem itself.   Weak management?

So it's not simply restricted to the Social services sector, then.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline Fester

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Re: Health
« Reply #67 on: July 18, 2014, 09:27:48 am »
Ian,  indeed not... in my experience I have seen many such 'compromise deals' and 'Gardening Leave' settlements in private industry,  involving sums of money which seemed outrageous.

But, it only affected me personally when I came into Senior Management status.

This suggests that it is not about Private versus Public sector,  it is more about LEVELS.

i.e., as a warehouseman caught stealing a £10 item, I would have been summarily dismissed.
As a Director, embezzling vast fortunes,  I am more likely to be given a 'settlement' to go away quietly.

I believe that this is very wrong.   
Fester...
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Offline Ian

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Re: Health
« Reply #68 on: July 18, 2014, 10:24:25 am »
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as a warehouseman caught stealing a £10 item, I would have been summarily dismissed.
As a Director, embezzling vast fortunes,  I am more likely to be given a 'settlement' to go away quietly.

I believe that this is very wrong.   

And that seems to permeate every facet of British society. It's certainly wrong and I wouldn't know how you'd go about changing it, either.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline born2run

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Re: Health
« Reply #69 on: July 18, 2014, 10:56:39 am »
Image is everything I'm afraid. Which is why the stuff at the top is hushed up as much as possible, as it obviously attracts more meida attention .
To even it up the ones on the bottom have to make just as much as noise, you do that through unity, if one guy yells nobody listens but if thousands of people yell then they will listen.
The company will listen, sadly, only when it affects their profit margins, and negative press attention will do this. So when one poor man gets unfairly sacked, you stand together and make that as bigger problem for the company than if the managing director had committed gross negligence

Offline SteveH

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Re: Health
« Reply #70 on: October 15, 2014, 11:36:19 am »
'Button battery' warning over child deaths in Manchester

A leading paediatrician has warned of the dangers of lithium batteries after two children swallowed them and died.
Dr Kate Parkins said, in the last 18 months, another five children in Greater Manchester have also suffered life-changing injuries as a result.
She said the button-shaped batteries "look like sweets" to children but can cause severe internal bleeding which medics struggle to treat.

"It's not what's inside the battery," she explained. "The battery sets up an electrical current which causes a build-up of sodium hydroxide which is caustic soda.
"That causes a burn through the oesophagus, the feeding tube, and that can then burn through into major blood vessels and that's why the bleeding is then pretty much impossible to control and stop."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-29610570

Offline Yorkie

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Re: Health
« Reply #71 on: October 15, 2014, 01:03:12 pm »
Quote
as a warehouseman caught stealing a £10 item, I would have been summarily dismissed.
As a Director, embezzling vast fortunes,  I am more likely to be given a 'settlement' to go away quietly.

I believe that this is very wrong.   

And that seems to permeate every facet of British society. It's certainly wrong and I wouldn't know how you'd go about changing it, either.

Make the Warehousemen Directors and the Directors, Warehousemen!  N'est pas?    ZXZ
Wise men have something to say.
Fools have to say something.
Cicero

Offline SteveH

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Re: Health
« Reply #72 on: July 18, 2016, 11:52:37 am »
'Wash salad' advice after two die from E. coli.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-36823404

Offline SteveH

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Re: Health
« Reply #73 on: July 21, 2016, 10:58:21 am »
This subject has hit close to home recently, Mrs H has not been able to go out in the sun without full sunscreen protection for the last 10 years, taking care of one problem has created another, so I recommend reading this, from today's BBC news report..............

Vitamin D supplements advised for everyone.
Everyone should consider taking vitamin D supplements in autumn and winter, public health advice in England and Wales says.
It comes as a government commissioned report sets the recommended levels at 10 micrograms of the vitamin a day.
But officials are concerned this may not be achievable through diet alone, particularly when sunlight, which helps in vitamin D production, is scarce.     Google article at BBC health vitamin D
or
Full report    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-36846894

Offline Ian

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Re: Health
« Reply #74 on: July 21, 2016, 11:12:34 am »
A study in Princetown Uni also suggested that Vit D is actually capable of repairing damaged heart muscle tissue. At least in mice...
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.