The big decline in public sector productivity over the pandemic, and the failure to get back to previous levels now we are well past lockdowns is disturbing. The government needed to accept the Pay Review Body recommendations, as it did last year when they were tough on staff. It also needs to impart a something for something approach to senior public sector management so better paid and better motivated people deliver more.
In parts of the public sector leaving rates are high and sickness rates are high. These are usual signs of low morale that can become self reinforcing. If too many people leave or are absent the rest of the staff feel put upon and may have unrealistic workloads. If too many people feel Ā their grading and job specification is unfair there will be more people leaving. If an organisation has to rely on temps and recently appointed staff too much it will be more difficult to get things done efficiently and smoothly. Experienced staff will need to devote more time to informal training and mentoring to get things done reducing their own effectiveness.The NHS employs far too many temps at agency rates well above regular wage levels for the same job as a result of not retaining enough payroll staff.
The NHS workforce plan sets out to tackle some of these issues,Ā but it will only succeed if management buys into the need to ease the tasks of the medical staff, provides good back up and removes some of the burdens of form filling and training not central to the medical tasks of treating patients well. Management success requires each team member to feel they are valued, to know they are good at what they do, and to take an individual and a team pride in delivering great quality at a realistic cost. Promotions, rosters and back up need toĀ be organised to get the most out of people, the most important resource of these public services.Senior managers who cannot lead the staff, end the strikes and raise morale need to be trained and mentored to do so, with bonuses and promotions dependent on success.
July 29, 2023
Good morning.
One of my elderly neighbours has recently been submitted into hospital. Nothing too serious but, after visiting yesterday I learned that he had not seen a doctor for nearly five days. The ‘front line staff’ try their very best but there does seem a lack of them. If numbers are falling then this is only going to worsen the situation.
This is were someone, like our kind host, with a background in managing business can be of real benefit. But like Labour of old too many former Secretaries of State would just rather throw more money at it rather than to understand the problem(s) and implement solutions which, admittedly, would take time to show benefit.
We are victims of our own political system and the shortermism that it generates where instant results are needed, more for political reasons than any real desire to deliver a better public service.
The CEO’s and other managers, including Trust Board Members tend to get a free pass as these are less known and they know that the opposition would sooner point score than tackle the real issues.
In the meantime, people like my neighbour sit there and suffer while politicians indulge themselves in their virtue signalling of more money for the NHS as if that is going to solve things. It won’t !!
July 29, 2023
You will never solve the problems of the NHS whilst managers, with unwavering support from the opposition are hidden and protected from blame, and get away with blaming the lack of funding for its issues instead of identifying their own incompetence. Itās all so easy for them. The NHS is well funded and poorly managed.
July 29, 2023
World figures show NHS in top 5 for spending bottom quartile for outcomes. Nothing to do with money all to do with incompetent mangers and badly run service. Overpaid useless quota mangers. Blaire/Harman introduced Equality Act and promoted throughout public services. Tories have not changed anything in 14 years. Judiciary, policing, NHS, local authorities, education from 4-21 years, EA, quangos etc. All promoting left wing socialism. All inspectorate bodies for the same enforcing left wing agenda!
July 29, 2023
+1
July 29, 2023
HOPE – All part of the Globalist UK Establishment plan. You are irrelevant but change IS coming and PANIC wil ensue.
July 29, 2023
Correct. Look at how Labour have behaved over the NF affair. The Left thought it good until others that they regard as one of their own or a ‘protected category’ suffer the same fate and all hell breaks loose.
Hypocrites.
July 29, 2023
There are far too many people here and more arriving all the time.
That is one of the reasons the NHS is struggling to cope, but it is one of the issues the Uniparty will not address or reverse.
July 29, 2023
+many
Spot on.
July 29, 2023
Indeed. They actively encourage it claiming it helps our GDP. Overall it does but per capita it doesn’t. Hence productivity numbers. It doesn’t reduce overcrowding or reduce NHS waiting lists or the carping on about the housing crisis. NO NO NO. We have an immigration crisis. Just stop it!!!
July 30, 2023
It is extraordinary that the Government claims to have introduced an Australian style points based immigration system but omitted from it all the features that lead to Australia having a GDP per capita nearly 50% higher than the UK’s.
July 29, 2023
The money needs to follow that patients (or better still rest with the patients and their families) so they can pay if and when they are treated properly. To the NHS they have your taxes already thus patients are just an expense and nuisance, to be deterred and pushed away, deterred whenever possible. Pushed from GP, too 111, to 999, to casualty, to social services, to waiting lists…
July 29, 2023
So much of NHS money is totally wasted on this pushing from pillar to post as above (between different section of the same state sector) while doing nothing of any value. We have the same with police and law and order – dangerous people left in the community committing very clear crimes with loads of evidence but call them out and they say “nothing to do with us mate” that is social services or the NHS as they culprit has mental health issues and has not taken his drugs or something. The result is no one does anything sensible until something serious happens like a murder, stabbing or serous assault. Do nothing (if at all possible) is state or the the police’s first response in my experience – unless they think there is money to be made off a motorist putting a wheel in a bus lane, a parking offence or a planning enforcement issue or similar. Follow the money as usual.
July 29, 2023
I visited wards recently were boards highlighting nationality of staff!!FFS, what a waste of money. There is so much wrong with NHS and service provision. Look at how many thousands of staff get paid more than Ā£200,000 and Ā£100,000 it is simply outrageous.
This organisation has myth status in the minds of incompetent useless MPs, not the public.
July 30, 2023
The money following the patient is the key and it just doesn’t happen in the UK. It does in Australia. For example a GP in Australia is paid per consultation and patients have complete freedom to choose their GP. In UK patients cannot choose freely and GPs are paid by the number of people on their register. It’s the same principle throughout the Australian health system. It integrates private and public provision very well. The cost per capita is slightly more than in the UK but the outcomes are far, far superior.
Being handed a customer satisfaction questionnaire is no substitute for actual control of the flow of funds.
There wil be no adequate reform of the NHS until patients have that control and that cannot happen so long as Governments insist on ‘Free at the point of delivery’ because that is what renders patients utterly powerless.
July 29, 2023
Now I’m not for a moment saying we should go “full American”, but I wonder how many NHS trusts could give this kind of reporting, and if there are not some management lessons to be learned.
https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/providers/mayo-clinic-reports-433m-net-gain-rising-volumes-q1-2023
July 29, 2023
How will productivity increase in the public sector when a vast number are not monitored working from home or the beach or even abroad.
Most of the non jobs enjoy pay and perks only dreamed about in the private sector.
The civil service for example should be halved as it is generally working against the country.
Get rid of the dross and watch the remainder perk up.
July 29, 2023
Home Office useless, Border Force useless, MOD useless, Probate useless, HMRC useless- Osborne hired 2,000 more staff!! The list is endless. The ambassador who acted against Raabās wishes over Brexit in Gibraltar should be toast, not Raab!! He should never work in public sector again. These people remain 8n post to do more harm than good!
Nat West saga- owned by the taxpayer, Govt acting on our behalf. It is evident the board and chairman should go. He made a public statement supporting the wrong doing of his CEO. Nat West/chairman Still not answered why Rose smeared Farage with a false allegation to BBC news editor!! What message does it send that he remains in post at the behest of the Govt! The have a fiduciary duty to the taxpayer. Can Sunak and Hunt remember 2008 and why higher standards need to be imposed? That is why it matters. We, the taxpayers, are still on the hook for these greedy fools. It takes a nano second to decide they acted improperly and should be ousted. Who got rid of Truss in a coup?
July 29, 2023
Managers are supposed to manage but often donāt or canāt.
July 29, 2023
AND they are much hampered by all the various pc rules.
Certain members of staff canāt be reproached in the tiniest way or you are faced with some sort of legal action.
( My GP killed himself because of similar)
Yet never are the unfair and ludicrous rules challenged by politicians in this wonderful rainbow mess.
Created entirely by them.
July 29, 2023
See Sir David Frost’s article in the Telegraph yesterday. Until Government return to a national meritocracy we’ll be saddled with the useless, politically correct, left wing fools running all our Health, Emergency services, Public services, quangos and Government bodies. They know what they have to say to get promoted whilst the best candidates tell……..the truth and fail. The Tory’s haven’t tackled the selection criteria in all these organisations in 13 years and are now part of the problem, like Labour. See all public bodies and ESG organisations. They can all wax lyrical and articulately quote equality and diversity mumbo jumbo whilst Rome burns and staff moral goes through the floor because of their known incompetence.
As a clever colleague once said, they could calculate the number of molecules in a jam jar but couldn’t get the lid off.
July 29, 2023
Why would the government want a meritocracy? They would disallow themselves!
July 29, 2023
When I was invigilating for school exams I found the assembly hall was full of students studying Psychology or sociology where as physics and maths the hall was near empty. We now have a country full of Psychologists.
This has led to a massive increase in the invented mental health issues giving those who wish to use mental health as a means to stay off work with the perfect card to pull out and show an employer. It is now nearly as powerful as the race card. It dare not be challenged. Sometimes being asked to do your job leads to the cry of Mental health and bullying. I even heard of a mental health problem invented that was linked to going back to work after the pandemic. Utter nonsense. Every day without fail it is the topic and is now used to excuse all kinds of degenerate behaviour as well. it will, if not already, will be used as an excuse or mitigation for murder.
More seriously, It has also led to the watering down of those with real mental health issues who are now swamped as people now roll their eyes at the mention of it like the boy who cried wolf .
Itās like diversity and inclusivity advisors. They need to find or invent racism even where it doesnāt exist otherwise they donāt have a job. The same applies to the army of Psychologists and sociologists affecting our workforce that need to invent illnesses and issues where none exist so as to enhance their level of importance and need.
You will never solve productivity issues in the public sector when being asked to get on with your job leads to an invented mental health issue that nobody will challenge.
July 29, 2023
If a belligerent employee brings a discrimination claim against their employee, having diversity and inclusivity advisors helps in defending the claim.
The courts have taken vicarious liability too far. If one employee abuses another, the company is supposed to take action yet be on the hook for any compensation. The system drives employers to deny and discredit for financial reasons, plus employees who could be witnesses feel denying abuse happened is a way to show loyalty to the company.
Imagine a legal system where the judge had to pay compensation for any judgement he makes in favour of a claim. Obviously nobody would want to be a judge, yet that’s the system that’s supposed to work for the employer.
July 29, 2023
Sir John, your government allowed staff to stay away from work and still get paid. No thought was given to what would happen to productivity and the work ethic longer term. This was in line with the government’s general disregard for the consequences of lockdown policy. Now we have widespread absenteeism euphemistically called ‘working from home’. I say to your colleagues in government: ‘You broke it, you fix it’.
July 29, 2023
Oh Hear, hear!
Well said and utterly spot on!
July 29, 2023
Iām saying that too!
July 29, 2023
Agreed. But it also applies to quite a bit of the private sector as well now. The working from home culture is a disease that needs addressing. Try ringing any insurance company or service provider, and you’ll wait an age for an answer. It almost goes without saying forget the tax office or council, police etc who are working from home walking the dog, at the gym, shopping at ASDA, doing housework. They leave computer’s on to avoid detection but are not at their desks!! If we all know this, why doesn’t the Government? Perhaps they are to busy on their diversity courses or unconscious bias training, or LGBTYXZSE equality courses.
July 29, 2023
Gosh, Sir John ….. the NHS will now have to appoint another thousand or so Managers on six-figure salaries, whose remit will be to investigate staff morale, staff retention and what is affecting it. Let me guess what they’ll find is causing it:
1. Low pay; including the Consultants on 6-figure salaries
2. Insufficient Equality and Diversity monitoring and “inclusion” initiatives
3. The Climate “crisis”
4. Brexit
5. The patients – there are too many of them and they’re just so demanding
In his second paragraph, Sir John perfectly described my experience of working in the Civil Service, having previously worked in the private sector. The levels of bureaucracy; incompetent Managers; the tolerance of under-performing staff; increasing reliance on those left “who know what they’re doing” and the stifling of any initiative destroys the morale of those who want, and are trying, to do a good job.
The good ones – those who are employable elsewhere – leave. Those who aren’t, stay and the situation gets worse. I have no suggestions to improve the situation. I learned that making suggestions was pointless.
July 29, 2023
Addendum. Not long after I joined the CS, my direct Line Manager told me “Don’t care about it too much …. it really isn’t worth it.”
It took a while, but I eventually learned that she was right.
July 29, 2023
Having retired from my real job I went to work for a local Council. Within days I knew I’d have to leave or it would drive me insane. I agree with all of the above but couldn’t believe the number who spent all day talking at their desks, carrying useless bits of paper around, consulting ( ring a few friends and have a chat), surfing the internet for their interests or shopping, talk about diversity a lot and of course lectures on climate change, one from a middle manger commuting over 100 miles each way daily! Pointless bureaucracy…. everywhere. The quality of middle to senior managers was awful. All were risk adverse and couldn’t make a decision to save their lives, were over paid and under qualified. All of which mirrored my experience of the Home Office in my earlier life. Totally hopeless.
July 29, 2023
+++
You forgot āGlobal Boilingā!
Video of NHS staff line dancing and squawking on about being careful of the heat.Lol lol.
Itās colder and wetter than a seaside holiday on the East Coast in the 1950s
Woolworthās pac-a-macs at the ready!
July 29, 2023
I think they might have been trying to sing to ā Stayinā Aliveā
Thereās productivity for you!
July 29, 2023
6. All these ill people make the staff suffer mental health problems.
July 29, 2023
Number 5 is true; there are too many patients. The NHS should be relieved of its responsibility to treat lifestyle diseases. I would say the NHS shouldn’t have to correct bad cosmetic dental treatment performed abroad, but there I think they tick that box already.
July 29, 2023
How about stopping non urgent treatment to any foreign people who just chip up here? No treatment without payment card/insurance, like everywhere else in the world. When is the Government of 13 years going to include this with visa applications? Sometime never, just get the waiting list numbers growing at 7.4 millions. Hunt did nothing during his 6 years tenure. Typical of the public sector they promoted him to Chancellor, even though he failed contingency planning for a pandemic. Never mind that’s never going to happen. But wait!!
July 29, 2023
We should remember that big outsourcers like Serco are really part of the public sector too. Their entire work is for the public sector. They are proud of working entirely on public sector contracts.
Other big outsourcers and consultancies are running with 50% public sector work, or 30 % public sector work, and if you added these all together itās a large number.
Some of these outsourcers are not really specialist in much, they are just a bit more flexible, bit more prepared to agree to nonsense, easier to hire and fire, cheaper on pensions, easier to hide the blame, than civil servants would be.
This ecosystem of public sector subcontractors reinforced the silly fashions that build up in the public sector, often at the expense of whats actually good and right for the voters.
So the public sector is far larger than people realise, some of it is just hidden.
July 29, 2023
An interesting point Iain
July 29, 2023
Excellent point, Iain. It’s snouts in the state trough.
July 29, 2023
Indeed then there is also all the compliance and tax collecting work that is forced onto the private sector and private individuals which is another tax in effect on top of actual tax bills.
July 29, 2023
There is the BBC and all its subcontractors who are public sector in all but name.
Much of BT is still really public sector.
Lots of the regulators although supposedly funded from levies from the organisations that they regulate are really just public sector.
There is an Amazon show called flight/risk about how regulation failed the passengers of the 737 max aircraft, a lot of exactly the same regulatory failures are happening in this country now with the financial services companies. I would ask people to watch that film and reflect on why regulators are so poor.
July 29, 2023
Can I recommend that people view a programme made by the BBC more than decade ago, simply google “Can Gerry Robinson Fix the NHS”
If after viewing this, people and Politicians do not understand what is required with regards to proper NHS management, then they may as well give up.
Gerry Robinson got all of the various patient service providers together, to talk about more efficient use of time and equipment, to make a huge improvement AT NO EXTRA COST in 6 months, simply by using standard commercial management thinking and techniques.
It is an absolute eye opener for those who have not seen it before, and a reminder that nothing much seems to have changed, for those who viewed it at the time.
We keep on hearing “Lessons will be learn’t” but clearly that is not true.!
July 29, 2023
I watched this at the time but I’d bet many of the issues he identified still exist. It is quite an eye opener….
(It’s still on YouTube btw)
Regards,
IanT
July 29, 2023
Spot on Ian, I viewed it more than a decade ago, and viewed it again this morning, yep no change, if anything it has now got even worse with all of the WOKE and Diversity nonsense we now see applied..
Gerry Robinson proved if anything at all, that it’s a management problem, because the managers are simply incapable of managing people, circumstances, and budgets.
Certainly worth a view if you have never seen it !
July 29, 2023
Apparently we spend less per person on health than many other of the āadvancedā nations. People who cite this often claim we should pay more tax and that we are less heavily taxed than in other countries. But, do they compare like with like?
Add up income tax, national insurance, council tax, VAT, duties on fuel, duties on alcohol, parking charges, road tax, tax on insurance premiums, stamp duty on house purchases, capital gains tax – and a whole host of other charges and taxes – and it feels to me that we are already very highly taxed.
IF we spend less on health than other nations, what do we spend more on? The costs of government? Defence? Education? Law and order! Iād love to see true comparative figures.
As an aside, my son was in Switzerland last week. Ā£7 for a cup of coffee! I visited Norway a couple of years ago – Ā£8 for a pint o beer. How do these countries manage to export anything with the cost of living (and presumably wages) so high?
July 29, 2023
Toblerone is cheaper in the UK than it is in Switzerland even with the added transport costs.
July 29, 2023
………….IF we spend less on health than other nations, what do we spend more on? The costs of government?……………….WELFARE IN ALL ITS FORMS AND HOUSING BENEFIT.
Even to those who newly arrive on minimum wages and of course boat people, subsidised by English taxpayers. It’s ok though the Government are going to sort this out. Even if it takes a month of Sundays. But wait, they’ve already had that month four times over!
Einstein’s definition of madness should be stated at this point.
July 29, 2023
Average salaries are quite high in Switzerland Mike, so these things don’t seem so expensive to the Swiss – just to us when we use Ā£Ā£Ā£’s to purchase stuff there. “The Pound in your Pocket” – remember?
July 29, 2023
The problem so often is the state sector are producing things of no real value or even negative value. HS2, student debts and usually worthless degrees, mugging motorists for one wheel in a bus lane or driving at 23 mph on a dual carriageway, net zero and expensive unreliable energy, over restrictive planning, the net harm vaccines, the absurdly damaging lock downs, the dire NHS…
July 29, 2023
Isn’t the problem the decline in the value of the Ā£ ? I seem to remember years ago you got about Sw. Fr. 2.5 to the Ā£. Now I think it’s about 1.15. I suppose there’s been a lot of speculation against the Ā£ over the years, but I don’t suppose anyone speculates against the Sw. Fr.
July 29, 2023
Ā£1=1.118CHF (xe.com 29/07/2023)
July 29, 2023
R II,
When I first started skiing in Switzerland, the exchange rate was Ā£1 = CHF10.3
Switzerland does not go in for fighting illegal wars or wasting money on globalism, whereas UK does both of those things and more, and is a poor country pretending to be rich. Quite pathetic.
July 29, 2023
+1. I think the Swiss are changing for the worse, but gradually. I wish we were more like them in many ways.
The referendum system there must keep politicians in line, to an extent. Also military service – if you’ve done the training and know you will be in the firing line if the country goes to war, you’re unlikely to vote for anyone wanting to “protect democracy” in far-flung corners of Europe or the globe. As for economics, our host has pointed to their good performance compared to the UK and EU. On the dubious side they host Davos, sell weapons and wonder-pharmaceuticals, but hey-ho, the trains run on time and they have comparatively few immigrants.
July 29, 2023
The governments, BoE and recently one Rishi Sunak )perhaps the worse offender) have deliberately debased the Ā£1 by printing ever more of them (QE) and by trashing the economy (through over taxation, far too much government, over regulation, very poor public services, net zero, a bonkers energy policy, deliberate inflation, OTT employments laws, vast government wasteā¦). Inflation is just another tax on top of all their other taxes as it reduces all the personal allowance bringing ever more into higher tax levels. When Osborne promised us a Ā£1M IHT threshold circa 14 years back it was Ā£325K and it is still Ā£325k but this is prob. now worth nearer Ā£200k in real terms. Promise with one lying mouth then do the reverse with your QE for 14 years.
Who would trust them with anything this time?
July 29, 2023
When I first went to sea we were getting three dollars 20 Cents to the pound. With the good management of Parliament, what’s it now One dollar something!
July 29, 2023
Well, let me agree that NHS management needs to buy into the need to ease the tasks of the medical staff, provide good back up and remove some of the burdens of form filling and training not central to the medical tasks of treating patients well. Let me ask why in THIRTEEN years the Conservative government has failed to achieve something as basic as this. It really is time for you to go. You have failed our country.
July 29, 2023
Lemming – interesting question. Answer:
1. They were too frightened of losing power by being branded as “the nasty Party” and “selling our NHS”.
2. They are mostly not ideologues, they simply want nice jobs as MPs with lucrative side interests. Easier to throw taxpayers’ money away than confront the issue.
3. They had no clear message to the electorate that Britain could have a far better health service (you only have to look at examples in Europe and beyond) if things were done differently.
4. They do not have to use the NHS themselves and probably never will.
I’m sure there are more reasons but that’s a start.
July 30, 2023
Yes, this was the Cameron effect on the Tory party in Parliament via the selection process: choose candidates who are telegenic and can get elected. Never mind about whether they’ll be any good after that.
July 29, 2023
Ben Bernanke, the former head of the US central bank, is to lead a review of the Bank of England’s forecasting.
The appointment comes as the Bank faces criticism for its efforts to control soaring prices and failure to predict their surge.
The Bank once forecast that inflation would peak at 6%. It actually hit 11.1% last year and remains high at 7.9%.
Bank Governor Andrew Bailey said the review would allow the institution to “step back and reflect”.
“The UK economy has faced a series of unprecedented and unpredictable shocks,” he said announcing Dr Bernanke’s role. “The review will allow us to take a step back and reflect on where our processes need to adapt to a world in which we increasingly face significant uncertainty.”
Dr Bernanke, who steered the US economy through the 2008 financial crisis while at the helm of the Federal Reserve from 2006-2014, said he was “delighted” to have been given the role.
“Forecasts are an important tool for central banks to assess the economic outlook,” he said. “But it is right to review the design and use of forecasts and their role in policymaking, in light of major economic shocks.”
The Bank is due to meet next week to decide whether to raise interest rates for a fourteenth time.
July 29, 2023
I see Bernanke is due to report some time in 2024. Plenty of time before then for the BoE to go on fouling things up!
July 29, 2023
Yes, “…with bonuses and promotions dependent on success” for all rather than dismissal and replacement by people who can do the jobs for the pay and grading that the positions merit.
July 29, 2023
I am quite happy to pay more to get more, that is a reasonable quid pro quo but there also needs to be sanction for under performers.
The pensions at the higher levels also need to be sorted out.
The golden unicorn of the public sector diversity industry also needs to be castrated. Starting with any grants or payments for services to Stonewall, Mermaids, Black Lives Matter and any other organisation which campaigns.
Government can not pay to be lobbied.
July 29, 2023
Grants to government departments and councils should be paid by invoice for outputs not lumps sums for existing.
July 29, 2023
Werenāt GPS allowed to go private in 2004? ( Are they still actually NHS in any way?)
And now many have been sold off to basically non medical conglomerates. Or are they private equity firms?
Run by non medics. Part of the grand U.K. fire sale.
Isnāt that rather game over?
July 29, 2023
BBC reporting – Rishi Sunak ”Bans not right approach to net zero”
Is you party & government taking the piss
July 29, 2023
He said āproportionate and pragmatic wayā (= correct approach)
How can either of those words apply to getting rid of CO2?
July 29, 2023
Sunak seems to be following the policy line he got from his boss Tony Blair, who has just recently made a speech saying the public mustn’t be overburdened with the costs of net zero. In other words, best to ease off a bit on net zero when the public starts to rebel, as in Uxbridge and with the new ‘Stop Pissing Everyone Off’ movement. But then put the pressure on again when the opportunity arises later. After the next General Election, perhaps.
July 29, 2023
+++
Yes!
It is being said that TB will be next ( unelected but hey weāre used to that now) PM via Starmer.
Oh dear!
July 29, 2023
I think we all know the answer to that one.
Next Sunak will be telling us that closing down an economy for the best part of 2 years and funding it by printing money isn’t a sensible reaction to a Low Consequence Infectious Disease.
July 29, 2023
But wasn’t Sunak the chancellor during that period ?
July 29, 2023
Yes, and he was bad enough to get a promotion. All incompetence must be clearly demonstrated before you are allowed a position of power.
July 29, 2023
Maybe it because most civil & public servants are working part at home ….you gave them new home working flexible contract ….what did you expect, productivity to go go ? GET THEM BACK TO WORK – AT AT HOME
July 29, 2023
Contributors beware. Did you know that by inadvertently tapping the Submit button instead of the Post Comment button you send your well thought out advice to oblivion.
July 29, 2023
The Conservative government are too scared to even try to implement change to improve the NHS. You can see that by the way the Shadow Health Minister Wes Streeting says in public things about the NHS (“It is not the envy of the world”) that not a single Conservative minister would dare to say. For that reason only Labour is in a position to significantly change how the NHS works. Probably in practice they won’t do anything but they are the best/only hope.
July 29, 2023
The present “climate ” in the country lacks inspiration ; management has become extremely weak and does not offer the challenge that is required in every day to day mission . We have adopted a crazy attitude to illegal immigration becoming a soft soap country offering all sorts of give-aways . Crime is at an all time high and the Police Force no longer has the respect and discipline that the public need . The NHS is badly run and our congested population means mayhem with roads crowded , surgeries and schools inadequate . This is no where near the country it once was !.
July 29, 2023
The solution is simple. Pay the clinical staff more, in order to recruit and retain more, and get rid of the numerous unnecessary NHS staff employed in non-jobs. Specifically:
– Get rid of all Equality and Diversity Officers
– Reduce the ratio of Senior Managers to Managers from more than 50% to 20%
– Reduce the proportion of NHS staff that are non-clinical from 48%, retaining those such as porters supporting clinical staff
– Reduce the number of organisations that think they should be in charge of NHS policy
– Ensure that NHS Confederation and the BMA are in no way taxpayer funded
July 29, 2023
The Government is short of one essentially quality. The ability to govern.
As it stands now, it appears it is totally under the thumb of the Mandarins and the Civil Service Unions. That is no way to govern OUR country. Democracy looks to those elected to run OUR country and never those in the back offices who never appear in public and have never stood for election in their lives. Ditto the judiciary, who seem to go out of their way to destabilise OUR government. On that subject, do the illegal immigrants actually receive UK FREE Legal Aid?
July 29, 2023
Derek: There’s much to be found on this on UK. Gov but as a quick comment, the UK has specific obligations under the UN Refugees Convention and Parliament agreed that legal aid should be available to support an individual through the asylum process & our UKG it seems has no plan to make any changes. I’ve no idea at present what it costs annually in the level of ‘support’ provided but would be interesting to find out. There is a UKG response to be found on a Petition to Parliament – Number 627168 ( closed 04/05/23 ) calling for ” Stop legal aid for court appeals for people entering the UK illegally”
July 29, 2023
Modern UK government is always afraid to accept any recommendation that puts it at war with the civil service.
There are far too many of them, all with votes, all with extended family. And the woke element of society has painted them all as heroes, struggling to do their best for the rest.
For example, “Our NHS”, the silly celebration dance for the NHS at the London Olympics by the ultra-woke British director who thinks it’s ok to cast King Arthur roles with Asian actors. Then there’s having the NHS applauded by people standing in the street during lockdown – for doing their job. And as it turns out, not doing it very well overall, as the empty Nightingale hospitals tell us.
Any minister who stands up to them is accused of bullying and a silly inquiry sees that minister ousted – with the acceptance of his party leader. We may be past the point of no return. The civil service is grossly over-inflated now and by its sheer size, its commensurate power may be too much for anything but the most woke of governments.
I suggest the real politicians such as yourself look not at the solutions to problems like civil service productivity, but at how to solve their root causes. You’re attacking the symptoms, not the disease.
Until you are able to find a way to challenge woke behaviour in all its manifestations including net zero (challenging the need for it, rather than thinking you must “speak the same language as ministers”) – then you will be doomed to play a bit part with ever-decreasing influence.
July 29, 2023
Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright said, “Those that can, do; those that can’t, teach. Were he alive today he might well have said, “Those that can, do; those that can’t, become become public administrators and give inane instructions to those that can.”
Get rid of these useless parasites with their pointless Arts degrees. Other countries with better healthcare do not put those that can’t in charge of doctors and nurses.
July 29, 2023
To solve the public sector productivity problem requires action as follows.
1. Make 430000 Civil Servants redundant & make the government work with 100,000.
2. Stop all immigration, legal or illegal, for three years to sort out the problem & get it under control. Let’s give some breathing space to GPs, Hospitals, Schools, energy, water, roads, councils & ourselves!
3. Cap the NHS budget for three years so the only way it can survive is by becoming more efficient, starting by making all DIE employees redundant.
4. Cut all Quango budgets by 50% in the next tax year, & another 50% the following year. Return responsibility for what most Quangos do to MPs. What else is parliament for?
5. Sack public sectors employees for incompetence, starting with Andrew Bailey.
6. Defer all aspects of net zero to 2050, by which time a more intelligent government & opposition might have actually realised it is all a great big con!
July 29, 2023
Reduce all salaries over Ā£60k threshold by 25% ….no public servant to be paid more than the PM
July 29, 2023
Morale is very low in the NHS, too many chiefs, not enough (juniors Ed), and the Governmentās ignoring Junior Doctors and refusing to talk to them is treating these highly intelligent people no better than Junior Office staff which is only exacerbating the situation. As a mother of Junior Doctor who works ridiculous and unsociable hours and struggling to live off whatās left of his salary after his Ā£1,000 a month London rental, I can tell you so many are ready to leave the profession altogether, my son being one of them. He cannot afford to live in London if he carries on as a Doctor. After six years at Cambridge and two years in the NHS what a complete and utter waste.
Meanwhile the Scots Junior Doctors have been offered 12.4% and they donāt even have tuition fees. All the BMA are asking is the same for Junior Doctors in England who have huge debts hanging over them from the minute they start work due to his Governmentās discrimination against the English.
John, why do you and your colleagues continue to carry on supporting an out of date Barnett Formula which gives the Scots Ā£12 billion of our money every year to fund things that your Government denies the English on grounds of cost. That money could improve services in England. If the Scots can afford free tuition fees and pay rise offers more than double those in England, it is absolutely scandalous that this using the English as cash cows for the benefit of everyone except the English carries on by a Tory Government who would be nowhere without the English.
Voted Tory all my long life but truly hope the not Conservative Party gets wiped out at the next election. They have deliberately let the main part of this disUnited Kingdom down very badly indeed and taken it for granted for far too long. Shameful.
July 29, 2023
Excellent post. For years the so-called Tory Government seems to squirm when expected to support England and the English, who make up a massive majority of the Electorate and the working population. For as long as I can remember tens if not hundreds of thousands of Civil Service jobs have been relocated to far flung rural England- but sent to Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland if at all possible. However the well paid jobs are kept by the staff who relocate at advantageous terms, only the less qualified support jobs eventually reach the local workforce. It is as if the economic strength of the SE has to be diluted or removed whenever possible, more recently disguised as ‘levelling up’.
The irony for me is that I would vote for the 650 MPs being reduced to say 100 and relocated to a new building in Birmingham, Manchester or perhaps Leeds. !!!
July 30, 2023
Much sympathy but being highly intelligent does not in itself merit higher pay – any pay at all – and while it is true that Scotland thows money around as you say, it is not true that Scotland can afford it. It can’t. That is why the English are paying for it. It’s like having a spendthrift in the family continually being bailed out by the rest of the family. If there is to be another referendum on Scottish independence I would like to see the vote opened up to the whole of the UK. Many, many English, Welsh and Northern Irish would vote to be rid of Scotland once and for all.
July 30, 2023
Totally agree Peter, that was my point. English taxes courtesy of Johnās Government pay for generous pay rises and goodies that his Government deny to us English. My point is these people are intelligent and have taken a lot of training and yet Barclay thinks he can dismiss them as if they are mere office juniors. This UK Governmentās behaviour is insulting especially if they can afford to fund a 12.4% rise for Scots Junior Doctors and fund their free tuition fees via the Barnett Formula. Itās a waste when they leave the profession and it takes far too long to replace them unless we end up with more and more medics from third world countries. Sunak doesnāt care, he doesnāt use the NHS anyway. Probably most of them donāt, they can all afford to go private on their MPs salaries.
Totally agree next time the Scots are asked seeing as England is never likely to be asked or consulted on its future. I think if we English were given the vote, they would get their wish. On their own they havenāt got the guts to leave especially when pathetic anti-English Governments of all colours continue to throw billions of English taxes at them every year to bribe then to stay.
July 29, 2023
Is it any wonder that productivity is down in the public sector when most of them are still working from home? My nephew and his wife, who both work in NHS admin, have taken the kids to the caravan for the school holidays and plan to work from there. My friendās grandson works in your building and has an American girlfriend so has been working from her New York apartment for the last year. All working extremely hard Iām sure (not)
The civil service part of the public sector could be halved and no one would notice. Why are your craven not a Conservative Government not demanding they return to the office or collect their P45ās. Many will object of course which will be a good excuse to get rid of them. And whilst your at it, cut the number of MPs. Why are 117 part time MPs still paid full time salaries and pensions and expenses when a huge part of their workload is done for them by their respective devolved Governments. There are more Scots, Welsh & NI MPs per head than there are English who are not allowed a devolved parliament.
Yet again a craven weak Government who is too afraid to do what is right.
July 29, 2023
It isn’t just that the Government is afraid to do what is right. It doesn’t know what is right. That is the source of its weakness, as it was with Boris Johnson. There is a vacuum at the heart of the Tory Party where there ought to be a philosophy of conservative government on which a coherent set of policies can be based. As a party it has no beliefs.
July 30, 2023
āAs a party it has no beliefsā
As a party it isnāt Conservative. That is the problem.
July 29, 2023
The trouble, I think, is largely to do with incentives, but not in the way you think. Iāve noticed time after time in my own business that if I appoint a weak manager he/she will very rarely appoint good subordinate managers. That may be bad judgement, but a good subordinate is a threat to a bad manager, and often a good employee will leave because of a bad boss. The result is that the business unit in question starts to underperform.
The only solution is get rid of the bad manager, but that is very difficult indeed in the state sector. Employment law, unions, and a general culture make it such a struggle that people wonāt bother. Why have a fight when you have little skin in the game? Much easier just to accept the poor performance and try to find workarounds. And what happens when the poor manager reaches the top? The whole operation starts to fail, and there is no one left to take appropriate action. Politicians canāt fire civil servants, as we all know, without one hell of a row.
In the private non-monopoly sector, either someone gets a grip or the business goes bust. End of problem. Note that I said ānon-monopolyā. The problem is not state ownership per se, itās the lack of consequences for those at the top if they get it wrong thatās the problem.
All of which, in a roundabout way, means we need some structure in the NHS and for that matter the civil service and local government which allows for Schumpeterian constructive destruction, and allows bad employees to moved to another job which might suit their talents rather better.
July 29, 2023
Am lost for words we have taken back control but all I can see is a holy mess in the NHS – and put that with more rail strikes – there’s no end to it and they have now all gone off on their hols – a great country indeed for some – a word of advice though don’t dare get sick or have an accident at this time of year because all of the consultants who matter will also be away on their hols at least the end of August
July 29, 2023
I read that Lord Frost is saying again that the Tories should be talking up the benefits of brexit -otherwise?
I’m thinking – what ‘otherwise’? and what benefits? I can’t think of one
From somebody who negotiated the brexit WA mess he has an awful cheek.
July 30, 2023
Steve, thereās nothing wrong with Brexit. We just havenāt seen the benefits because the majority of 650 MPs refuse to implement it.
July 29, 2023
“The NHS employs far too many temps at agency rates well above regular wage levels for the same job as a result of not retaining enough payroll staff.”
Yes but it has been the case for decades. It is what the NHS does instead of good management. To be fair there is very little management overhead with contract staff. That overhead is borne by the contracting agency – hence higher direct costs. Employing people directly means a lot of hassle that can be avoided by using agencies. The practice of using agency staff was well established and extensive before the pandemic. Spending other people’s money is always an easier and quicker decision than inculcating good management.
August 2, 2023
What happens when the public sector goes badly wrong. Take Thurrock Council bankrupt after running up Ā£500m deficit, caused by ‘financial speculations’ funded by a Ā£1.5bn borrowing spree.
Council Leader Rob Gledhill resigned on 2/9/22 the day the government intervention was announced, what happens to him does he just walk away free and clear with his pension intact?
It is said it is a Tory Council so I looked up on Wiki what the majority was. When these decisions were being made it was ‘No Overall Control’ yet Labour councillors are saying Tories made the business decisions. 2007-2012 NOC, 2012-2014 Labour, 2014-2021 NOC, 2021 + Conservative.
Who made these business loan decisions? Who recommended them? Who is being prosecuted?
It is like the Icelandic bank losses all over again where the good people of the Borough have to pay the losses.