Nurses don’t need incentives, apparently

July 18th, 2010 § 2 comments

I’m terribly sorry, but here’s another post about a Daily Mail story.

Nurses are being given spa breaks, casino gambling lessons and cocktail-making master classes simply for turning up to work.

As usual it’s not quite as simple as that and the Mail debunks it own story in the next few paragraphs.

The Department of Health agency NHS Professionals, which supplies shift workers to about 80 NHS trusts, is giving away these and other activity breaks to encourage nurses to sign up for work and attend.

But the taxpayer-funded scheme has attracted criticism at a time when the public sector faces savage cuts.

Nurses aren’t being given freebies just for turning up for work, that would be ridiculous. In case you didn’t know, NHS Professionals is an employment agency. It supplies nurses, doctors and admin personnel to the healthcare ‘industry’.

These freebies aren’t being given away to every nurse. The nurse has to sign up to, and actually do, 10 shifts a month goes into a prize draw. Nurses aren’t given casino classes “simply for turning up to work”. These are incentives to get nurses to want to do shifts, with an obligation to fulfil before one is elligible to be considered for the prize draw. It’s not like the nurse is contracted to do the hours and they’re being given this offer, NHS Professionals are trying to get staff in to fill empty shifts.

Nadine Dorries, being the only ex-nurse rent-a-quote in the commons worth speaking to, chips in with…

To offer incentives when we should be watching every penny is madness. Just give the nurses a decent wage.

Which is saying stop spending money on nurses and spend more money on nurses.

The thing that Nadine, and to be honest most of the comments below, seem to miss is that this is to get nurses doing shifts that they don’t have to do.

Looks like mission accomplished for this article then.

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§ 2 Responses to Nurses don’t need incentives, apparently"

  • Left Outside says:

    Seriously, what motivates Daily Mail journalists to get out of bed?

    The advantages of non-monetary rewards has been known about for year. I bet the Mail offers some pretty nice perks to its staff.

    These incentives are almost certainly in place because they’re cheaper than paying a higher wage. Now I’m all for wage increases, but if these incentives are working then that implies the nurses are happier with this incentive structure over a slimmed down one with more pay.

  • Reuben says:

    Once again, the poor are expected to haeve a monopoly on virtue and altruism while the rich have a monopoly on champagne and general wankery.

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