Social workers - a rant

[minestrone]

I thought the NHS budget was 'ring fenced' as they say.

The GF's works night out is tonight and it must be costing about 10 grand.

[RichardCranium]

I asked them to discharge him to the home immediately. They refused ... because of paperwork which cannot be done until Monday.

"I am escalating this to my MP".

He is being discharged shortly.

This is a classic example of the behaviour that infuriates me about many public sector workers. There is either a rule that says X, or there is not a rule that says X, or they make policy up as they go along. What you have there is discretionary policy passed off as a rule X as a means to avoid doing any work.

They never say "It is a discretionary decision and I am deciding Monday because of reasons Y and Z and no amount of threatening me will change my professional opinion".

Alternatively, you threatening them has made them decide to ignore rule X and they are now breaking the rules and releasing a vulnerable old man in to the 'care' of some random shouty nutter who claims he is SY01.

Inefficiency and incompetence all the way down the line. If the feckers did their job right in the first place - which requires proper career managers running these establishments instead of useless administrators on £240k per year - then none of these problems would arise in the first place.

[craig1]

Some police constabularies take stealing money from infirm relatives very seriously and look for genuine proof of consent if the infirm relative's money has been spent "unwisely". Some police constabularies don't and couldn't care less.

If your relationship with your family is already that screwed then start here for advice.

[minestrone]

Then we had a meeting yesterday to discuss his ongoing care, and they were scoring him on various charts.

I now remember a conversation I had with my Brother last year, he was saying they have to complete a questionnaire with a drug addict to work out if he actually is a drug addict. He was saying it was a joke, 20 years working as a Social Worker in some of the tuliptiest places known to man and you can tell who is a drug addict and who is not in 5 seconds. THe bureaucracy has turned them into box tickers.

He works with teenage criminal kids now, they were trying to get them all to go for early retirement at 50 and just tag the kids.

[d000hg]

The GF's works night out is tonight and it must be costing about 10 grand.

Deliberately reactionary. £10k is meaningless except to provoke uneducated vitriol, without knowing how many people this is for, or what % of salary per person this 'bonus' equates to, or some other metric?

[minestrone]

Deliberately reactionary. £10k is meaningless except to provoke uneducated vitriol, without knowing how many people this is for, or what % of salary per person this 'bonus' equates to, or some other metric?

It is probably way more than 10 grand but the point is it is being paid from a NHS budget.

The class structure is still evident in a Doctors pratice night out, a table of doctors and their partners with Champagne on ice, the nurses table with beer on ice and the reception staff table with bacardi breezers on ice. It is like going back in time. If you are on the Doctor's table you can call people by their first name but anyone from the other tables has to use the title when speaking about the Doctors.

[d000hg]

It is probably way more than 10 grand but the point is it is being paid from a NHS budget.

That's irrelevant. If the people attending have a collective income of £10million, £10k is an insignificant amount. As businesses ourselves we know that you're allowed to have parties for employees, in fact this should be counted as part of the package, like any other bonus (pension matching being a very significant example, also health plans, death/injury-while-at-work cover, etc).

Simply shouting "the party cost £10k of tax-payers' money" is tabloid sensationalism.

[RichardCranium]

That's irrelevant. If the people attending have a collective income of £10million, £10k is an insignificant amount. As businesses ourselves we know that you're allowed to have parties for employees, in fact this should be counted as part of the package, like any other bonus (pension matching being a very significant example, also health plans, death/injury-while-at-work cover, etc).

Simply shouting "the party cost £10k of tax-payers' money" is tabloid sensationalism.

We're allowed £50 per head (+ one guest = £100 per employee) otherwise we're taxed on the lot. So provided said NHS piss-up has more than 500 employees attending I suppose it is fair.

Although I don't think the public sector should spend money on getting its staff pissed, especially when the NHS is lobbying government for an alcohol-free society and the government is trying to tell us the public sector is a bit hard up at the moment.

I have never worked in the NHS, but the 10 or so public sector or pseudo-public sector clients I have had never provided anything like this for their staff.

[minestrone]

That's irrelevant. Simply shouting "the party cost £10k of tax-payers' money" is tabloid sensationalism.

The GF's wage has trebled in 7 years, that is not tabloid sensationalism. The country is rooked and yet they are paying for me to go out to one of the finest hotels to drink Champagne all night.

Not that I am complaining, simply pointing out that the 'Age of Austerity' has not hit the NHS staff as much as it has hit the patients.

[Pondlife]

Sorry to hear SY - IMO your families behaviour is shocking.

I would suggest that over the Xmas Turkey and Pud you ask what plans Mother dearest has put in place for her declining years. I'd also be openly valuing her possessions with a "I could get a couple of quid for that treasured item on ebay"

I guess I just don't understand some people.