Our Third World hospital – are our unions going soft?
Posted by Ellee Seymour on May 27, 2006 in updates | 2 comments
King’s Lynn’s debt ridden hospital
Now I really know we do have a Third World hospital in our midst.
Staff at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn – a stone’s throw from the royal residence in Sandringham – have been told to take their rubbish home to help save money.
This follows a reduction of bin collections from five times a week to one, albeit for non-clinical staff. The idea is to reduce smells and potentially nasty germs that might be lurking in the bins which could spread infection.
How gross is that? How can a hospital be allowed to run to such low standards? What does our Health Secretary say about this?
The QEH is struggling with debts of nearly £11m and warned of probable job cuts and bed closures this week.
It is hoped the bin scheme will help save more than £2,000 a year by cutting down on the need for cleaners and domestic support.
A union official has surprisingly backed the initiative. Ron Glazebrook, the hospital’s Unison representative, said:
“What they are asking is for people to take bins to central collection points instead of a domestic cleaner. It is saving thousands and it is not a huge hardship. The hospital has got hundreds of offices, and this will only affect non-clinical staff.�
I think the hospital’s stressed and overworked staff will just ignore this. I’m very surprised that the union is so compliant. Are our unions going soft?
My father was admitted there and was treated very poorly. We had to pay £6,000 privately for another hospital to rectify their mistake. I wouldn’t recommed it to anyone.
Things never change – it was an awful hospital when I last lived in the area – more than a decade ago. I wonder if it’s got worse since? My parents haven’t had very good treatment there…. but I don’t know if it has got any worse over the years.