NHS Western Isles
Posted: Saturday, 18 March 2006 |
Comments
i would like to point out that the medical director in question who has recieved his red card is the medical director for the board ....not the hospital.....a few things have bee mulling round it my head...if you remember it the past week the chief accoutant took early retirement as did PA to the chief executive....some board staff are on sick leave...Mr Teirney has been sacked. All of these individuals were in positions that allowed them acess to the financial, business management and heirachal dealings within the board....this in itself begs the question what exactly did they stumble on and if they dared to question the effectiveness of the accounting, service redesign and other issues concerning services. it doesn't take a genius to figure out that early retirement may have been premature for some....all these things happening at a time when allegations of low staff moral, bullying, harrassment and intimidation surface...political spin is such that we are expected to believe everything that press officers churn out...no i don't think so ...we are not that stupid...and how dare they insult our intelligence to this degree.....isn't it also odd that the WIHB felt that after all the years of its existence that it all of sudden needed a press officer in the reign of this chief executive and chairman...isn't this the same press officer that had a reputation on the island in the past for uncovering scandal and not being afraid to report it in the local press and any other media that would listen. I suppose if they are on the payroll that this brings damage limitation....to the best of the knowledge of some of the staff within the WIHB this particular post had never been advertised...if this particular chief executive and chairman find themselves ahviing to seek other employment then what happens....will the new chief and chair see the need for a press officer...maybe not....we don't forget where people lay their loyalties....there are many things that are happening in recent months that the general public are finding questionable....as stated on an earlier posting on Arnish Lighthouse, the deficit is shocking for the population of the western isles and that this deficit would be what you would expect nationally.....what is happening with the money.....why is the deficit so high....does an external audit need to be done on the books....the placement of managers in departments in which they have no experience....these questions and many more are among the general topics discussed by locals....the scottish executive must be either thick or blind if they can't see whats going on...maybe we should be seeking to replace scottish executive ministers who obviously are failing miserably to do their jobs.
islander from stornoway
Interesting reading and for anyone who needs to remember how this mess came about in te first place log onto http://www.whfp.com/1671/main.html and see how the whole thing has been jobs for the boys and smack of nepotism. 2004 was the year that first claims of bullying and implied corruption became apparent. The financial reports for the previous year were not publisised for the first in the boards history (is it coming back to you now ? ? ?). Since then it has been report after report after report about mismanagement, overspending and intimidation. If the Health Minister, Andy Kerr, The First Minister,Jack MacConnell and the scottish executive wish to be blinded to all this it really begs the question who is pulling who's strings ! ! ! My theory for what its worth, we are going to become the 21st Century Taransay...... With the development of all these windfarms airspace, moorland, flora and fauna will be critically compromised. If the windfarms are extended to the minch areas our already depleting fishing industry will become extinct. With no health service to speak about - because whatever they leave us with will be left to pay off the millions deficit we have inherited. How an the community survive. WE CAN'T....... We will have no choice but to be deployed to the mainland and the islands that we inhabit at present will become distant memories and anicdotal stories of long gone days. "COULD THE LAST TO LEAVE PLEASE TURN THE LIGHTS OUT"
Heather Isle from Stornoway
Can only second that
Arnish Lighthouse from Stornoway
The press office post was advertised - albeit not for very long! it was also soooo specific it should have had the name of the person who was going to be employed in the job title! As an aside - heres where I state the obvious - A) in the private or corporate sector - do mismanagers not normally get the sack? (why in stornoway do they get a spectacular redundancy package and then re-employed a few years later????). B) if a "journalist" (and I use that term in the loosest sense) prints lies, exaggerations and half truths - is it not the norm for them to be sued rather than employed? Anyway back to watching all the cars going around and around (think I'm getting dizzy!)
manor roundabout from in the town
Nepotism and jobs for the boys is a wide spread problem throughout the NHS. The outcome of this is, financially devastating and may well eventually lead to the collapse of the public health service, if not brought firmly into check. An individual who has obtained his/her position through the back door, more often than not has little or no knowledge of the skills of those working on the coal face. A common saying within the NHS and other publicly run organizations is, that you do not need to know the subject matter to manage the subject! In the world of the board room and the land of semantics, bluffing your way out of a corner is easily done, especially when your back is covered by those singing from the same hymn book. However, in the real world, if an item is broken and you do not apply a successful fix to this item the item is still broken and unusable! A valuable insight here being that one set of rules is being applied by those whom purport to be managing what is going on and another set is being applied by those who are actually solving the real world issues on the practical side of the work. The gulf between these two worlds has widened as more and more people are moving into middle management positions within the public sector through nepotism and jobs for the boys. The effect is a two fold one, being a deskilling of the management structure and a loss of those with the practical skills from the staffing structure that are bullied into submission and driven from the job by weak and insecure managers who fear their ability to do the practical/social side of the job. More often than not the people with the practical skills to do the post are well liked and respected by the person who is receives the service, this in turn can lead and does lead to these popular members of staff being despised by the weak and insecure managers. So it is my belief that nepotism is responsible for the large increase in work place bullying throughout the public sector. Sadly NHS employees have made the highest number calls to Tim Field’s National workplace bullying helpline. http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/ For an organization such as the NHS that purports to be an authority on the public’s health and well being, this statistic is abysmal and shows quite clearly that the mental health of those who are working within the NHS is be seriously neglected. Sadly in most cases within the public sector, the insecure and inefficient mangers that have mostly arrived in their post through nepotism are protected by a personnel department that is heavily biased towards their point of view, be it right or wrong in most cases and the member of staff is left having to seek outside advise through a Union representative or another external body to fight his/her case. I do believe it is a waist of time to write down negative things about the way an origination is run without offering a solution. My solutions are real world based and simple to apply, however the political implications are vast. Case 1 – Nepotism and jobs for the boys within the public sector. Solution 1 - Employ a ‘separate’ organizational body ‘outside’ of the NHS and other public sector organizations to employ the people that work within. Solution -2 Bring back an apprenticeship structure that recognizes experience within the job and values this as a commodity to the employer and structure. Solution -3 Set up an ‘internal’ personnel department within the public sector that represents the well being of the ‘staff’ and management alike. To keep the above structures in check….set up an external organization to report any work place bullying or miss use of power by those in the internal structure above. Anthony Peacock
Anthony Peacock from England
I have been in Lewis since late 2004 and am observing life on this fascinating island from an outsider's perspective. I look out at the lighthouse every day - as it looks out over the island and the sea. 
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