is it right to ask nurses and doctors to work for nothing?

Question

recently an NHS trust stated that it would ask Nurses and Doctors to work one day unpaid. Is this isolated to Just health care workers or will the administrators who are there going to do the same thing?

anyone knows, quick question would you work for nothing?

Can,t believe some of the answers, volunteer work by doctors ever heard of Medicines San Frontieres, the red cross. this is not about large wages but an employer once again screwing people over. in my opinion if this goes ahead whats to stop a council saying to its workers " we,re in debt, work one day for nothing" this could happen to every worker

Answer 1

I don't think it is, I normally find the community midwives that I've recently worked with, have no lunch breaks or anything. I think we're worth more than that. I'd volunteer for a different service, such as working in some clinic for some day that wasn't part of where I worked. But no, when you're employed you're employed. And midwives don't get loads.

Answer 2

I think asking for a free day is a ploy to guilt medical professionals into more charity. Many doctors already work for free. A doctor who works in an ER in the US can expect that up to 50% of his patients will never pay their hospital bill. Some doctors work in community free clinics on a regularly scheduled basis. Yes doctors do get paid well. They worked very very hard to get there.

Some people who have answered have said that they don't sympathize with the doctors... interesting. The number one reason people become doctors is to help their patients.

I guess I am not sure I understand what people consider valuable. Becoming a doctor takes an incredible amount of sacrifice. It seems that 12 years of education after high school. Over a hundred thousand dollars in debt for that education. Graduating from a school that most people can't even get accepted into, much less finish. Postponing life's events: marriage, kids, because your time demands won't allow it. Holidays, birthdays, family vacations spent working. Having work days that can be 36 hours long. Having the burden of making decisions, that if it's wrong, someone might die. These seem like they should have some value to me.

Answer 3

I think you guys are missing a huge point. You think doctors get paid a lot, how about lawyers. They get paid a lot more. And they are required every single year to do a certain amount of pro-bono work. Lawyers are required to work for free every year, why shouldn't doctors and nurses? These requirements are put into place because of the oathes they take upon becoming liscenced. There are hundreds of thousands of people everyday that require medical or legal advice and do not make enough to even have enough food to last every month. For me I have to make the choice several times a year between medication and food. Last month, I chose to pass on a $70 prescription because I had already spent $350 on 2 doctor visits and 2 other prescriptions. That money had to come from somewhere, and that somewhere was my rent money. Trust me, those of us that are poor and have no insurance really can't afford to get sick, and most of the time we go only when it is past the point of severe. Us poor and uninsured people have a much higher death and disease rate, maybe now you can see why a doctor giving me an hour of his time for free could actually save my life or home.

Answer 4

To all of you who are slagging off the admin staff, can I just point out that if an admin person (earning maybe £15k a year) doesn't do their job properly, then the doctor (earning maybe £150k) can't be effective.

Who books the appointment? Who makes sure the doctor has the right notes? Who types up the follow-up letter? Who makes sure the doctor's wages are paid into his/her bank account?

When you people watch the credits on a movie, do you wonder why they hire all those non-actors? What use is a make-up person, or a sound recordist, or even the director? It's the actors you go to see - they should get ALL the money!

Answer 5

I expect you're referring to the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, who are reported to have a debt of £17m! My understanding is that they've invited ALL their NHS staff to work one day unpaid and they have also offered six-month sabbaticals - both of which will be purely voluntary. Whilst I think it's shameful that the need has arisen for such a request to be made to such important members of the community simply because the business they're in has been mismanaged, I also have to admit that if I was one of those workers I would probably agree to the request, simply because of loyalty to my place of work and the community. And this is why it's a disgrace - playing on staff loyalties to save money so that they can make the books look better, whilst probably continuing to employ external consultants who we know do not come cheap!

Answer 6

I would work for nothing, but not 8 hours a week or more. Volunteering is great, but forced volunteerism is a crock. No company should force employees to work one day unpaid. If I'm not mistaken, it is illegal to do that. They should enstate pay cuts, if anything. A huge part of this problem is that people come into hospitals expecting to be treated for free. As soon as these places are allowed to be run like real businesses, the money problems should start to go away.

Answer 7

Having recently had first hand experience of the NHS I was appalled that the ward had Hi tec TV equipment for each bed, but the buzzers for requiring assistance where not working. Staff were over stretched, leaving patients frustrated and angry. To ask the long suffering NHS staff to work for nothing is a disgrace, what with GP's earning £100k plus and the likes of David Beckham and other self important 'celebs' earning millions is an obscenity. Yet we accept it, and encourage it, where are prioities gone?

Answer 8

I work all of the time for "nothing", it's called volunteer work.

I see nothing wrong with Doctors and nurses doing the same. Healthcare is supposed to be about helping others....not about making money. If you love helping people and get paid to do it then even better!

To have Doctors and nurses work in a poor area or mobile clinic for free once a month would be a very good idea. It would/could be a humbling experience for those that have forgotten about the real world and the real people in it. Too many become doctors to make good money. That's great, but you can't forget that there are people out there that need help and don't have money. I am against welfare but when you have a baby or senior citizen that just can't afford decent medical care, that's not welfare....that's giving of yourself with no monetary reward which is what America is SUPPOSED to be about.

Answer 9

You all are saying that Doctors and Nurses can "afford" to take a day off and work for free... well, did you not know that doctors and nurses work their buts off to get where they're at in life? Do you know how much schooling they've gone through? And how much money schooling costs? Doctors and Nurses work their tails off and it pays off for them. There wouldn't be a problem if every American weren't lazy and did the same thing. Its like saying, McDonald's makes tons of money... should they give free food for a week????

Answer 10

It's right to ask.

It's also right for the doctors and nurses in question to say "Bite me."

Wait, you're going to take people who have put 5 to 6 figures and years of their lives into education and training and licensure requirements, who pursue a profession with hefty malpractice insurance requirements (today's patient is tomorrow's lawsuit) and say "work for free, just a day!"

Please. Obscene gestures to NHS would be appropriate.