EXCLUSIVE

NHS PLAYS SANTA TO STAFF

20-12-2006

Is The Stirrer turning into Mr Scrooge? You decide, after we reveal that the cash-strapped NHS in the West Midlands is giving staff a half day off - to go Christmas shopping.

Are we being spoilsports to reveal this secret seasonal treat? Or are we being public servants, lifting the lid on a freebie which we as taxpayers are all paying for. The bottom line is that most if not all of the Trusts around here are offering the perk.

Regular readers will know that on this site we yield to no one in our admiration for hard-working doctors and nurses; we are even willing to stand up for the pen-pushers and paper-clip benders who are routinely rubbished elsewhere in the media.

What we can't work out is whether you and I should be subsidising their shopping trips by sanctioning an extra half-day's holiday.

When you or I want to nip to Selfridges in the Bullring - or more likely M&S For Less in West Brom - we have to take it out of our own time. One can only imagine the hoots of laughter if you demanded it from a manager in a private company.

"Sorry boss, I've just got to nip out for a few hours to get the wife and kids something to put under the tree. See you in four hours."

"That's fine" she'd say. "And when you get back we'll haveyour P45 waiting."

So how can the NHS justify such generosity? This is what a spokeswoman from Birmingham North and East Primary care Trust told us: "It is standard practice across all local NHS bodies to offer staff half a day (pro rata) free time in the run up to Christmas.

“Whilst in the private sector staff may be given bonuses, presents or paid for Christmas parties there are limited opportunities for the public sector to show its thanks to staff.

“The half day is one way of showing recognition to our staff for all their hard work throughout the year."

Another way of showing appreciation to Health Service workers of course, would be to offer staff decent pay and conditions and stop making them redundant - a practice we've seen locally at New Cross in Wolverhampton and City in Birmingham.

Somehow it seems incongruous that a service which is freezing posts and in some cases reducing them should also be so open-handed with its timewhich - in the NHS like any other business - is money. Just tot up all those thousands of hours across the West Midlands and you've probably saved a few of those lost jobs.

Maybe you'll accuse me of failing to catch the Christmas spirit, by nit-picking over a few hoursgiven to hard-working staff to allow them to go prezzy shopping.

My response to that? Bah! Humbug!

So is the Stirrer playing Mr Scrooge? And what kind of Xmas perks - if any - have you had from your boss. leave a comment on our messageboard.