Opinion: People who do nixers and don’t pay tax on the income?

[Leo]

The homeless situation has gone bananas, I'm practically tripping over them on the streets of Dublin 2 at this point.

While the homless situation is indeed getting worse, quite a few of those you will see in and around D2 regularly are not actually homeless, there's just good money to be made.

 

[csirl]

Here's another way of looking at it:

If you own a business, and a significant proportion of people dont pay what they owe, then these people are threatening the very existance of your business. If people dont pay, you go bust.

A country is no different. If a significant proportion of the people dont pay what they own in taxes, then the the country is in danger of going bust. Not paying taxes threatens the existance of our country.

When you consider the above, tax cheats are essentially economic terrorists.

 

[Purple]

Off topic but why do people always say this? Our hospitals are rubbish but our doctors and nurses are the best in the world.....

+1. off topic indeed but you are spot on. If they were that good they'd by running things better.

 

[lightswitch]

+1. off topic indeed but you are spot on. If they were that good they'd by running things better.

I said front line staff, they don't actually "run" the hospitals. And, I am speaking from personal recent experience, otherwise it wouldn't have occured to me to mention it.

 

[lightswitch]

While the homless situation is indeed getting worse, quite a few of those you will see in and around D2 regularly are not actually homeless, there's just good money to be made.

While I dont doubt that there is some of that I do believe that it is the exception. I base this belief from having regularly taken the time to have conversations with some of these people. If we were to look at it your way then we have a substantial amount of people on the streets with Oscar winning abilities that are going to waste. Fair play to the strung out ones who have missing teeth, that takes true dedication

 

[Sunny]

I said front line staff, they don't actually "run" the hospitals. And, I am speaking from personal recent experience, otherwise it wouldn't have occured to me to mention it.

It's just funny how everyone says it and yet all the admin and support staff get told that they are money wasting lazy gits. It's almost blasphemy to criticise frontline medical staff.

My mother recently retired as a nurse and by the end was completely disillusioned with most of her colleagues...

 

[lightswitch]

It's just funny how everyone says it and yet all the admin and support staff get told that they are money wasting lazy gits. It's almost blasphemy to criticise frontline medical staff.

My mother recently retired as a nurse and by the end was completely disillusioned with most of her colleagues...

I can only comment on the experience I have had, which has been excellent!
I would not hesitate to criticise them if I had in any way a negitive experience.

 

[Latrade]

It's just funny how everyone says it and yet all the admin and support staff get told that they are money wasting lazy gits. It's almost blasphemy to criticise frontline medical staff.

My mother recently retired as a nurse and by the end was completely disillusioned with most of her colleagues...

+1, a large portion of my family are in health care, many have since left not due to the job, but in some cases they couldn't deal with some of the arcane union practices. My sister had the example of a ward being rostered for 4 staff, but 6 turned up for duty. A separate ward was down 2 staff due to "sickness". However, the manager couldn't send the two off the surplus ward to the short ward due to a union agreement and had to go to an agency for two temporary nurses for the short ward.

So she spent an entire shift with two people who actually did nothing, while fees were paid for two agency nurses who weren't needed. It wasn't a one off.

 

[Deiseblue]

+1, a large portion of my family are in health care, many have since left not due to the job, but in some cases they couldn't deal with some of the arcane union practices. My sister had the example of a ward being rostered for 4 staff, but 6 turned up for duty. A separate ward was down 2 staff due to "sickness". However, the manager couldn't send the two off the surplus ward to the short ward due to a union agreement and had to go to an agency for two temporary nurses for the short ward.

So she spent an entire shift with two people who actually did nothing, while fees were paid for two agency nurses who weren't needed. It wasn't a one off.

Surely you mean due to a management/union agreement ?

I do agree that it's a scandalous waste of money , what I can't understand is how if 4 staff were rostered on how come 6 turned up ?

Surely the 2 who were'nt rostered on should simply have been sent home ?

 

[Latrade]

Surely you mean due to a management/union agreement ?

I do agree that it's a scandalous waste of money , what I can't understand is how if 4 staff were rostered on how come 6 turned up ?

Surely the 2 who were'nt rostered on should simply have been sent home ?

Well yes, naturally between the two.

I can only state what my sister (and other relatives) have said in that it was sometimes deliberate in order that the hospital had to use the agency nurses. I.e. the agency nurses were also union members and this arrangement was put together to ensure they were used and the system was abused to ensure they were used.

 

[Deiseblue]

Well yes, naturally between the two.

I can only state what my sister (and other relatives) have said in that it was sometimes deliberate in order that the hospital had to use the agency nurses. I.e. the agency nurses were also union members and this arrangement was put together to ensure they were used and the system was abused to ensure they were used.

The question still remains unanswered though.

If 4 nurses were rostered to be on and 6 turned up why were the non rostered pair not simply told to leave ?

Particularly as the level of demarcation you describe meant that they would be totally surplus to demand.

If the pair in question were not on the roster I cannot see the basis on which they would be paid , 6 staff on a 4 rostered ward , it would appear to demand connivance on a large scale involving management ,nurses and payroll.

 

[Sunny]

Doubt it was a case that 2 people turned up unrostered. From what I hear, there is often a case that one ward may be short staffed on a particular day and instead of taking staff from other wards that may have excess staff for whatever reason, management was forced to go to outside agencies to bring in staff.

 

[Purple]

I said front line staff, they don't actually "run" the hospitals. And, I am speaking from personal recent experience, otherwise it wouldn't have occured to me to mention it.

Mrs. Purple worked in Hospitals for a few years and the stories she tells of doctors screwing up and changing the patient notes to cover it up, nurses being rude and/or lazy or more commonly just plain incompetent would make your hair stand on end. It should also be remembered that many of the senior managers are former “front-line” staff themselves. The clerical staff don’t have much input into structural change. I think a large part of the problem is that the people running the health service are doctors and nurses. What the hell do they know about managing a large organisation?

 

[csirl]

Mrs. Purple worked in Hospitals for a few years and the stories she tells of doctors screwing up and changing the patient notes to cover it up, nurses being rude and/or lazy or more commonly just plain incompetent would make your hair stand on end.

I'd a relative in hospital recently. A nurse made quite a significant mistake, though thankfully one with no long term consequences. Relative asked me to check the notes to see what was said (folder kept beside the bed). Incident was recorded incorrectly so as to hide the mistake, so the relative made a point of telling the doctor next time he came around. If notes werent checked by me and relative never spoke up, or assumed that the doctor would find out from the notes, then the doctor would never have known.

 

[Purple]

I'd a relative in hospital recently. A nurse made quite a significant mistake, though thankfully one with no long term consequences. Relative asked me to check the notes to see what was said (folder kept beside the bed). Incident was recorded incorrectly so as to hide the mistake, so the relative made a point of telling the doctor next time he came around. If notes werent checked by me and relative never spoke up, or assumed that the doctor would find out from the notes, then the doctor would never have known.

The doctor is as likely to change the notes (or doctor them ) as a nurse. There's just as many greedy/ dishonest/ incompetent doctors and nurses are there are bankers, pulmbers, lawyers, teachers or Gardai. People are people, their job doesn't change that.

 

[ali]

I spent most of a week recently in Tallaght Hospital after my mother was admitted as an emergency and I found the staff to be almost universally lacking.

From the triage nurse who admitted us following a traumatic seizure, without at any stage addressing us, just taking a history from the paramedic crew. To the professor who swept into the room with his minions, prescribed a course of medicine and refused to tell us the side effects (in case my mother started to imagine she had them!) and then told us we were a terrible family ha ha for asking so many questions. And almost everyone in between.

We had to fight for every grain of information. Some of which was contradictory or incorrect and we had to battle to have diagnostic tests brought forward and prioritised and only when we threatened to transfer her to the Beacon where the tests would have been done on the day of admission.We were discharged without the final test being done and we were told that this could be done as an outpatient. Our appointment: two years hence.

The whole thing was an ordeal and this was a woman with plan E on VHI and 6 adult children fighting her cause. What happens if you are alone, unsupported, elderly and broke?

 

[johnd]

I spent most of a week recently in Tallaght Hospital after my mother was admitted as an emergency and I found the staff to be almost universally lacking.

From the triage nurse who admitted us following a traumatic seizure, without at any stage addressing us, just taking a history from the paramedic crew. To the professor who swept into the room with his minions, prescribed a course of medicine and refused to tell us the side effects (in case my mother started to imagine she had them!) and then told us we were a terrible family ha ha for asking so many questions. And almost everyone in between.

We had to fight for every grain of information. Some of which was contradictory or incorrect and we had to battle to have diagnostic tests brought forward and prioritised and only when we threatened to transfer her to the Beacon where the tests would have been done on the day of admission.We were discharged without the final test being done and we were told that this could be done as an outpatient. Our appointment: two years hence.

The whole thing was an ordeal and this was a woman with plan E on VHI and 6 adult children fighting her cause. What happens if you are alone, unsupported, elderly and broke?

You Die!
I agree with your letter. I have never bought into that idea that all nurses are angels and all doctors are saints which seems to be the general view even among the professions themselves.

 

[z107]

The last medical care that I needed, I went abroad for and paid a fraction of the Irish price.