Nurse slams NHS Lanarkshire

Dec 16 2010 by Leona Greenan, Hamilton Advertiser

A NURSE has criticised NHS Lanarkshire over their treatment of staff during the recent snow spell.

The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, works in a Lanarkshire hospital and says she has been left shocked by the lack of cooperation from the trust during the bad weather.

The blizzards of Monday December 6 left thousands of people stranded in homes, cars or at work as traffic came to a standstill across the county.

The situation also meant people were unable to get to work on Tuesday with local roads unpassable.

Public transport was also hugely disrupted due to the weather.

The NHS staff nurse explained: “I have been shocked by the treatment us NHS workers received during the snow spell.

“For example, some staff who could not get to work were told they would be collected in a 4x4 and dropped off at the nearest hospital. At first we thought, ‘great, that's really good of the trust’. Little did we know that they would not provide transport for staff to get home and as public transport was off they were expected to walk.

“I feel this is an absolute disgrace. The trust are basically forcing people to work and then abandoning them.”

The disgruntled worker also felt let down upon learning that any absence from work due to the weather would result in annual leave having to be taken or unpaid days off.

She continued: “Staff with children for example, who were not at school because of closures and who had no childcare in place had no option but to take time off and they too are being punished.

“How can district nurses, community workers and hospital staff be treated so poorly? We are the people who care for and treat the community.”

An NHS Lanarkshire spokesperson said: “NHS Lanarkshire has an Adverse Conditions Policy which advises staff what to do when they are unable to travel to their usual place of work.

“We appreciate that during adverse weather employees can experience difficulty getting to and from work. To ensure we could maintain essential patient services, we put alternative transport options in place by using 4x4 vehicles to assist staff who could not travel by their own means.

“We appreciate the efforts staff made last week to get to their workplace. As further adverse weather is forecast for the end of this week we would welcome their continued support.”