Mark74

Bullet, he was play school & play away presenter and voice of Trumpton, camberwick green & chigley to name a few programs

As you get older all your heros from childhood slowly passing away. Brian Cant, how many hours enjoyment did that man give a generation? RIP Sir

Mine wasn't switched on automatically but I decided to switch it on via my account online. Bliss....since I've done that no phone calls from scammers pretending to be from talktalk....which we used to get about 3 times a day. After a few months I'll turn it off and see if the scammers have given up

Fuddster, is the hushpower .410 effective (probably a silly question as you obviously use one), as I've thought of getting either hushpower 20 or .410 and I was concerned the .410 wouldn't be up to job of Pigeon/corvids

Oh I agree that not all Government agencies deserve or should get an automatic pay rise, was merely pointing out that there is less incentive to join NHS now compared to past. Government work has in the main better benefits than working in private sector. However, a nurse (in case of this thread) or indeed Fire fighers, paramedics etc do a job that is a vital life & Death specifically trained job that the majority of society wouldn't want to do & less people are applying for hence all the unfilled vacancies & many leaving the profession. Funding is obviously the cause, but as their role is so vital the Government must do what they can to retain these people & attract new generation into the roles. The point of my previous post (although maybe unclear) was that there must be some kind of incentive to attract young people into these careers (as an alternative to the truck driving 😊) in addition to the vocational calling.

As others have said along with most Government agencies NHS staff have had little pay increase over past 8 years, in fact taking inflation into account it's a cut. Of course staff could leave or go and work for bank agencies to get better pay. But really the Government need to start recognising we need to provide encouragement to get people into Nursing etc because we NEED them. If a nurse or Dr leaves you can't just go hire one from the job centre. Stop all the unnecessary pen pushing jobs & stop the folly of bank staff and just pay the Nurses what they are worth. As has been said in this thread, it's not a job many would want to do. My wife is an HCA and gets punched, kicked, bitten, vomited on a regular basis and has seen her ward staffing halves in 10 years. Obviously she should get at least £10,000 increase!!! But seriously, NHS staff for the most part feel so undervalued, particularly by Government which is such a shame. Its reward is in helping people but financial benefits and morale must be maintained to keep our hospitals staffed

Thanks for taking the time to write such detailed advice Neutron 👍🏻

Thank you all for the input 👍🏻

Stonepark, he is 9 and will be 10 later in year.

Hi guys, looking for a little advice on a starter gun for my son. He's quite small for his age so I'm not sure a 20 bore would be suitable just yet. It's been over 30 years since I started with a single barrel .410, at the time I only shot pigeon with my dad, not clays. I would be looking at decoyed pigeon and sporting clays with my son now so ideally our choice needs to be something with little recoil but still capable of being effective. Although I can remember some success with my own .410 & had great fun with it I have never owned (or shot) a 28g. I wonder if anyone with experience of both could steer us as to whether it's worth "upgrading" to a 28g (given the extra expense) or just stick to a cheaper double barrel .410 until my lad would be capable of a 20g Many thanks for any insight 👍🏻

Alas many nurses are leaving the NHS to work for agencies as money is better. The Government need to cut out the middleman and save money by just paying nurses more

After being mistakenly reported earlier in week it's sad to read that Brian passed away today aged 88. Not sure about you chaps but spent many happy Saturday mornings listen to Sounds Of Sixties whether on way to shooting or whatever. Brian had a such warm voice coming through the radio. Thank you for for reminding me of listening to dads old 45 collection with him when I was a boy. RIP sir

Another 2 in our house hold plus another 4 from parents and another 4 in office at work (no outs at all)

I think Cameron & Osbourne are in trouble regardless of the result. The Tories have a lot of euro sceptics and they are not impressed with Cameron's campaign. Osbourne is also in trouble due to his "threatening" budget forecasts he gave. Wouldn't be surprised to see a leadership contest in the offing....so with a bit of luck we can get rid of the pair of them 😊

Went past our polling station this morning at 0730 (didn't vote - doing that later) and on a normal election there are one or two cars in the car park, today it was full with people parking on the road....so looks like a far bigger turn out than a normal election as people have string feelings and actually think they CAN make a difference this time

Should have changed the format, not try to replicate it with new people, it's like a Top Gear rip off....

Regardless of pay, reasons for strike, etc what reforms are they opposing that are badly needed? I can only assume that you are talking about the introduction of 24/7 NHS. Now correct me if I'm wrong but no country has a 24/7 healthcare system that you & Mr Hunt are proposing- they have s 24/7 emergency care system which we already have. If they are being Luddites by opposing an introduction of 24/7 healthcare system that Mr Hunt wants to impose then so be it. Everyone is aware that the Government have not allowed funds for this or costed it in any way plus have no idea how the staffing rotas are to be worked. As there will be no additional Dr's & clinical staff hired to cover the extra days/shifts it's therefore basic maths that with the same amount of people working more days will be working more hours (either that or "regular" working days will have services/personnel levels cut). My wife now covers 25-50% more beds now than 6 years ago (& yes she works weekends) so the system is at breaking point trying to maintain the current services. A 24/7 NHS would be a fantastic goal, but it needs to be planned properly rather than this current bodge job to get safe staffing levels, which means filling many of the 50,000 vacancies currently in NHS & increasing the budget to pay for it, but that won't happen as the NHS is dying under this Government - I refer you to Health & Social Care Act.

The contract states that changes to pay, conditions and rostering "may have an adverse effect on women". Partly due to more weekend work (which will see pay cut) but also because time off for maternity leave & changes specific to contracts for careers generally filled by women. In fact Government itself has said that the adverse affect the contract will have on women 'is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate end' make of that what you will.

My friend who is a policeman said things are so bad in the force that they wish they could strike....but they are not allowed apparently... In the private sector if your job terms & conditions change in a way that you don't like you look for another job and move on & the company replace you. In professions like Dr's, Nurses or Teachers etc it's not as easy. Of course people in medical profession can transfer to an agency and become a locum or Bank nurse, you can move abroad etc but the post you left will not be filled straight away by an NHS Dr or Nurse etc they would have to temporarily replace you with the very agency you have probably gone to work for....so you could theoretically be back in your current job but getting paid more....which the NHS have to pay for anyway.... they knew what they signed up for is often used, but what they signed up for is now changing....& like most of the public sector not for the better. I do think that most Junior Dr's are striking not just about pay but about much wider issues....whether this is right under the remit of current strike is debatable but nevertheless concerns which must he addressed

This is typical for Locum Dr's - who are brought in to cover when the regular NHS Dr's are not there to man the shift (due to sickness or staff shortages). They get paid more as thier hours are not guaranteed and are "on call" to go anywhere within the hospital or trust. Bit like Nurses, if one is off work they have to contact agencies or Bank nurses who come in to cover. Again these get paid more due to the nature of them being able to come in at a moments notice. On my wife's ward there are more agency nurses than NHS normally as they can't hire anyone. This is not good for patient care as the temporary staff come and go, rather than being based on the ward permanently. Again we hear they are going to work less hours...but nobody seems to be able to explain how the same amount of staff can do the same amount of work during the week days but then cover weekends and yet still work less hours....

No I work for MoD (another target for Government) my wife is a Nurse & my Aunt is a Sister, both supportive of the strike because it seems all within healthcare Nurses, Dr's, HCA's and paramedics are all in same situation as similar contract changes have been proposed for them too

Sorry, I guess I missed your point 🙂

RCN is busy fighting the Government on thier own pay, conditions and the removal of Student Nursing Bursaries....

Cutting hours??? So Hunt says, but I'd like to see how that is going to work out. Junior Dr's are working ridiculous hours (& getting paid for them) keeping hospitals running in the current format (this includes weekend work). They are not hiring any more Dr's, nurses or support staff but want full 7 day coverage...so if current staffing levels are struggling to cope & working long hours now, how can they reduce thier working hours as well as cover more days? Unless that is services will be cut back during the week?

This is a very good statement from a senior NHS consultant; "Jeremy Hunt wants to impose the contract on the junior doctors to fulfil a manifesto commitment for a seven day a week NHS. Lets talk seriously about what that means. We have a seven day a week NHS. I would like to repeat that. We have a seven day a week NHS. As it stands at the moment most of us can go to most hospitals within a reasonable distance and get emergency treatment day and night every day of the week. Fewer than we used to with 1 in 6 A&Es closed or downgraded (and more to come) so they no longer provide blue light services. And during weekdays we can go to clinics, get routine operations done and other services. Jeremy Hunt has not explained why his seven day NHS is different from what we have already. We have a government who keeps on saying the NHS isn't 'sustainable' by which they mean they think it is too expensive. Without additional money Jeremy Hunts seven day NHS is a dangerous nonsense. With additional money there are far better things to spend it on to give patients better quality of treatment. We do not have enough doctors, nurses, radiographers and other qualified staff to stretch over longer hours in the week. The NHS is currently short of 70,000 staff. It isn't clever to talk about covering more hours when you are already short staffed. We need to talk about robust training policies and how to attract more young people in. We should not be removing nurse bursaries, which primarily discourages women who are changing careers. Encouragement, not discouragement, is what we need. We can't talk about junior doctors in isolation. It doesn't make sense. But the government has a clever plan. Gaps in qualified staff can be filled with unqualified staff. They did it in schools, replacing qualified teachers with unqualified ones and removing teacher training and making into learning-on-the-job. So the same flawed logic is being applied to doctors and nurses. Health Care Assistants are doing the nursing jobs of patient observation and heart monitoring. Senior nursing staff like matrons are not being replaced, their work being done by more junior and less experienced staff. New grades of clinical staff are being created. Physician assistants, or associates, are being recruited from the USA or trained in new education programmes here will fill clinical posts, in place of doctors. For those who argue that the doctors should respond to the modern consumer society by trialling the contract with its acceptance of the 7 day on-demand supermarket style NHS, I say look at the evidence. Fewer hospitals, fewer qualified staff, pressure on patients to stay away. I'm sure it will be cheaper. I'm sure in government-speak it will be 'sustainable'. But will it be safe for patients? Will it be an environment doctors want to work in? Will it be the NHS you want? I don't think so and I think the country should be fighting with the junior doctors, as I am, every step of the way."