Working in the NHS at the start of the 21st century seems to have brought with it some perks which people have started to see as a right rather than a priviledge. Last summer, during a period of very hot weather, the water supplies bought in to keep staff in the PCT hydrated couldn’t keep up with demand. People were quite shocked to be told that the water in the taps could actually be drunk, and whats more it came out of the tap icy cold. But when exactly did we all start to expect our water to be brought in? Why as a nation do we suddenly find the water from the tap so unpalatable?

Chatting to some colleagues last week, they seemed quite surprised that firstly I tend to buy my own stationery (well I have a bit of a passion for pens, pencils and notebooks, I can’t help it). They were even more surprised (they were admin staff) to hear that as junior nurses in the 1980s we always bought our pens and notebooks. These were not obtained from a stationery cupboard or even in those days from drug reps. I guess that habit has stuck with me, and anyway why should the NHS buy my pen, it is not the most expensive purchase you will ever make!

Some other things have already begun to disappear, like biscuits at meetings and sandwiches at study days and people recognise these as being luxuries that perhaps are a step too far. Something that is yet to completely bite though is being prevented from taking study leave for something that is not going to benefit the organisation or going to be of value to the individual in their particular job. For a while people seemed to be able to go on study days, courses and conferences that bore only a passing relevence to their work, service or indeed the organisation itself. Very few people had leave turned down because it didn’t meet the areas identifyed in their PDP, but that has begun to change drastically. Money was one cause, but also the KSF which identifies areas of development within a particular role. If you can’t demonstrate competence in the core areas like communication, then what are you doing going to an obscure conference for the purposes of ‘networking’ and generally having a great time. In my time as education manager, I have even had people try to pass bottles of wine in their expenses, and they didn’t like it when I pointed out that this is public money!

I think that perhaps this is the crux of the problem, many people working in the NHS today, fail to grasp a few fundamental things. The NHS is funded through our taxes, we need to be accountable for the money that is spent and that includes the money spent on sending us places. Nothing is free, if you nip off for half a day on a free study afternoon it is not going to be free to the organisation if you go in their time and the sooner people start to recognise some of these hidden costs the better!