[BornToKill]

Originally Posted by seamus

Then it became long-term sick leave with doctor's certs posted in from dogy doctors.

I normally call doggy doctors 'vets'.

[BornToKill]

Originally Posted by scholar007

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...316853767.html

Talk about achieving the impossible -

They must have torn the árse out of it entirely.

A better one still?

"The Tribunal heard that on August 25, 2011 the complainant's trousers fell down in the respective office -- exposing his "bare buttocks"."

[goose2005]

Originally Posted by snickerpuss

Working with sick people does often mean you get sick. Also when you are sick yourself it may not be appropriate to come in and care for people with delicate immune systems. You're not sitting at a desk, you're caring for people.

(Disclosure: occasional HSE care assistant who gets no sick pay )

Odd, then, that actual doctors have a sick rate of less than 1% while those separated from patients by several walls are out all the time.

[Victor]

Originally Posted by muppetkiller

Last September, the HSE’s Assistant National Director for Finance, Liam Minihan, said 1,100 HSE staff were out sick every day !!!!!
Sweet JEBUS !!!! No wonder the country is F%^ked

There are 100,000 or so HSE staff. 1,100 equates to two sick days per person per year. Given that you don't want contagious staff in a hospital, 1,100 isn't too bad.

[Paco Rodriguez]

Originally Posted by merengueca

I know several PS workers who count their sick day threshold (point at which they trigger managers attention) as part of their annual leave entitlement. These guys know the rules inside and out and make sure they take full advantage.

I took my first day off sick in 13 years working yesterday and still feel a bit guilty about it.

Ah well done. A true role model. Everybody clap your hands...

[the groutch]

absenteeism rates of 4%+ are just ridiculous
it's obvious that they're treating sickdays like extra holidays, making sure to use them all.

I can count on one hand the number of days I've missed in 15 years, and would never "pull a sickie", I've got a little something called a conscience, something clearly missing in HSE employees.

[merengueca]

Originally Posted by Paco Rodriguez

Ah well done. A true role model. Everybody clap your hands...

Cheers, thanks. What a charmer you are...

[Unrealistic]

Originally Posted by Victor

There are 100,000 or so HSE staff. 1,100 equates to two sick days per person per year. Given that you don't want contagious staff in a hospital, 1,100 isn't too bad.

100,000 across the HSE but the 1,100 stat was for the western region only so you are comparing apples and oranges. It's actually 5000+ nationally. So, if you believe that "1,100 isn't too bad" I presume you will acknowledge that 5000+ is bad?
http://www.independent.ie/national-n...r-3009898.html

[tayto lover]

Originally Posted by the groutch

absenteeism rates of 4%+ are just ridiculous
it's obvious that they're treating sickdays like extra holidays, making sure to use them all.

I can count on one hand the number of days I've missed in 15 years, and would never "pull a sickie", I've got a little something called a conscience, something clearly missing in HSE employees.

Don't forget the vast amount of people who never worked at all, not even one day, but still get paid by the Govt every week. They also get free Medical Cards, cheap homes and their children get free Education Grants, school books, uniforms etc.

[Unrealistic]

Originally Posted by Unrealistic

100,000 across the HSE but the 1,100 stat was for the western region only so you are comparing apples and oranges. It's actually 5000+ nationally. So, if you believe that "1,100 isn't too bad" I presume you will acknowledge that 5000+ is bad?
http://www.independent.ie/national-n...r-3009898.html

On top of that your calculation of 1,100 equating to two sick days per year is wrong. It actually equates to four days. And the real number of 5000+ equates to eighteen sick days per employee per year. Still not 'too bad'?

[woodoo]

Originally Posted by scholar007

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...316853767.html

Talk about achieving the impossible -

They must have torn the árse out of it entirely.

I'm a public servant and i am happy to see that dossers are getting sacked. There should be much more of it.

[opinion guy]

Originally Posted by Raging_Ninja

I can understand nurses, doctors, etc having a higher rate of sick-leave. These people would work in hospitals etc and would be looking after people who are incredibly sick themselves. The last thing they want to do is infect somebody who is in intensive care or receiving treatment for cancer or something, whose immune systems have been destroyed and to whom a sniffle is a death sentence.

Like it or not, they are not working at a desk - most of us will gut through whatever sickness comes along. However, those environments have to be kept as close to sterile as possible in order to not kill people. You can't have sick people working if you want to ensure vulnerable patients' survival.

Support Staff aren't nurses or doctors. They are porters, security, catering, stuff like that.
The nurses and doctors have the lowest rates of abseteeism of any employees in the country AFAIK - the doctors especially.
In fact TOO low - the nurses and doctors SHOULD be taking sick days when they are sick and they don't as there is no staff to replace them. Again more so the docs.

[mikemac1]

Nurses are no angels

According to the new Healthstat report, one in five general support staff at Louth County Hospital called in sick on any given day in February.

The survey found at the same hospital that 10 per cent of the 70 nurses were off sick on any day in the same month, with the overall absenteeism rates running at under 8 per cent.

In the Healthstat’s red, amber and green marking system, the hospital scored a red under absenteeism.

The survey found Louth County Hospital has the worst absenteeism rate among 32 hospitals evaluated, with rates at Cavan General Hospital and the Midland Regional Hospital at Portlaoise also in the bottom three.

Figures for the Midland Hospital show that absenteeism rates among “other patient and client care”at 14 per cent, with absenteeism among 258 nurses running at 8 per cent.

The overall absenteeism rate at Portlaoise was just under 8 per cent, with less than 2 per cent of that long term and a small amount of uncertified leave.

Figures for Cavan General Hospital show that absenteeism rates among its 316 nurses was running at 10 per cent, with 13 per cent of patient and client care staff off sick on any day.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...315729332.html

8 to 10 per cent rate among nurses
Far too high

[Zebra3]

Originally Posted by noxqs

I'd claw my eyes out working in a place like that.

Would absolutely hate to work in a place like that.

Haven't had a sickday in four years. Boss actually thinks there's something wrong with me.

[grizzly]

Originally Posted by seamus

There's one thing about just not wanting to work and claim from the state, but there exists a breed of person who wants a proper salary but doesn't want to do any work. It's definitely not confined to the public service, though the union policies in the PS often make it easier for these people to hide there because it's harder to fire them.

We had a guy working with us (private sector) who went gung-ho for the first few weeks, and then it eased off. At first it was just wandering off to remote parts of the buildings with hardware under his arms for a couple of hours to do nothing and then claiming that they were working. Then it turned into taking a 2-hour lunch (and hour sitting surfing the web and an hour eating and reading the paper), and eventually coming in 30 minutes late and leaving 30 minutes early.

When all that sitting around and doing nothing was too much hard work for him, it was a matter of a sick day here and there, "My granny has died", "I have a doctor's appointment", all the usual stuff. Then it became long-term sick leave with doctor's certs posted in from dogy doctors. After a couple of months he arrived back into the office and confessed to his colleagues that he'd actually gotten a job somewhere else but didn't like it so decided to come back to us. Turns out that was his usual routine - get a new job somewhere while sending in sick certs to the old place while he decided if he liked the new job or not.

He was eventually made redundant and was delighted with himself, whooping and cheering while everyone else was devastated.

I'd actually love to encounter him in an interview now just to see him squirm. Utter scumbag.

That sounds like bad management as well though.