notprop wrote:

Mannahnin wrote:

notprop wrote:[The fact is that if you are slacking in a private company and are caught you will be sacked, in the public services this will almost defintely not be the case.

Have you never worked for a private company? I have. I've fired people. And I know how many hoops we jumped through, and how many notices we gave, and how many warnings, and Action Plans. The idea that "private sector = more efficient" is a myth.

Really? I've done it a few times and not found it that difficult to get the desired result. Are you sure you tried hard enough? You were being nice and fair weren't you?

<snip>

Anyway, If you are not efficient then this must surely show in your results, why is your boss letting you get away with this Mannahnin?

BBC Wales wrote:

Llandrindod teacher Penelope Haddon drank in class

A teacher suspected of drinking white wine from a water bottle in class has been found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.

Penelope Haddon drank alcohol at Llandrindod Wells Church in Wales Primary, Powys but was not under its influence, a disciplinary panel ruled.

The General Teaching Council for Wales told Miss Haddon, who was not present, to take an alcohol awareness course.

She no longer works at the school and had denied the claims.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

I was concerned for the children”

End Quote Andrea Burton Student on placement

Miss Haddon was accused of bringing alcohol into work on two consecutive days in May last year and being under the influence of alcohol on those days.

The panel found she brought the alcohol into work and drank it on one day but rejected the other allegations.

The chair of the panel Helene Mansfield said: "Miss Haddon had not shown any insight into her failing".

She said she had not demonstrated an awareness of the issue of drinking in the classroom.

Witnesses told the hearing earlier that she had smelled of alcohol.

Andrea Burton, a student on placement from Coleg Powys, said: "She was quite stumbly, walking around the class."

Miss Burton told the panel that Miss Haddon smelled of alcohol, as did the empty bottle which she later recovered from the classroom bin.
Bottle residue

She said: "I was concerned for the children."

Senior teacher Janice Baynham said she also smelled alcohol on Miss Haddon's breath, and was aware that she had had worries about the health of her parents at that time.

The hearing was told that deputy head teacher Colin Williams had tasted residue from the bottle and believed it to be white wine.

Huw Roberts, presenting the case, said the serious allegations had been backed up by "consistent and compelling witnesses".

He said: "It doesn't bear thinking about what could have happened."

The disciplinary panel suspended Miss Haddon from teaching in maintained and non-maintained special schools until 31 August, on condition she takes an alcohol awareness course.

notprop wrote:I would respectfully disagree KK, but then I'm just a simple Quantity Surveyor.

If you are counting bricks or in the case of the NHS equivelent counting immunisation injections administered/band aids applied then you are looking at it far too closely (we can leave micro management to GW I think).

For example:

Is the hospital ward clean or unclean?

If not the contractor with the responsibility for this should be in the first instance given a clear-up/non-compliance notice (making it nice and legal). The next is to charge the offending company for time lost and appointments cancelled (prehaps the cost of sending the affected patients to private care?). Dealt with like this contractors soon start to adopt professional attitudes to their duties, problems will be identified before they affect patient care, ultimately a partnering attutude will be developed between Hospital and contractors. Wastage and unforseen costs will be minimised.

These issues need to be identified and put into place when the contracts are procured. This does not seem to be the case. If I can procure multiple millions of pounds worth work designing and buiding hospitals with no risk to the NHS (for I have in the past) why can they not procure someone to clean or maintain them - the answer is Gov't procurement is for the most part a joke.

Requia wrote:

notprop wrote:I would respectfully disagree KK, but then I'm just a simple Quantity Surveyor.

If you are counting bricks or in the case of the NHS equivelent counting immunisation injections administered/band aids applied then you are looking at it far too closely (we can leave micro management to GW I think).

For example:

Is the hospital ward clean or unclean?

If not the contractor with the responsibility for this should be in the first instance given a clear-up/non-compliance notice (making it nice and legal). The next is to charge the offending company for time lost and appointments cancelled (prehaps the cost of sending the affected patients to private care?). Dealt with like this contractors soon start to adopt professional attitudes to their duties, problems will be identified before they affect patient care, ultimately a partnering attutude will be developed between Hospital and contractors. Wastage and unforseen costs will be minimised.

These issues need to be identified and put into place when the contracts are procured. This does not seem to be the case. If I can procure multiple millions of pounds worth work designing and buiding hospitals with no risk to the NHS (for I have in the past) why can they not procure someone to clean or maintain them - the answer is Gov't procurement is for the most part a joke.

Doesn't work that way, at least in the states. If a contractor gets hit with a fine or get payed less by the client because they screwed up, they try to make up the profit somewhere else, lowering wages, cutting training budgets, layoffs etc. This results in the company doing an even *worse* job because morale is low, experienced employees start quitting left and right (I've seen turnover hit 200% a year when this happened at one job), and new employees (if there even are any) haven't been properly trained.

Contracting out long term gigs is a freaking disaster, it's only a matter of time before a company start to try and increase profits by cutting quality of service.