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bluebedouin
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Posts : 2444
Location : Northampton,England.
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Immigrants

I'm sure we all have our opinions on the rights & wrongs of immigration & migrant workers.A lot seem to be in the health service.I would like to think that the majority are genuine & fully qualified.
I remember seeing an episode of UK Border Force on telly that raided a "university" for immigrants in the medical profession.It was an office that provided them with forged documents of medical qualifications in order to gain admittance to the UK on a working visa.How many of these people are now working in our hospitals/gp surgeries?
Over the past few weeks Lin & I have spent many hours sitting on various wards with our son who needs 24 hour care.The standard of which leaves a lot to be desired.
Out of a staff of,about,20 people,you'd be lucky to find 5 whose first language was english.Not a problem in itself but when communication causes a risk to a patient then it becomes a major concern.Tonight on handover an indian nurse was passing on a patients details to a spanish nurse.Even I had difficulty in understanding what she said,let alone the spanish nurse!
How many patients have been in jeopardy through misunderstanding between staff members?
Going back to my earlier comment about qualifications,even if they are genuine & the person has completed the necessary training in their own country,they are never as comprehensive as those taught here.I watched an agency "nurse",(according to the logo on her uniform [second language:english]) assist in turning my son.She hadn't got a clue what to do.Surely that has to be a basic lesson in any country,how to turn a patient to prevent bed sores?
I truly believe that for someone to be able to work in the care profession,whether it be national health or private,then they need to take an extensive english language exam first.If they fail they're not allowed to work in that profession.

Am I being too harsh,is my personal experience swaying my judgement?Has anyone else had a similar experience?

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Thu 04 Dec 2014 @ 02:33 View bluebedouin   Email bluebedouin   Edit this messageQuote this messagePMQuote this message
Colin Birch
Admin
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Location : Pontypridd, South Wales
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Nope, I don't think you are being too harsh. I totally agree with you. Where peoples lives are at risk then good communication is a must. Even a simple misunderstanding could result in a fatality. It's not just the health world that suffers from the problem. I was at a solar farm earlier this year. The only English speaking people on site was myself, a guy I work with and the security guard. The rest were eastern european, had no regard at all for health and safety and their work was dangerous. The equipment I was working on has an input of 1000v DC with currents in the hundreds of amps - way more than enough to kill . Trying to ask if things had been isolated resulted, after a while of hand signs and foriegn talk, in a yes. Luckily we took no notice and checked ourselves. It was all live. Basically at the moment UK workers are not willing to work the hours foreigners are and not willing to work for the money. Employers are willing to cut corners (health service included) and take on these people. In my opinion eveyone who lives and works in the UK should have a good understanding of the language and also all qualifications should be up to the standards of UK training or they get kicked back to whatever country they came from.

Hmmmm......perhaps you and me should run for prime minister?

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Colin Birch - CF-UK Admin
Pontypridd, S.Wales
The Bedford CF Web Site
http://www.cf-uk.co.uk

Thu 04 Dec 2014 @ 11:04 View Colin Birch   Email Colin Birch   Colin Birch Home Page   Edit this messageQuote this messagePMQuote this message
Anon
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I've had first hand experience of hospitals in this country and I'd never want to go back to a nhs one.

I was involved in a serious rta some years ago and spent 3 weeks at selly oak hospital Birmingham. The place was filthy to say the least. There was thick dust/debris underneath patients beds which was clearly visible. At a time when mrsa was prevalent cleanliness was disregarded.

Majority of the nurses were foreign with little understanding of English but worse than that I found that very , very few of the nurses cared about patients. There were only 2 nurses that would change my dressings so the majority of the time I was lying in a soaking wet bed for days on end ( I had 3 drains in my body at the time from surgery). On the night shift, if you buzzed the alarm it would be 45 mins before someone came over even though 4 nurses were sat at a desk 30 feet away from me either watching something on the internet or playing video games on the pc.

Food was diabolical. No salt/seasoning in food allowed and no sugar in puddings as some patients may have blood pressure problems or be diabetic. I had friends bring meals in for me.

I never want to end up in a nhs hospital again. Statics have shown over the last few years that more and more patients are dying in hospital needlessly and yet the government does nothing.The nhs is now a service which has fallen into disrepair to such a point where I doubt it will come back from it.
Sat 06 Dec 2014 @ 12:45 Edit this messageQuote this messagePMQuote this message
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