Priorities
In the past few years and through to the present time because of universal financial constraints it has been necessary for Organisations, Companies and private individuals to prioritise how money is spent. Some have handled it better than others.
Taxpayers billed £100m for NHS translators – could pay for 3,000 nurses
Taxpayers pick up the bill for translation and interpretation, to ensure NHS services can be accessed in languages other than English.The £100million annual cost of ensuring NHS services can be fully accessed in languages other than English could pay for 3,000 more nurses, figures show.
Taxpayers pick up the bill for translation and interpretation for hundreds of thousands of patients as NHS trusts and Integrated Care Boards routinely convert standard hospital and health literature into languages including Romanian, Arabic, Urdu, Bengali and Punjabi.
Former NHS cancer consultant Karol Sikora said: “With funds so tight...the priority must always be patient care. Translation and interpretation costs, however noble, are not a necessity. In an ideal world, we could provide that. But with constricted budgets and constricted resources, frontline support must always come first.”
“We are being taken advantage of – if you are receiving treatment in an English hospital, then English is the language that must be expected.”
Just 0.125% of this amount would pay for a Kidney Dialysis unit in Oban Hospital.
Not a lot to ask to Give us our Lives Back
It is reputed that NHS Scotland spends somewhere in the region of 7– 8 million pounds pa on `Public Relations` with managers of these Departments earning nearly £100,000 salaries. WHY?
This money should be spent on what the NHS is there for- the health of the public such as a Kidney Dialysis Unit in Oban Hospital.
Not a lot to ask to Give us our Lives Back
Notification of impending Patient Transport Contract specifically for Renal Patients in the area £556,000.
This money is available to pay for transport which could be used to fund a Kidney Dialysis Unit in Oban Hospital.
Not a lot to ask to Give us our Lives Back
Procurement Wastage – the purchasing of the cheapest items which does not always guarantee the best value for money. Thin toilet paper, paper towels which could be replaced by more efficient hand blowers. Perhaps not saving millions but savings to be made.
Not a lot to ask to Give us our Lives Back
The above contract price equates to a spend of £11,583.33 per month, or over £1,000,000 if the contract is extended. This money could easily go towards the support and running of a Kidney Dialysis Unit in Oban, at the hospital, which would ease the stress and save time for renal patients in the area and still leaving funding available for local transport of kidney dialysis patients.
Will someone in the NHS please consider the wellbeing of your patients and
GIVE US OUR LIVES BACK!