Slaves in Britain
 

A DISTURBING picture of sweatshop Britain is painted in a new report. Migrants are forced to work for low wages and in poor conditions by unscrupulous employers, it warns. They suffer physical abuse, sexual violence, blackmail and extortionate debts to pay for air fares.

Shockingly, the report cites the NHS as a place of exploitation.

Some nurses from abroad have so much deducted in fees and dubious charges for agents’ expenses they are left with just £5 a week.

The Government must investigate this worrying claim.

Proper rewards are essential to maintain motivation and keep standards up.

Nowhere is that more important than in the NHS.

How is it the NHS are being blamed when these people are being ripped off by agents? could it be that they really arent qualified and are getting the job under false pretences or is it as bad as the report says?

Re: Slaves in Britain
 

A very interesting topic basf. I haven't seen this report in my paper, is it on the net?

I am at a loss as to why the NHS can be involved, I am sure that these people must have proper qualifications and in which case, why can't they be allowed to work in G.B. simply by applying? (but I read of a case recently of a man that had bogus papers qualifying him to become a dentist and actually practiced, LITERALLY PRACTISED for nearly two years before it was discovered that he had NO experience of dentistry at all)

In a news article tonight, the cocklers at Morecambe bay were highlighted because there is considerable pressure on the government to issue proper permits to allow this "money spinner" to continue. At the present time, permits can be had for free to people with NO experience, NO knowledge of Morcambe and with NO knowledge of tides.....As shown last year with the tragic deaths of many "illegal" chinese workers:mad:

Many organisations including the lifeguards endorse a proposal to charge for a license to "cockle" with strict laws to adhere to........A lady MP, (sorry, no name) says that it is not neccesary as they "give advice" when issuing permits and besides, it would take two years to become law :mad:

Total apathy from the PC correct cretins that we voted into power and a free hand to those that wish to exploit our failings to make money and don't give a damn about human life !!!

Re: Slaves in Britain
 

what a load of s''t, to put it bluntly, I work for the nursing profesion and believe me they get more perks than most british do. I mean when our '' people from abroad'' began working at our place they were quite happy to let us know just how far our establishment had gone to provide housing for these people, then to top it all off when we asked to be paid more at weekends so that our staff would take more shifts instead of having to employ angency workers they said '' we cant afford to do this'' come on who is better off here?"????

Re: Slaves in Britain
 

the other thing is that when these people come over here they speak very little english which in the nursing industry is a BLUNDER waiting to happen. The biggest and most important thing a nurse will ever learn is comunication and there is a massive LACK of it with the people that are coming in these days.

Re: Slaves in Britain
 

"the other thing is that when these people come over here they speak very little english which in the nursing industry is a BLUNDER waiting to happen. The biggest and most important thing a nurse will ever learn is comunication and there is a massive LACK of it with the people that are coming in these days."

Totally agree slinky, but the PC Brigade win again!! Most other countries will not admit people that only speak their native language because, as you say, communication is paramount......but this is Britain (no longer "great") and our so called leaders are leading us into obscurity.

Re: Slaves in Britain
 

Totally agree busman and well said no wonder nurses are leaving, cause it is too stressful picking up everyone alses peices and never being noticed for it

Re: Slaves in Britain
 

I have to agree here. I have had cause to ring one of the general wards where some of the Indian nurses were working. I couldn't get it through to this girl who answered the phone exactly what I wanted and had to ask for the sister in charge. When she was handing over the phone to the sister I heard her say "it's some woman to talk" I had explained who I was and why I was calling and had to do so again to the sister on that ward who was very apologetic. Communication is a big problem sometimes within the NHS but is definitely made worse when dealing with people who do not have a working knowledge of our language. The nursing qualifications will have been checked by the NMC prior to working here and they should have been double checked by each individual employer too. I know that mine have always been.
However, Health minister John Hutton has now announced that the loophole which allows health trusts to recruit in developing countries is to be closed, this will also extend to recruitment agencies that supply staff to the NHS ( RCM 2005). I wonder why? Is it that foreign staff have communication difficulties? Is it that their training does not match ours? Have people complained? or is it that within 12-24 months of coming here these nurses are nearly all pregnant and bringing over other family members?:D

Re: Slaves in Britain
 

well said lettie, could'nt agree more. The other thing is i'm not sure just how there training works over there but i'm sorry to say it's nothing compaired to our nurse training. They are either very poorly trained as nurses or they are just damn right ignorant when it comes to working in our country either way the WHOLE THING STINKS.

Re: Slaves in Britain
 

I worked within the NHS and we interviewed Indian nurses for posts because we were told we HAD to......they told terrifying tales of agents who sought employment for them(usually in nursing homes) and then took most of their wages. They were not given the appropriate educational opportunites in the nursing homes and so were not able to fully register in this country. The nurses we appointed had limited language skills, but they were sent to intensive english lessons before they arrived to work on the ward...... they had induction classes too and were mentored by qualified staff until they had gained their competences. Until they gained competency they were not paid as full Staff Nurses, but were paid at a lower grade.

Re: Slaves in Britain
 

I have to say that despite initial misgivings about the whole thing, the Indian nurses were very caring and compassionate and incredibly hard working.......and in a short time were valued members of the team.

Re: Slaves in Britain
 

I have no objection to being treated by someone who isn't English, but there is nothing more annoying than a foreign doctor/nurse who is so heavily accented that you can't tell what they are saying. This happened to me and I had to ask the nurse who was with the doctor to "translate". She blushed and admitted that she had no idea. Luckily it was nothing serious, but I found the whole thing quite disturbing.

Re: Slaves in Britain
 

I have worked with Doctors who were difficult to understand, but I would just refer to the notes...... that was usually fairly straightforward and then if I hadn't understood (which wasn't very often) I could clarify things for the patient. One of the hardest Doctors to understand was a heavily accented Glaswegian.......I had just got used to his accent when it was time for him to move on. Hamish Kirkpatrick was another guy who was hard to understand because he used to mumble.... the best of it was his writing was in mumble too!

Re: Slaves in Britain
 

I think any doctor who is difficult to understand whatever the accent or nationality is a worry and if they can't communicate with colleagues that is a real cause for concern.

I agree that some Glaswegian accents can be extremely difficult. I've sort of trained myself to tune in since coming across my first Glaswegian customer years ago and realising I couldn't understand a word she said!

Re: Slaves in Britain
 

i appreciate what is being said and it is unfair, but they do get an awful lot of privilages for living and working in this country anyway

Re: Slaves in Britain
 

Hehehehe, I'll second that!!! The worst one I came across was a heavily accented Italian doctor. She used to have conversations with a German colleague and it was like listening to the 2 jailers in Life of Brian. Her writing was just as bad to the point where the registrar of births used to ring the ward asking us to clarify some of our paperwork, as they were unable to read them.