Back to work

Once again, it's been a fair old while since I posted anything. I've had a couple of weeks off work, which I thought would be a good break, even though I didn't go anywhere. The fact that the kids saw this as a sign of weakness and decided to make sure they were sick for the whole of the first week, is besides the point. Good thing that we had the snow to cheer everyone up...
While I was off, politics at work continued, moans continued, ORCON continued to plummet, overtime was still discontinued, and in general the state of the LAS seemed to be in disarray. Part of the solution was to man more cars. Not actual (patient transporting) ambulances. This way the ORCON targets will be met, if not the needs of the patients. Apparently there was a survey done amongst the general London public, in which the top of their wish list when it came to ambulances was that there was a VEHICLE on scene quickly. Not an ambulance. I get the feeling that this is a slight deviation from the actual point. Joe Public doesn't want a vehicle. He would never even use the term vehicle. He wants an AMBULANCE. The thing that takes him to hospital because he/she/nan/kiddy is sick. He doesn't want a car. How many times have I been asked "How are you going to put the stretcher in the back of that?", only to have to explain that I'm only the initial responder. The cavalry is on it's way. Cars are NOT the answer.
Nevertheless, the day I came back was the day that some bright spark with lots of things on their shoulders finally realised the fact that the service, as has been the case probably forever, can't run without overtime. So they brought it back. Albeit limited. I wonder if this will work. They took the overtime away at a time where not only was it critical for the performance figures of the LAS, but also for many of the staff. The Christmas/New Year time of the year is usually the most expensive and many staff rely on this overtime. So many of them were, to say the least, upset. I wonder just how many people have realised that they can actually function without the overtime, leaving the firm short anyway. I wonder how many bullet holes there are in the feet of senior management. Glad I don't have to do their job, that's for sure. Roll on the new financial year...