Dennis is fantastic on Microsoft Access and Excel. By sitting down with him and talking about the sort of questions we need the staff headcount database to answer, he is well able (far more able than me) to generate the reports required.Some of the answers are shocking, but they really help the Ministry to state its case to the Government and to donors.
One of the issues we have picked up is that around 50% of the newly qualified Enrolled nurses appointed this year did not take up their posts. It is not difficult to see why when you understand that transport to get to their base could easily be $10, and basic accommodation could be $50 per month, and compare that with the salary scales:
Grade
|
Monthly salary
|
|
14
|
$ 359
|
«Consultant
|
13
|
$ 276
|
|
12
|
$ 195
|
«Medical Specialist
|
11
|
$ 151
|
|
10
|
$ 90
|
|
9
|
$ 69
|
«Medical Officer
|
8
|
$ 52
|
|
7
|
$
40
|
«Nursing Sister
|
6
|
$
28
|
|
5
|
$
22
|
«SRN
|
4
|
$ 18
|
«SEN
|
3
|
$ 16
|
|
2
|
$ 14
|
|
1
|
$ 12
|
«Nursing Aide
|
The only way anyone is able to keep functioning at work at all is through making informal charges for basic services. But with general poverty rates as high as they are, that means that many people simply cannot afford to access basic health services at all.
So you see what I mean about the scale of the challenges here.When you work with people who have seen services decline through the years of conflict, and are still struggling to get things moving back in the right direction, you can only admire the tenacity that keeps them going.I'm starting to wonder how all this might make me view the problems and constraints of the Health Service in Wales on my return...
