These workers care for us - We should care for them - Update

Normally critical of Manx Radio (news) output I waxed lyrical yesterday about their ‘fact rich’ report on stress levels in the Health Service.

Having issues with Facebook connectivity yesterday I did a brief post on this (see below).

http://www.transceltic.com/blog/manx-care-workers-under-pressure

I also indicated I tried to contact Chris Thomas MHK (Minister of Reform) who has as part of his brief HR issues relating to the public sector. I was not able to reach him but he very kindly called me back today and we discussed the issue at some lengths.

I don’t want to go into detail of what was discussed but it was agreed it was an issue that needed to be tackled and he assured government have a range of issues in place - perhaps these need to be beefed up.

I hope that matters not just in the DHSC but also in other workplaces where stress is an issue can be addressed. It's a matter really for problem solving rather than point scoring and at the end of the day a resolution of such matters not only eases issues for the individuals involves but improves public service delivery of services. As I pointed out this was an issue successfully challenged through a joined up Management - Trade Union - Welfare approach some years ago.

The Isle of Man for the most part has an extremely good public services although cuts in recent years have taken a toll. I was interested that at the UK Labour Party conference in the UK this week the Party leader stressed that their needed to be a better balance between public and private sector delivery of services - I’ll sign up for that.

Let’s be honest many criticise the public sector but there probably is not a single day of the week that the functions they provide impact our lives.

Bernard Moffatt