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The NHS is looking for up to 250k volunteers

england.nhs.uk

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Re: The NHS is looking for up to 250k volunteers

#61

Post by ablation »

neilwilson wrote: post #32

Wouldn’t it be more appropriate just to hire people and set them to work in the NHS? It’s way past time the government stopped messing around and just hired all the spare labour - which can then be directed to assist the NHS or directed to stay at home as required. When there are so many people without work that want it we need to stop QE’ing Gilts and start QE’ing workers hours instead. All this could be done with a…

I know many people already in full time work volunteering to do this, and their work supports them.

Re: The NHS is looking for up to 250k volunteers

#62

Post by christkv »

Reason077 wrote: post #50
wintorez wrote: post #10

Would it be safer for people who has recovered to volunteer?

There isn’t yet a test to say with certainty if you’ve had Covid-19. (EDIT: its coming, but isn’t available yet) I’m fairly sure I had it, but can’t be 100% certain until the test for antibodies is available.

I'm in the same boat and would like to know so I can volunteer. Even just taking vitals at a hospital, cleaning or transporting things. If I'm immune I would like to provide some firewall to other people, especially vulnerable. I think we have to wait at least 2-3 weeks before we can see any in Spain.

Re: The NHS is looking for up to 250k volunteers

#63

Post by xyzzyz »

thomasedwards wrote: post #39
neilwilson wrote: post #32

Wouldn’t it be more appropriate just to hire people and set them to work in the NHS? It’s way past time the government stopped messing around and just hired all the spare labour - which can then be directed to assist the NHS or directed to stay at home as required. When there are so many people without work that want it we need to stop QE’ing Gilts and start QE’ing workers hours instead. All this could be done with a…

Contract hours, minimum pay, tax implications for pensioners, availability. Sometimes things are more complicated than just writing a script. This is quicker and can be disbanded just as fast.

It's funny to see that the government regulations on employing people make it too hard for the government to bother going through with them, so they try to find a backdoor by hiring volunteers instead. One would think that the government will think on their feet and relax the burden at least in the time of life-threatening crisis.

Re: The NHS is looking for up to 250k volunteers

#64

Post by mistermann »

mmhsieh wrote: post #30

Taiwan, which has one of the best medical systems in the world, is heavily reliant on civil society -- which is many things, but one of which is heavy participation by unpaid volunteers. Social capital is a real thing and a valuable thing.

The pre-existence of a volunteer (or other flavors) culture in a society may also contribute to superior widespread compliance with the various directives issues by governments.

Asian countries seemed to have reacted better in this case - undoubtedly a major chunk of that was due to prior outbreaks in that region, but is that the only variable that contributed to the outcome?

Re: The NHS is looking for up to 250k volunteers

#66

Post by grey-area »

haack wrote: post #57

Interesting to see the comments suggesting that we should expect the NHS to pay if there is a problem that needs solving. It seems the implication is that labour should never be done voluntarily (even in a crisis situation) in a free economy. I find it bleak that we expect our societies and markets to function, solely driven by "selfish" value-chasing individuals. As someone who has grown up benefitting from the NHS,…

That’s not the reason people are suggesting it, the economy is in dire need of stimulus, and many people are out of work..

Re: The NHS is looking for up to 250k volunteers

#67

Post by kazen44 »

haack wrote: post #57

Interesting to see the comments suggesting that we should expect the NHS to pay if there is a problem that needs solving. It seems the implication is that labour should never be done voluntarily (even in a crisis situation) in a free economy. I find it bleak that we expect our societies and markets to function, solely driven by "selfish" value-chasing individuals. As someone who has grown up benefitting from the NHS,…

> I find it bleak that we expect our societies and markets to function, solely driven by "selfish" value-chasing individuals.

the inherent problem of today's society is exactly because it rewards people who are "selfish" and value-chasing far more then having a far more communical mindset.

In terms of value extraction from society, those who play selfish win, and they win at the expense of others.

I would even like to add that they might even be rewarded for this behaviour at large in our current economic system. Because the system is very bad at including costs of external factors. These external factors right now are being paid for by society at large. A prime example of this would be enviromental costs and bailouts with too little strings attached.

Re: The NHS is looking for up to 250k volunteers

#68

Post by mistermann »

capableweb wrote: post #26
wintorez wrote: post #10

Would it be safer for people who has recovered to volunteer?

Don't quote me on this and I don't have a peer-reviewed paper as source, but as far as I know, people can get reinfected after being infected once.

At the time of me writing this comment, yours is light grey (due to downvotes I presume - is there any other possible cause?).

A statement that includes explicit acknowledgement of uncertainty should not be downvoted (unless there is another reason contained within), full stop. If this was /r/politics, fine, but it isn't.

This is causing harm to society that we have very little means of seeing (at least not without an investment of significant effort and time, something most people tend to avoid whenever possible).

I have deliberately not included acknowledgement of uncertainty, for two reasons.

Re: The NHS is looking for up to 250k volunteers

#69

Post by kazen44 »

chrisseaton wrote: post #22
sonicggg wrote: post #13

Stay home

A country in crisis calls for volunteers and you're saying 'no don't help stay home'?

actually, unless your job is absolutely essential (food supply, medical, telecommunications, water, power etc) staying home is exactly how you can help, because it flattens the curve.

Re: The NHS is looking for up to 250k volunteers

#70

Post by anticensor »

xyzzyz wrote: post #63
thomasedwards wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Contract hours, minimum pay, tax implications for pensioners, availability. Sometimes things are more complicated than just writing a script. This is quicker and can be disbanded just as fast.

It's funny to see that the government regulations on employing people make it too hard for the government to bother going through with them, so they try to find a backdoor by hiring volunteers instead. One would think that the government will think on their feet and relax the burden at least in the time of life-threatening crisis.

These burdens are put in place to prevent employer (as in superiors, not the folks you serve) abuse. They would abuse government servants here and there if it were easily replaced.
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