Paws @ Number 10: Incentivisation rules at No. 10

Arturo looked positively furious as he whisked his tail and hissed: "Bankers have to be incentivised - the rest of us have to get on with it! It's sheer blooming cheek, that's what it is!" He peered at me closely: "What incentives do you need, Butch mi old pal, to encourage you to catch more rats?"

I didn't answer his question, knowing full well he would give me a lecture. But, as usual, Arturo is right! Bankers must have their million pound bonuses or else, so we're told, they'll flee the country and take their expertise elsewhere! Having seen the results of their great expertise, I'd say 'good riddance', who needs them, take your expertise to North Korea and good luck to North Korea!

Meanwhile back in the jolly old United Kingdom - which is very far from being united, there's plenty of trouble afoot for those lacking proper incentives. Remember our revered Secretary of State for Health, one Jeremy 'Gormless' Hunt? He's been reading up on the classics and having decided to destroy the tender shoots of the NHS, he's first driving NHS staff mad! Quite a formula, I'm sure you'll agree. By the time of the next election, the NHS will not be recognisable - it's not even recognisable now!

Denis Campbell and James Meikle writing in The Guardian commented on Jeremy 'Gormless' Hunt and his policy to deal more effectively with patient safety issues:

Hunt said that if a hospital was not open with patients and their families following a patient safety incident, its indemnity cover – which is key to its functioning – could be reduced or removed. That would give hospitals "a strong financial incentive to be open about patient safety incidents", he said.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/19/hospitals-mistakes-jeremy-hunt

Obviously, everyone wants the very best care for patients but threatening their indemnity cover costs! Hardly the subtle move of someone intending to help the NHS, is it? Since, as Campbell and Meikle state:

Medical negligence currently costs the NHS about £1.2bn a year in damages and costs. NHS hospitals in England pay fees to the NHS Litigation Authority, which handles lawsuits against them and negotiates settlements.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of The Foundation Trust Network was quoted in the same article as saying that

Hunt's proposals were too negative about hospitals and their performance. ... they did not reflect the balance recommended by Francis between learning and openness one hand and blame and recrimination on the other.
"We seem to be focusing more and more on NHS failure, actual, perceived and feared rather than NHS success," said Hopson. Given the Commonwealth Fund's positive assessment of the NHS last week , he said: "We owe it to the public and NHS staff to strike a better balance in the summary judgments we reach on the success of the NHS and how these are reported."

And that's the gist of it, friends, our Gormless one isn't intending to incentivise the NHS staff by giving the nurses a decent living wage. No, siree, they can survive on well below £30,000 after several years of training and experience! Not likely to provide them with decent living accommodation, is it?

And what about our precious bankers who need to be incentivised to stay in the UK? Reuters stated

The majority of Britain's financial services workers expect to receive a bonus this year and 58 percent expect the payout to be bigger than the year before, new research showed on Wednesday.
Almost a third of UK financial services workers see their 2013 bonuses growing by between 11 and 30 percent, while 35 percent predict an increase of up to 10 percent, according to a survey by financial recruitment site eFinancialCareers.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/10/23/uk-britain-bankerbonuses-idUKLNE99M00220131023

Jill Treanor wrote under the following headline in The Guardian

Lloyds boss likely to get £2.3m bonus: António Horta-Osório's payout will occur if Lloyd's shares close above 73.6p on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week

Now that's what Arturo and I would call an 'incentive'!

The article continued:

The bank made a loss in the third quarter of 2013 of £440m, largely because of a surprise £750m provision for PPI mis-selling, which took the total bill for Lloyds to more than £8bn.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/nov/15/lloyds-boss-million-bonus-antonio-horta-osorio

Maybe our Jeremy 'Gormless' Hunt could think about things and instead of driving NHS staff round the twist - maybe he could think of providing frontline staff with a real incentive - show that he really cares about their morale. Just think of it - if NHS staff left the country to get better conditions in another country - just like the bankers threatened - where would the UK be then?

Arturo and me listened to BBC Radio 4 Any Questions, last week. Would you believe it - Jeremy 'Gormless' Hunt - was one of the panel. The programme was broadcast from Sir Winston Churchill's home of Chartwell. In answer to one of the questions, Hunt quoted from a speech of Churchill's :