Mobile Phone Use.

[hammerman]

Wife looks after a care home and she has imposed a mobile phone ban on the staff as they are abusing the use of them.

Some of the carers have kicked up a stink saying they should be allowed to use them on breaks. These are paid breaks.

Do the staff have a point, are they allowed to use the phone (for facebook etc) in paid breaks or is my wife correct in imposing the ban.

Cheers

[ummmm]

Yes...but they can take their phones with them.

[TWR]

Yes regards the phone.

[woofgang]

Ummmm, it was policed by management! People whose uniforms smelt of smoke were “counselled” in the same way as they would have been if the uniform was dirty from any other cause.
At first there were on site staff smoking points but these were stopped for two reasons, one the smell on uniforms; and two it was seen as encouraging staff to smoke which wasn’t compatible with a Health Service.
I think its different in mental health facilities, probably harder to stop because of patients smoking. Certainly where I worked, smoking staff were in the minority, so there was less support for smokers.

[ummmm]

Yes. I suppose it's not as strict because it's mind health and not physical health.

[TWR]

At one Client's home i was at this particular Service user was very unsteady on his feet, we had an agency person take this Service User to the toilet with one hand on his shoulder whilst the other was on the mobile, I asked him to put the phone away while doing his duty he refused, I reported him, this stupid person could have caused the Service User to fall by not having full attention with the Service user's mobility.

[ummmm]

I completely agree with you, TWR, they shouldn't be used in that environment. It's unsafe and unprofessional.