Doctors furious after NHS bosses share TikTok about luxurious head offices
13 October 2022, 03:41 | Updated: 13 October 2022, 03:47
Doctors have been left furious after an NHS trust shared a video showing off its luxurious head offices.
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Barts Health, which covers hospitals in east London as well as St Bartholomew’s, shared the clip of the corporate office in Canary Wharf, which boasted a £1,000 coffee machine and sleeping pods.
It was captioned: "Things in our office that just make sense."
The now-deleted video revealed "wellbeing rooms" on each floor, free snacks and curved computer screens.
There were also digital screens displaying live public transport updates, floor-to-ceiling windows and pods for working or "snoozing".
Doctors working for the trust were furious as they compared their own working facilities with the office.
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The Tiktok shows “wellbeing rooms” on each floor with rugs, comfortable chairs, large canvas pieces of art, a Sage Barista Touch coffee machine that retails at £1,049, “an abundance of snacks” in front of a Barts Health Heroes “Equitable winner” trophy. Well, where is our equity?
— Junior Doctors (@BMA_JuniorDocs) October 9, 2022
The British Medical Association’s Junior Doctors Committee said it was "sobering" to see the "no expenses spared" approach.
They added: "Meanwhile, executives cap locum rates, let doctors’ messes fall into disrepair, and claim that taking coffee on the wards is stealing patients’ supplies."
The committee went on to say: "Junior Doctors at Barts have created a joke ranking of available seats that include the lids of bins.
"This TikTok proudly shows offices with dedicated pods for snoozing. Never mind that doctors have to throw together plastic chairs to act as a bench if they want a nap.
"While the offices above front line staff are advertised as the height of luxury, wages are slashed and clinical services are cut.
"Barts Trust participates in the London Locum Cap that artificially suppresses market rates and serves to undervalue and demean drs across the capital."
A spokesman for Barts Health said: "We’re sorry for the offence caused, have deleted the video and will look for other ways to promote our trust as a place to work.
"Thanks to Barts Charity, we have improved wellbeing facilities for all staff in our hospitals, including dedicated wellbeing hubs, refurbished restrooms, new lockers and bike racks.
"But we know we still have a long way to go."
