Standing room only, and no smoking!
Wednesday, March 25, 2015 at 9:22 Those nice people at the National Institute for Clinical Excellence have issued more guidelines.
This time it's about standing up rather than sitting in meetings.
Nice also called for better education in schools about the risks of drinking too much, and no public health diktat would be complete without mentioning smoking.
Forest's response, quoted by the Telegraph, was:
"Health workers should be judged on their ability to do their job, not on some politically correct picture of the perfect person.
"As long as it doesn't interfere with their job it's immoral to threaten hard-working people with disciplinary action just because they enjoy a smoke before or after work or during a legitimate break. Health workers shouldn't have to be role models."
See Bosses 'should make staff stand in meetings' (Daily Telegraph).
I was also quoted by the Sun but it's behind the paywall.
Update: The Sun quoted me saying:
"Health workers shouldn't have to be role models. What happens if they're overweight? Will they be forced to lose weight in order to keep their jobs?"
Reader Comments (3)
NICE in the strong arm game?
Perhaps they should set us all an example, and send us a photo of their employee's physical appearance...just to be sure you understand...that they're following their own guidelines.
Seems only fair wouldn't you say?
Another reason for standing in meetings is that they will be short and constructive to get it done with as no-one likes to stand around for hours talking unless you have a pint and a bar to lean on.
"Will they be forced to lose weight in order to keep their jobs?"
A misquote that may well be by the Sun, but they're probably dangerously close to the truth with it. Because the answer is probably - yes, they will.