Letters
Send your views by email to [email protected], the letters editor @RogerEvansE1, post on the Nursing Standard Facebook page or visit www.nursing-standard.co.uk
Please keep letters to a maximum of 200 words, and include your full name and a daytime telephone number. Letters may be edited
Climate change may be debatable, but promoting sustainability is not Janet Richardson and six colleagues from Plymouth University say that climate change and the scarcity of resources pose significant threats to healthcare delivery (Art & Science July 9). They claim that climate change will have significant effects on health, resulting in changing patterns of disease from changing weather patterns, mass migration, malnutrition and starvation, and natural disasters such as flooding. But many remain unconvinced about climate change, including former chancellor of the exchequer Nigel Lawson. He says he has now been banned by the BBC from airing his views on global warming. This debate will run and run. Professor Richardson et al are on safer ground in promoting sustainability in health and health care, particularly in terms of the resources that are used in everyday practice, recycling, waste disposal and cutting down on waste. Students from the university’s design school have worked alongside nursing students in developing ideas to tackle sustainability problems. This collaboration has yielded new ideas and a novel approach to student learning, and is now embedded in the nursing and design curriculums at the university. Nurses can educate others by modelling good practice, challenging poor methods and looking at the costs of their equipment, items and procedures. Over time, this may save the NHS a great deal of money. Sally Harding, by email
I ACCEPT CQC VERDICT AND WELCOME INSPECTORS BACK TO SEE PROGRESS The story ‘Trust’s chief nurse refutes “unfair” verdict of CQC’ (News July 2) misrepresented the trust’s position and I would like to set the record straight. Along with the rest of the trust board I fully accept the findings of 34 july 16 :: vol 28 no 46 :: 2014
the Care Quality Commission (CQC) report. As part of special measures, the CQC will be making another visit to the trust within 12 months and, as was reported, I hope they will visit even earlier to see the progress. However, it is not true to say that I ‘called on’ the CQC to carry out another inspection. I believe the CQC rating, based on the inspection in February and published this month, is not representative of where we are now. Improvements have been made and our nurse vacancy levels are now at 4 per cent against a regional average of 10 per cent. We were all pleased that the CQC recognised our staff were caring, compassionate and committed to their service across all our hospitals. This is a solid foundation and tribute to their hard work and professionalism. Improvements still need to be made and we will make them with the support of Monitor, our partners and staff. Sue Smith, executive chief nurse, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust
STAKEHOLDER MEETING WILL DISCUSS CONCERNS ON SHARING PATIENT DATA Naomi Lyth (Letters July 9) is concerned about the proposals for patient data in the UK to be centralised and made available to private organisations such as insurance companies. As part of the Health & Social Care Information Centre’s review into data releases made by our predecessor organisation, the NHS Information Centre, we have set out a series of commitments to guarantee greater openness and reassurance to the public, stricter controls over data use and better clarity for data users. One of these commitments was to hold a stakeholder meeting to discuss the implications of these actions and garner views about their effectiveness in helping maintain secure and trusted information systems. This meeting will take place on July 21 from 2-4pm at The King’s Fund, 11-13 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0AN. To book a place, call 0845 300 6016, email
NURSING STANDARD
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 20, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
Send your views by email to [email protected], the letters editor @RogerEvansE1, post on the Nursing Standard Facebook page or visit www.nursing-standard.co.uk
Please keep letters to a maximum of 200 words, and include your full name and a daytime telephone number. Letters may be edited
Climate change may be debatable, but promoting sustainability is not Janet Richardson and six colleagues from Plymouth University say that climate change and the scarcity of resources pose significant threats to healthcare delivery (Art & Science July 9). They claim that climate change will have significant effects on health, resulting in changing patterns of disease from changing weather patterns, mass migration, malnutrition and starvation, and natural disasters such as flooding. But many remain unconvinced about climate change, including former chancellor of the exchequer Nigel Lawson. He says he has now been banned by the BBC from airing his views on global warming. This debate will run and run. Professor Richardson et al are on safer ground in promoting sustainability in health and health care, particularly in terms of the resources that are used in everyday practice, recycling, waste disposal and cutting down on waste. Students from the university’s design school have worked alongside nursing students in developing ideas to tackle sustainability problems. This collaboration has yielded new ideas and a novel approach to student learning, and is now embedded in the nursing and design curriculums at the university. Nurses can educate others by modelling good practice, challenging poor methods and looking at the costs of their equipment, items and procedures. Over time, this may save the NHS a great deal of money. Sally Harding, by email
I ACCEPT CQC VERDICT AND WELCOME INSPECTORS BACK TO SEE PROGRESS The story ‘Trust’s chief nurse refutes “unfair” verdict of CQC’ (News July 2) misrepresented the trust’s position and I would like to set the record straight. Along with the rest of the trust board I fully accept the findings of 34 july 16 :: vol 28 no 46 :: 2014
the Care Quality Commission (CQC) report. As part of special measures, the CQC will be making another visit to the trust within 12 months and, as was reported, I hope they will visit even earlier to see the progress. However, it is not true to say that I ‘called on’ the CQC to carry out another inspection. I believe the CQC rating, based on the inspection in February and published this month, is not representative of where we are now. Improvements have been made and our nurse vacancy levels are now at 4 per cent against a regional average of 10 per cent. We were all pleased that the CQC recognised our staff were caring, compassionate and committed to their service across all our hospitals. This is a solid foundation and tribute to their hard work and professionalism. Improvements still need to be made and we will make them with the support of Monitor, our partners and staff. Sue Smith, executive chief nurse, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust
STAKEHOLDER MEETING WILL DISCUSS CONCERNS ON SHARING PATIENT DATA Naomi Lyth (Letters July 9) is concerned about the proposals for patient data in the UK to be centralised and made available to private organisations such as insurance companies. As part of the Health & Social Care Information Centre’s review into data releases made by our predecessor organisation, the NHS Information Centre, we have set out a series of commitments to guarantee greater openness and reassurance to the public, stricter controls over data use and better clarity for data users. One of these commitments was to hold a stakeholder meeting to discuss the implications of these actions and garner views about their effectiveness in helping maintain secure and trusted information systems. This meeting will take place on July 21 from 2-4pm at The King’s Fund, 11-13 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0AN. To book a place, call 0845 300 6016, email
NURSING STANDARD
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 20, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
