Letters
We welcome all readers’ letters, but reserve the right to edit them or withhold names and addresses. Please email: [email protected]
Please keep letters to a maximum of 150 words, and include your full name, address and a daytime telephone number
I am keen to get back into nursing, but fear for the future of the profession When I left the profession more than five years ago to have children, I chose to let my registration lapse. An intensive three-month return to nursing course, which I have just completed, has cost me the best part of £1,500. I read with a heavy heart about the stagnation of nurses’ salaries and the complete lack of respect from the government in suggesting to the pay review body that we not even be awarded a paltry 1 per cent rise (Editorial and News October 9). I am desperate to get back into the profession. Yet, despite having paid out such a sum for my return to practice course, I will struggle to find work once I regain my registration. My local hospital is again freezing recruitment in an attempt to save money, despite the fact that it is responsible for covering 40 per cent of Scotland. The profession and the NHS need dedicated nurses. We need and deserve a decent pay rise. Can the same be said for government ministers and MPs? Victoria Roebuck, by email
SATURDAyS DID NoT woRk foR DeNTISTS, So how wIll GPs fARe? At a time when GP surgeries are being encouraged to open for longer hours and over the weekends, I find it ironic that my NHS dental surgery is no longer open on Saturdays. As a busy manager, I found my Saturday dental appointments particularly convenient. I was in less of a rush and the experience of visiting the dentist at the weekend was much less stressful than on other days. When I asked my dentist about closing on Saturdays, he said one word: ‘DNAs’ – did not attend. Despite text message reminders on the day before their appointments, up to half 34 october 23 :: vol 28 no 8 :: 2013
the people booked in for a Saturday appointment failed to turn up. The receptionist also said the dental nurses, hygienists and receptionists were not paid any extra for working at the weekends. It proved to be unpopular with their families and interfered with their social lives. As more GP surgeries are coerced into opening on Saturdays, will they experience something similar? Adrian Broad, by email
leT commISSIoNING fIND ITS feeT befoRe we hAve moRe chANGeS There has been much coverage of Michael Dixon’s vision for the NHS. As chair of the NHS Alliance and president of NHS Clinical Commissioners, he speaks with some authority. He makes a case for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to control the budgets for primary and secondary care, and has gone so far as to describe the splitting of primary and secondary care budgets as ‘lunacy’.
I agree that we need to develop primary health and social care, and to address the use of secondary care expertise, facilities and technology. But let’s take things one step at a time. We first need to allow some time for CCGs to get established and see what works in the existing new arrangements and what does not. The new set-up is complicated, with unclear demarcations and relationships between organisations such as CCGs, Monitor, the Competition Commission, NHS England, the NHS Commissioning Board, Healthwatch and the Department of Health. There may well be a case for integrating the budget for primary care – which goes to NHS England – with that for commissioning community and hospital services – which goes to CCGs. But please, not just yet. Organisations are a bit like people. They first need to crawl and walk, before trying for a mad sprint. Anthony Wells, Bristol
NURSING STANDARD
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 13, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
We welcome all readers’ letters, but reserve the right to edit them or withhold names and addresses. Please email: [email protected]
Please keep letters to a maximum of 150 words, and include your full name, address and a daytime telephone number
I am keen to get back into nursing, but fear for the future of the profession When I left the profession more than five years ago to have children, I chose to let my registration lapse. An intensive three-month return to nursing course, which I have just completed, has cost me the best part of £1,500. I read with a heavy heart about the stagnation of nurses’ salaries and the complete lack of respect from the government in suggesting to the pay review body that we not even be awarded a paltry 1 per cent rise (Editorial and News October 9). I am desperate to get back into the profession. Yet, despite having paid out such a sum for my return to practice course, I will struggle to find work once I regain my registration. My local hospital is again freezing recruitment in an attempt to save money, despite the fact that it is responsible for covering 40 per cent of Scotland. The profession and the NHS need dedicated nurses. We need and deserve a decent pay rise. Can the same be said for government ministers and MPs? Victoria Roebuck, by email
SATURDAyS DID NoT woRk foR DeNTISTS, So how wIll GPs fARe? At a time when GP surgeries are being encouraged to open for longer hours and over the weekends, I find it ironic that my NHS dental surgery is no longer open on Saturdays. As a busy manager, I found my Saturday dental appointments particularly convenient. I was in less of a rush and the experience of visiting the dentist at the weekend was much less stressful than on other days. When I asked my dentist about closing on Saturdays, he said one word: ‘DNAs’ – did not attend. Despite text message reminders on the day before their appointments, up to half 34 october 23 :: vol 28 no 8 :: 2013
the people booked in for a Saturday appointment failed to turn up. The receptionist also said the dental nurses, hygienists and receptionists were not paid any extra for working at the weekends. It proved to be unpopular with their families and interfered with their social lives. As more GP surgeries are coerced into opening on Saturdays, will they experience something similar? Adrian Broad, by email
leT commISSIoNING fIND ITS feeT befoRe we hAve moRe chANGeS There has been much coverage of Michael Dixon’s vision for the NHS. As chair of the NHS Alliance and president of NHS Clinical Commissioners, he speaks with some authority. He makes a case for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to control the budgets for primary and secondary care, and has gone so far as to describe the splitting of primary and secondary care budgets as ‘lunacy’.
I agree that we need to develop primary health and social care, and to address the use of secondary care expertise, facilities and technology. But let’s take things one step at a time. We first need to allow some time for CCGs to get established and see what works in the existing new arrangements and what does not. The new set-up is complicated, with unclear demarcations and relationships between organisations such as CCGs, Monitor, the Competition Commission, NHS England, the NHS Commissioning Board, Healthwatch and the Department of Health. There may well be a case for integrating the budget for primary care – which goes to NHS England – with that for commissioning community and hospital services – which goes to CCGs. But please, not just yet. Organisations are a bit like people. They first need to crawl and walk, before trying for a mad sprint. Anthony Wells, Bristol
NURSING STANDARD
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 13, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
