NEWS
MOST STAFF AT CARE HOMES WOULD BACK HAVING CAMERAS IN RESIDENTS’ ROOMS Six out of ten staff in one of the UK’s largest care home providers have said they would welcome CCTV cameras in residents’ rooms to root out poor care. HC-One, which runs 220 care homes across England, consulted 12,250 staff, residents and relatives on having cameras in rooms. Of the 7,330 staff who were surveyed, 63 per cent backed the idea, compared with 87 per cent of relatives and 47 per cent of residents. The consultation comes after one of HC-One’s homes, Oban House in Croydon, London, featured in a BBC Panorama documentary in May. Secret cameras installed by a relative of 98-year-old Yvonne Grant revealed that staff ignored more than 300 of her desperate cries in the space of an hour. HC-One apologised unreservedly for failings in the care of Ms Grant, who died in 2012. Two staff members were convicted of common assault.
Respondents to the consultation also raised concerns about having a CCTV scheme, including privacy for residents, who would have access to the footage and how securely it would be stored. A spokesperson for the Care Quality Commission said: ‘Any information about the use of surveillance needs to help make sure care providers and the public are well-informed and better able to make decisions, sometimes in very difficult circumstances.’ Nurse Margaret Haywood, who was struck off and then reinstated to the Nursing and Midwifery Council register after secretly filming the neglect of older patients for an earlier BBC Panorama programme in 2005, said: ‘Anything we can put in place for good practice and standards of care is for the greater good, but it is a shame these measures are needed in the first place.’ To read the consultation report, go to www.tinyurl.com/pyfw9pf
RCN ASKS PUBLIC TO SIGN ITS PETITION FOR SAFE STAFFING
RCN Wales is urging members of the public to sign an e-petition supporting draft legislation on safer staffing. The petition calls for support for the Safe Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Bill, drawn up by Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams. The petition has been set up by retired RCN member Richard Jones, who said: ‘This legislation is an opportunity to ensure a better future for my past colleagues and to set the tone for the future of the Welsh NHS.’ He added that signing the petition will make it known to Welsh assembly members the bill has public backing. RCN Wales director Tina Donnelly said: ‘It is important that the public engage on a topic as important as this. ‘Patients should no longer suffer because of insufficient staffing numbers on ward.’ The bill is due to be presented to the Welsh assembly health and social care committee next month. Go to www.tinyurl.com/q5dcrx7 See letters pages 34-35
Supply of nurses ‘is like relying on payday loans’ The number of nurses coming to work in the UK from overseas has shot up by 45 per cent in a year, research by the RCN has revealed. In 2013/14, 6,228 nurses from outside the UK registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. In the same period, 4,379 nurses left the UK to work abroad. Out of the current workforce of 680,876 nurses and midwives, 87,936 are from abroad. The college has said difficulties recruiting UK-trained nurses are likely to get worse due to cuts over the past five years in training places and the proportion of the workforce nearing retirement – 46 per cent of nurses working in the NHS in England are aged over 45. RCN general secretary Peter Carter said: ‘No country should be relying on outside sources to provide vital health
care, but that is the situation the UK has found itself in. ‘It is common sense that relying on short-term fixes is far more expensive in the long run. Yet the UK has been cutting the supply of nurses to save money, then realising that patient safety is in danger and paying more to recruit from overseas.
SHORT-TERM FIXES ARE EXPENSIVE IN THE LONG RUN – Peter Carter
‘It is the equivalent of relying on payday loans and it is no way to run a health service,’ added Dr Carter. Trusts began boosting their nurse numbers in the wake of the Francis report into Mid Staffordshire NHS
Foundation Trust, which linked care failings to low staffing levels. Recruitment drives were launched by many hospitals, many of which were forced to look overseas because of a shortage of UK nurses. Health Education England, which commissions training places for health workers, increased the number of nurse training places by 1,407 for the 2014/15 intake, but overall there are still 3,113 fewer places available than in 2010/11. Workforce expert James Buchan of Queen Margaret University said the UK had consistently underestimated the number of nurses it requires. ‘Having control over supply of staff is important because if we are going to rely on sources from abroad, we have to build in some assurance that the supply will be there in the future,’ he added.
8 november 5 :: from vol 29 no 10 ::by 2014 STANDARD Downloaded RCNi.com ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 27, 2015. For personal use only. NoNURSING other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
MOST STAFF AT CARE HOMES WOULD BACK HAVING CAMERAS IN RESIDENTS’ ROOMS Six out of ten staff in one of the UK’s largest care home providers have said they would welcome CCTV cameras in residents’ rooms to root out poor care. HC-One, which runs 220 care homes across England, consulted 12,250 staff, residents and relatives on having cameras in rooms. Of the 7,330 staff who were surveyed, 63 per cent backed the idea, compared with 87 per cent of relatives and 47 per cent of residents. The consultation comes after one of HC-One’s homes, Oban House in Croydon, London, featured in a BBC Panorama documentary in May. Secret cameras installed by a relative of 98-year-old Yvonne Grant revealed that staff ignored more than 300 of her desperate cries in the space of an hour. HC-One apologised unreservedly for failings in the care of Ms Grant, who died in 2012. Two staff members were convicted of common assault.
Respondents to the consultation also raised concerns about having a CCTV scheme, including privacy for residents, who would have access to the footage and how securely it would be stored. A spokesperson for the Care Quality Commission said: ‘Any information about the use of surveillance needs to help make sure care providers and the public are well-informed and better able to make decisions, sometimes in very difficult circumstances.’ Nurse Margaret Haywood, who was struck off and then reinstated to the Nursing and Midwifery Council register after secretly filming the neglect of older patients for an earlier BBC Panorama programme in 2005, said: ‘Anything we can put in place for good practice and standards of care is for the greater good, but it is a shame these measures are needed in the first place.’ To read the consultation report, go to www.tinyurl.com/pyfw9pf
RCN ASKS PUBLIC TO SIGN ITS PETITION FOR SAFE STAFFING
RCN Wales is urging members of the public to sign an e-petition supporting draft legislation on safer staffing. The petition calls for support for the Safe Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Bill, drawn up by Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams. The petition has been set up by retired RCN member Richard Jones, who said: ‘This legislation is an opportunity to ensure a better future for my past colleagues and to set the tone for the future of the Welsh NHS.’ He added that signing the petition will make it known to Welsh assembly members the bill has public backing. RCN Wales director Tina Donnelly said: ‘It is important that the public engage on a topic as important as this. ‘Patients should no longer suffer because of insufficient staffing numbers on ward.’ The bill is due to be presented to the Welsh assembly health and social care committee next month. Go to www.tinyurl.com/q5dcrx7 See letters pages 34-35
Supply of nurses ‘is like relying on payday loans’ The number of nurses coming to work in the UK from overseas has shot up by 45 per cent in a year, research by the RCN has revealed. In 2013/14, 6,228 nurses from outside the UK registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. In the same period, 4,379 nurses left the UK to work abroad. Out of the current workforce of 680,876 nurses and midwives, 87,936 are from abroad. The college has said difficulties recruiting UK-trained nurses are likely to get worse due to cuts over the past five years in training places and the proportion of the workforce nearing retirement – 46 per cent of nurses working in the NHS in England are aged over 45. RCN general secretary Peter Carter said: ‘No country should be relying on outside sources to provide vital health
care, but that is the situation the UK has found itself in. ‘It is common sense that relying on short-term fixes is far more expensive in the long run. Yet the UK has been cutting the supply of nurses to save money, then realising that patient safety is in danger and paying more to recruit from overseas.
SHORT-TERM FIXES ARE EXPENSIVE IN THE LONG RUN – Peter Carter
‘It is the equivalent of relying on payday loans and it is no way to run a health service,’ added Dr Carter. Trusts began boosting their nurse numbers in the wake of the Francis report into Mid Staffordshire NHS
Foundation Trust, which linked care failings to low staffing levels. Recruitment drives were launched by many hospitals, many of which were forced to look overseas because of a shortage of UK nurses. Health Education England, which commissions training places for health workers, increased the number of nurse training places by 1,407 for the 2014/15 intake, but overall there are still 3,113 fewer places available than in 2010/11. Workforce expert James Buchan of Queen Margaret University said the UK had consistently underestimated the number of nurses it requires. ‘Having control over supply of staff is important because if we are going to rely on sources from abroad, we have to build in some assurance that the supply will be there in the future,’ he added.
8 november 5 :: from vol 29 no 10 ::by 2014 STANDARD Downloaded RCNi.com ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 27, 2015. For personal use only. NoNURSING other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
