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
Going it alone means NHS in England is in danger of being the poor relation NHS devolution will now extend to pay, as the government in Scotland decides to honour a 1 per cent increase to all its nurses, while England does not. I have never been a fan of devolution and I despair that the NHS in England is being restructured to within an inch of its life. I am saddened that England is going it alone. I fear that it will become the poor relation. Not surprisingly, the untried and untested NHS model in England focusing on competition, privatisation and choice has been rejected by Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. My only hope is that we will soon get to see what works and what does not. Then we can ditch the bad and build on the good – with fair and proper pay and conditions for all our healthcare staff. Maria Hodal, Glasgow
OVERTURNING 1 PER CENT PAY RISE PROVES WE ARE NOT ‘IN IT TOGETHER’ Prime minister David Cameron says we need to see the bigger picture on pay and the economy. We can. Huge bonuses for well-paid bankers, an 11 per cent pay rise for MPs and a below-inflation 1 per cent pay rise for public sector workers – but not for everyone. Are we really all in it together? The NHS pay review body had recommended that all health service staff should get a 1 per cent pay rise, irrespective of progression pay entitlements. The recommendation is overturned in England, while the Scottish Government has said it will adopt the pay review body’s recommendations in full. In addition, NHS staff in Scotland earning less than £21,000 a year will get a £300 rise. 34 march 19 :: vol 28 no 29 :: 2014
And here is one final thought on our life and times – a statistic that says it all. Food banks are the fastest-growing social enterprise in the UK. Sheila Wilson, London
AMBULANCES QUEUING OUTSIDE A&E ARE A WASTE OF RESOURCES In ‘Action stations to relieve A&E’ (Features March 5), RCN acute and emergency care adviser JP Nolan says a patient may be safer kept in a well-staffed ambulance than on a trolley with staff too busy to attend to them. As a paramedic, I find this irresponsible. Ambulance crews are trained in immediate aid. We are not trained in nursing patients. Ambulances queuing outside emergency departments and unable to offload their patients are unavailable for further calls. This may mean that when someone dials 999 with a life-threatening problem, there is no one to respond.
Using queuing ambulances as additional emergency department capacity puts patients at risk. We need to open more community pathways for patients to be seen locally and the ambulance service to develop better on-scene resolution rates. Ambulances should be able to bypass emergency departments with a number of conditions such as hip fractures, thereby reducing pressures at reception. Our ambulance services need to be available to attend 999 calls and save lives – not queuing outside hospitals. Richard Lee, by email
INTEGRATE OUT-OF-HOURS GPs WITH THE AMBULANCE SERVICE The ambulance service is not a delivery method for primary care or a triage service for the entire NHS (Features March 5). The point of the 999 service is to get to the scene quickly and make a pendulum decision if there is a serious illness or injury – to take patients to casualty or call out the GP.
NURSING STANDARD
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 14, 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
Going it alone means NHS in England is in danger of being the poor relation NHS devolution will now extend to pay, as the government in Scotland decides to honour a 1 per cent increase to all its nurses, while England does not. I have never been a fan of devolution and I despair that the NHS in England is being restructured to within an inch of its life. I am saddened that England is going it alone. I fear that it will become the poor relation. Not surprisingly, the untried and untested NHS model in England focusing on competition, privatisation and choice has been rejected by Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. My only hope is that we will soon get to see what works and what does not. Then we can ditch the bad and build on the good – with fair and proper pay and conditions for all our healthcare staff. Maria Hodal, Glasgow
OVERTURNING 1 PER CENT PAY RISE PROVES WE ARE NOT ‘IN IT TOGETHER’ Prime minister David Cameron says we need to see the bigger picture on pay and the economy. We can. Huge bonuses for well-paid bankers, an 11 per cent pay rise for MPs and a below-inflation 1 per cent pay rise for public sector workers – but not for everyone. Are we really all in it together? The NHS pay review body had recommended that all health service staff should get a 1 per cent pay rise, irrespective of progression pay entitlements. The recommendation is overturned in England, while the Scottish Government has said it will adopt the pay review body’s recommendations in full. In addition, NHS staff in Scotland earning less than £21,000 a year will get a £300 rise. 34 march 19 :: vol 28 no 29 :: 2014
And here is one final thought on our life and times – a statistic that says it all. Food banks are the fastest-growing social enterprise in the UK. Sheila Wilson, London
AMBULANCES QUEUING OUTSIDE A&E ARE A WASTE OF RESOURCES In ‘Action stations to relieve A&E’ (Features March 5), RCN acute and emergency care adviser JP Nolan says a patient may be safer kept in a well-staffed ambulance than on a trolley with staff too busy to attend to them. As a paramedic, I find this irresponsible. Ambulance crews are trained in immediate aid. We are not trained in nursing patients. Ambulances queuing outside emergency departments and unable to offload their patients are unavailable for further calls. This may mean that when someone dials 999 with a life-threatening problem, there is no one to respond.
Using queuing ambulances as additional emergency department capacity puts patients at risk. We need to open more community pathways for patients to be seen locally and the ambulance service to develop better on-scene resolution rates. Ambulances should be able to bypass emergency departments with a number of conditions such as hip fractures, thereby reducing pressures at reception. Our ambulance services need to be available to attend 999 calls and save lives – not queuing outside hospitals. Richard Lee, by email
INTEGRATE OUT-OF-HOURS GPs WITH THE AMBULANCE SERVICE The ambulance service is not a delivery method for primary care or a triage service for the entire NHS (Features March 5). The point of the 999 service is to get to the scene quickly and make a pendulum decision if there is a serious illness or injury – to take patients to casualty or call out the GP.
NURSING STANDARD
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 14, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
