Letters
Send your views by email to [email protected], 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
The NHS could struggle to survive five more years of Tory government The dust has settled on the general election and David Cameron is back in Number 10 as prime minister, this time with a majority. The prospect of five more years of the Conservatives in charge makes me worried for the NHS. Five more years of ‘efficiency savings’ and cuts to NHS budgets, resources and pay. Five more years of private contracts with even less strategic control, and five more years of cuts to social services funding that will make discharging vulnerable patients even more difficult, and increase ‘revolving door’ admissions. In their 2010 manifesto, the Conservatives said there would be no top-down reform of the NHS. Yet the first thing they did was implement the Health and Social Care Act 2012, a complete reform of the NHS. Where were the nurses in this election campaign? Where were the people holding the politicians to account for the state of the NHS? The health service barely survived last winter, and that was a mild one. If we have another cold winter, how will we cope? And when things go wrong, who will get the blame? That will be us, the hard-working NHS staff. Drew Payne, community staff nurse, north London
IF YOU THOUGHT IT WAS A STRUGGLE BEFORE, THE FUTURE LOOKS BLEAKER When I saw the results of the general election exit poll, I was horrified. I stayed up all night watching the results, and when it became obvious that the Conservatives were on track for a majority, I was utterly disheartened. May 8 2015 will stay alive in the consciousness of nurses for a long time. Nurses who did not vote will have to live with the results of their inaction for five long years. If you thought the past few years were a struggle, I would
venture a guess the situation is about to get a whole lot worse. Terms and conditions under Agenda for Change are already under scrutiny, including unsocial hours payments, and the Conservatives have made no secret of the fact they are looking at the welfare budget to make substantial savings. So you can forget about pay increases. As an older person with several health problems, the future looks very bleak indeed. I cannot help but view it with huge trepidation. Zeba Arif, via email
UNLIKE OURS, MOST PROFESSIONAL CODES HAVE AN ETHICAL DIMENSION I share the concerns of Wilfred McSherry and Linda Ross about the explicit omission of spirituality in the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s new code of conduct (Reflections April 29).
I also share their sentiments that the Code is too medically oriented, and does not reflect a holistic approach to nursing care. There was an opportunity to include spirituality in the new code – it was mentioned in early drafts – but the final version has a mainly disciplinary function, with little regard to ethical decision making. Most other professional codes have an ethical dimension. In Ireland, the Code of Professional Conduct for nurses and midwives was replaced with the new Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics at the end of last year. The new NMC code seems more in keeping with the old-fashioned view of nurses as passive deliverers of medical orders rather than the highly skilled professionals they truly are. Robert Jenkins, academic lead for learning disability, faculty of life sciences and education, University of South Wales
32 may 13 :: vol from 29 no 37 :: 2015 STANDARD Downloaded RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Oct 09, 2015. For personal use only. NoNURSING other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
Send your views by email to [email protected], 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
The NHS could struggle to survive five more years of Tory government The dust has settled on the general election and David Cameron is back in Number 10 as prime minister, this time with a majority. The prospect of five more years of the Conservatives in charge makes me worried for the NHS. Five more years of ‘efficiency savings’ and cuts to NHS budgets, resources and pay. Five more years of private contracts with even less strategic control, and five more years of cuts to social services funding that will make discharging vulnerable patients even more difficult, and increase ‘revolving door’ admissions. In their 2010 manifesto, the Conservatives said there would be no top-down reform of the NHS. Yet the first thing they did was implement the Health and Social Care Act 2012, a complete reform of the NHS. Where were the nurses in this election campaign? Where were the people holding the politicians to account for the state of the NHS? The health service barely survived last winter, and that was a mild one. If we have another cold winter, how will we cope? And when things go wrong, who will get the blame? That will be us, the hard-working NHS staff. Drew Payne, community staff nurse, north London
IF YOU THOUGHT IT WAS A STRUGGLE BEFORE, THE FUTURE LOOKS BLEAKER When I saw the results of the general election exit poll, I was horrified. I stayed up all night watching the results, and when it became obvious that the Conservatives were on track for a majority, I was utterly disheartened. May 8 2015 will stay alive in the consciousness of nurses for a long time. Nurses who did not vote will have to live with the results of their inaction for five long years. If you thought the past few years were a struggle, I would
venture a guess the situation is about to get a whole lot worse. Terms and conditions under Agenda for Change are already under scrutiny, including unsocial hours payments, and the Conservatives have made no secret of the fact they are looking at the welfare budget to make substantial savings. So you can forget about pay increases. As an older person with several health problems, the future looks very bleak indeed. I cannot help but view it with huge trepidation. Zeba Arif, via email
UNLIKE OURS, MOST PROFESSIONAL CODES HAVE AN ETHICAL DIMENSION I share the concerns of Wilfred McSherry and Linda Ross about the explicit omission of spirituality in the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s new code of conduct (Reflections April 29).
I also share their sentiments that the Code is too medically oriented, and does not reflect a holistic approach to nursing care. There was an opportunity to include spirituality in the new code – it was mentioned in early drafts – but the final version has a mainly disciplinary function, with little regard to ethical decision making. Most other professional codes have an ethical dimension. In Ireland, the Code of Professional Conduct for nurses and midwives was replaced with the new Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics at the end of last year. The new NMC code seems more in keeping with the old-fashioned view of nurses as passive deliverers of medical orders rather than the highly skilled professionals they truly are. Robert Jenkins, academic lead for learning disability, faculty of life sciences and education, University of South Wales
32 may 13 :: vol from 29 no 37 :: 2015 STANDARD Downloaded RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Oct 09, 2015. For personal use only. NoNURSING other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
