MARK THOMAS

NEWS

Union members take their protest to the Treasury Healthcare workers took their fight for fair pay to the Treasury (above) in a call to give NHS staff a 1 per cent pay rise. Jeremy Hunt said the award is unaffordable on top of incremental rises and that it would cost 14,000 nursing jobs.

Unions have staged two strikes in England and Northern Ireland and Unite members are working-to-rule. Unite head of health Rachael Maskell said: ‘NHS workers are bearing the brunt of the public sector cuts. They have

suffered five years of real-terms wage cuts, losing 15 per cent in the value of their income since 2010. ‘The decision shows contempt for the men and women who have kept our NHS running against extraordinary odds.’

Safe staffing levels bill would set minimum nurse ratios in Wales By Alistair Kleebauer @alistairbauer The politician behind a bill that would set minimum nurse staffing levels in Wales has defended it against the suggestion it has sparked hostility among other healthcare professionals. Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams introduced her safe nursing staffing levels (Wales) bill last week, saying: ‘Safe nursing levels are a bedrock for effective care. Quite simply, nurse staffing levels are too important to be left to guidance.’ If made law, the bill would require Welsh health boards to maintain minimum nurse-to-patient and nurse-to-healthcare assistant ratios in adult inpatient wards in acute hospitals. The government would issue guidance on how to determine the ratios. Speaking in the assembly, health secretary Mark Drakeford said the government shared the bill’s objectives

NURSING STANDARD

but Ms Williams would have to respond to hostility it had created among staff groups that felt nurses were being treated as a privileged profession. He said she must also explain whether the change would advance ‘the necessary agenda of multidisciplinary working’. In response, Ms Williams said: ‘The bill is not about putting a particular profession on a pedestal, but nursing is in a unique position. It is nurses alone who provide round-the-clock care in a way no other professionals do.’ She added that by having more patient contact than other professionals, nurses can transform patient experience.

All settings

The duty to maintain minimum ratios could be extended to other healthcare settings, and the bill calls on service providers in all settings to consider the importance of safe nurse staffing. It also places a duty on the government to review the effect of

the legislation at least every two years, using a range of care indicators including mortality rates, readmissions and hospital-acquired infection. Mr Drakeford also questioned a causal link between nurse staffing and readmissions, saying: ‘If the readmission of a patient is for an entirely different reason in an entirely different part of Wales to an entirely different sort of hospital, many weeks after the first episode of care has ended, is there a link?’ Ms Williams acknowledged this does occur, but added: ‘Readmission is something we need to look at, and it is an indicator, I believe, of the initial experience in the hospital ward.’ RCN Welsh board chair Gaynor Jones said: ‘The RCN in Wales has supported the bill, and working with Kirsty Williams we have seen an increasingly positive reception from both the public and political sphere.’ The bill will now go to the health and social care committee for further scrutiny. december 10 :: vol 29 no 15 :: 2014 9

Union members take their protest to the Treasury.

Healthcare workers took their fight for fair pay to the Treasury (below) in a call to give NHS staff a 1 per cent pay rise...
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