NEWS COMMENT
WE MUST NEVER FEEL GUILTY ABOUT PROTESTING OVER PAY The last time nursing and midwifery staff had an above inflation pay award was 2009. In the past five years you have worked through breaks, stayed late, come into work when you were sick. Yet despite your commitment, the government does not feel that you are worth giving a fair rise. When Unison and the other health unions, including the Royal College of Midwives, announced plans to ballot for strike action, a Department of Health spokesperson said: ‘NHS staff are our greatest asset and we know that midwives across the country are working hard.’ If they truly believe this, why are they not offering those same employees a decent pay increase?
‘WE WANT OTHERS TO SEE NURSING AS A POLITICAL VOICE TO BE RECKONED WITH’ I first took strike action over clinical grading, the previous nursing pay system, because it was not implemented fairly. Nurses’ grading forms were changed with the deliberate intent of putting them on a lower band. No one then, or now, takes the decision to strike lightly and nurses and midwives are certainly not always manning the barricades. But they do believe in fairness and know when enough is enough. That is why Unison is balloting its health members for industrial action over pay; we want them to have a voice, and for it to be heard. If we leave it until next year’s election we will face another year of pay misery, with nurses in even more debt, trying to hold their families together and keep a roof over their heads. This is why we must act now. I was 22 when I first took industrial action over pay; I am now the head of nursing for the largest health union in the UK and I am encouraging Unison
members and others to vote yes to industrial action. Aneurin Bevan, former health minister and chief architect of the NHS, once said: ‘We know what happens to people who stand in the middle of the road: they get run over.’ We cannot afford to stand still, or to ignore this attack on our pay.
Improved outcomes
Time and again research tells us that when staff are happy, and feel valued and respected, patient outcomes are improved. No one should be made to feel guilty for voting to take action – patient care is already suffering from poor staffing levels, nurses are overworked and stressed, and they are taking their worries about patients home with them, which is affecting their family life. Importantly, we want others to see nursing as a political voice to be reckoned with. If we do not stand up for ourselves, how can we stand up for our patients? Before we take industrial action, emergency cover is always agreed with employers – nurses or midwives taking action do not just walk off the job. It is ironic that when a strike takes place employers want us to agree minimum staffing levels, a principle they disagree with on any other normal day. I am passionate about nursing and midwifery, but I believe we are being taken for granted by this government and now is the time for us to act. Ballot papers will be going out shortly and we need a good turnout to head off the inevitable government criticism. Those of you who are eligible – please let your voice be heard and your vote count. Gail Adams is head of nursing at Unison
Nurses benefit patients caught in web of anxiety Two general nurses have been praised for outstanding achievement after they successfully treated more than 70 patients who have cyberchondria. Yvonne Lisseman-Stones and Sharon McAllister took part in a two-year pilot in Nottinghamshire that delivered a form of cognitive behavioural therapy that was adapted specifi cally to treat the condition. Cyberchondria is a form of health anxiety whereby patients’ frequent use of the internet exacerbates fears that they have health problems, which are often unfounded, but they still attend hospital repeatedly to check. A study of the pilot showed that the nurses exceeded all expectations in the treatment they provided. Imperial College London professor of community psychiatry Peter Tyrer, who led the pilot at King’s Mill Hospital, said ‘It was remarkable. These nurses were twice as effective as any good psychologist in treating these patients.’
Leading Belfast A&E figure, Sister Kate, dies A senior nurse, who led the A&E department of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast during the Troubles, has died. Sister Kate O’Hanlon MBE was born in the Markets area of Belfast in 1930. She worked at the Royal Victoria from 1966 to 1988 and was sister in charge of A&E for 16 years. Her experiences of the unrest are documented in her book, Sister Kate: Nursing through the Troubles. Ms O’Hanlon was also chair of the RCN’s A&E forum and, in 2007, was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the college. In 2009 she received an honorary doctorate for services to nursing from the University of Ulster. She died last week after a long illness.
12 august 6 :: vol 28 no 49 :: 2014 STANDARD Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Oct 31, 2015. For personal use only. No NURSING other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
WE MUST NEVER FEEL GUILTY ABOUT PROTESTING OVER PAY The last time nursing and midwifery staff had an above inflation pay award was 2009. In the past five years you have worked through breaks, stayed late, come into work when you were sick. Yet despite your commitment, the government does not feel that you are worth giving a fair rise. When Unison and the other health unions, including the Royal College of Midwives, announced plans to ballot for strike action, a Department of Health spokesperson said: ‘NHS staff are our greatest asset and we know that midwives across the country are working hard.’ If they truly believe this, why are they not offering those same employees a decent pay increase?
‘WE WANT OTHERS TO SEE NURSING AS A POLITICAL VOICE TO BE RECKONED WITH’ I first took strike action over clinical grading, the previous nursing pay system, because it was not implemented fairly. Nurses’ grading forms were changed with the deliberate intent of putting them on a lower band. No one then, or now, takes the decision to strike lightly and nurses and midwives are certainly not always manning the barricades. But they do believe in fairness and know when enough is enough. That is why Unison is balloting its health members for industrial action over pay; we want them to have a voice, and for it to be heard. If we leave it until next year’s election we will face another year of pay misery, with nurses in even more debt, trying to hold their families together and keep a roof over their heads. This is why we must act now. I was 22 when I first took industrial action over pay; I am now the head of nursing for the largest health union in the UK and I am encouraging Unison
members and others to vote yes to industrial action. Aneurin Bevan, former health minister and chief architect of the NHS, once said: ‘We know what happens to people who stand in the middle of the road: they get run over.’ We cannot afford to stand still, or to ignore this attack on our pay.
Improved outcomes
Time and again research tells us that when staff are happy, and feel valued and respected, patient outcomes are improved. No one should be made to feel guilty for voting to take action – patient care is already suffering from poor staffing levels, nurses are overworked and stressed, and they are taking their worries about patients home with them, which is affecting their family life. Importantly, we want others to see nursing as a political voice to be reckoned with. If we do not stand up for ourselves, how can we stand up for our patients? Before we take industrial action, emergency cover is always agreed with employers – nurses or midwives taking action do not just walk off the job. It is ironic that when a strike takes place employers want us to agree minimum staffing levels, a principle they disagree with on any other normal day. I am passionate about nursing and midwifery, but I believe we are being taken for granted by this government and now is the time for us to act. Ballot papers will be going out shortly and we need a good turnout to head off the inevitable government criticism. Those of you who are eligible – please let your voice be heard and your vote count. Gail Adams is head of nursing at Unison
Nurses benefit patients caught in web of anxiety Two general nurses have been praised for outstanding achievement after they successfully treated more than 70 patients who have cyberchondria. Yvonne Lisseman-Stones and Sharon McAllister took part in a two-year pilot in Nottinghamshire that delivered a form of cognitive behavioural therapy that was adapted specifi cally to treat the condition. Cyberchondria is a form of health anxiety whereby patients’ frequent use of the internet exacerbates fears that they have health problems, which are often unfounded, but they still attend hospital repeatedly to check. A study of the pilot showed that the nurses exceeded all expectations in the treatment they provided. Imperial College London professor of community psychiatry Peter Tyrer, who led the pilot at King’s Mill Hospital, said ‘It was remarkable. These nurses were twice as effective as any good psychologist in treating these patients.’
Leading Belfast A&E figure, Sister Kate, dies A senior nurse, who led the A&E department of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast during the Troubles, has died. Sister Kate O’Hanlon MBE was born in the Markets area of Belfast in 1930. She worked at the Royal Victoria from 1966 to 1988 and was sister in charge of A&E for 16 years. Her experiences of the unrest are documented in her book, Sister Kate: Nursing through the Troubles. Ms O’Hanlon was also chair of the RCN’s A&E forum and, in 2007, was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the college. In 2009 she received an honorary doctorate for services to nursing from the University of Ulster. She died last week after a long illness.
12 august 6 :: vol 28 no 49 :: 2014 STANDARD Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Oct 31, 2015. For personal use only. No NURSING other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
