Post by Farmer GilesPost by PamelaPost by Farmer GilesPost by JoeOn Sat, 9 Nov 2019 11:08:42 +0000
Post by Farmer GilesThis really is nonsense. My wife's mother and her sister were nurses,
both SRNs with many years experience of real nursing. Her mother was
a nurse before and during WWII, doing the sort of things that modern
nurses would often regard as beneath them - making sure patients were
clean, dressing wounds, etc. Low-paid auxiliaries are now left to do
that while today's so-called nurses, awash with their diplomas and
certificates, swan around pretending that they're doctors, often
believing that they're far to important to empty a bedpan. No wonder
hospitals are often rife withy nasty infections.
That stereotype may be exaggerated. I've seen a sister on a specialist
ward mopping the floor. If blood is spilled, it is cleaned immediately,
by whatever nurses are around. They don't wait for a cleaner to arrive.
Really? Then why are the known incidents of patients lying in their own
faeces and urine on the increase?
Better reporting and oversight probably.
As for qualifications, I would rather have an over-qualified nurse then an
under-qualified one. It's misleading to suggest nurses fail to do their
basic tasks because they are qualified.
A State Registered Nurse was far from being 'under-qualified'.
Post by PamelaWell qualified nurses, such as nurse specialists, can take some of the
worldload off a doctor.
I think you may be looking back with rose-tinted spectacles.
I think you will find many doctors and experienced nurses who agree with me.
More letters to the Guardian
I agree with medical student Julia Simons wholeheartedly regarding funding
for the NHS (I couldn’t stay silent when Johnson visited my hospital
(https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/04/boris-johnson-hospital-
visit-nhs-staff-addenbrooke), Journal, 5 November).
I retired from my position as a consultant in a major London hospital in
2002; for many years prior to my retirement I was aware of the lack of
funding for the NHS, whichever government was in power. Each year, usually
just after Christmas, we were told that we were overspent and that measures
must be taken, such as closing wards, or no longer employing agency nurses or
locum doctors. Patients were made to suffer through ward closures and
increasing staff shortages.
I was recently a patient following major surgery in my local hospital. I was
delighted with my care, but well aware of chronic staff shortages on the
ward, with some nurses staying over their allotted time because of their
dedication to the service. They told me that they were under constant
pressure because of lack of money as well as lack of staff.
All the parties involved in the forthcoming election are promising large
increases in funding for the NHS, but what will happen when they get into
power? We have heard it all so often that we can’t afford it.
I hope that Julia Simons can survive her first two years as the shortages and
lack of funding often mean that too much pressure is placed on young doctors.
I am sure that she has a lot to offer the NHS. I am committed to the NHS and
want to see it successful, not to suffer because of the whims of politicians.
Name and address supplied
•Thank you, Julia Simons, for your personal account. Recently, I spent a
stressful time in a hospital described in our local paper as “increasingly
tired”. At a follow-up appointment I was seen by a junior doctor,
ashen-faced with sleep deprivation and overwork. He was kind, courteous and
thorough. Afterwards I said to my husband, “he is someone’s son”, I was
so concerned. We desperately need these young people, but empty promises are
not the answer.
Jean Jackson
Seer Green, Buckinghamshire
•Simon Jenkins is right to challenge the electoral sanctity of the NHS (The
NHS needs more than just cash. It needs major reform too
(https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/04/nhs-health-service-uk-
politicise), 4 November). It was indeed always political “since the day it
was born”. But Labour cannot claim exclusive parental rights. To do so
denies Liberalism its true place in our national legacy. The original driving
force for implementing the NHS was the 1942 Beveridge report. And as Tony
Blair reminded us in his 2001 conference speech: “Today our idea of society
is shaped around mutual responsibility; a deal, an agreement between
citizens, not a one-way gift from the well-off to the dependent. Our economic
and social policy today owes as much to the liberal social democratic
tradition of Lloyd George, Keynes and Beveridge as to the socialist
principles of the 1945 government.”
When Beveridge drew up the blueprint for the NHS, it was assumed that the
costs would be balanced by national insurance receipts. It was further
assumed that health spending would reduce as the nation’s health improved.
However, neither happened. What was set up originally with a blank cheque has
led to an uncontrolled debt that is being passed on to future generations.
Surely the role of today’s politicians is not to weaponise the NHS, but
instead to dispassionately allocate national spending as a proportion of our
national wealth, and to facilitate and liberalise best practice. At best,
cross-party. If not, through a renewed coalition of Labour and Liberal
values.
Mike Allott
Chandlers Ford, Hampshire