Kathleen McBride
WHILST I have every sympathy with the staff who are still in post at Stafford Hospital getting such a furore of publicity, I am afraid that until the top levels of management and nursing can show that they have the really shocking situation under firm control then the bad publicity will continue. The Francis Report found some absolutely terrible nursing standards given to very vulnerable people.
A little bit of history will explain why the sorry state of affairs exists in Stafford and the rest of the NHS.
First we had the Salmon report into the failings of the NHS and the remedies needed. So matron went and we got nursing officers instead. As for the finances of each hospital, business managers were brought in. As nurses, we then said you cannot treat patients as you would at a supermarket going through the till.
As time went on the managers proliferated, and they got more and more staff at their beck and call. Fleets of cars, expenses, computerisation.
On the wards we had our own cleaners who were put out to contract. The standards of cleaning went down, because the amount of time allocated to clean each area was reduced to a minimum.
Each hospital had their own kitchen which supplied reasonable food. That went to central kitchens and the food arrived in big trolleys, mostly inedible after the journey. Laundry was contracted out and the cleanliness of the linen was suspect.
Then we got the biggest betrayal of all. The old-style state registered nurse turned into registered nurses who went to university for their training.
When I started my training we went to school for six weeks. Then we went onto the wards and we had to read our books and learn while we worked our shifts in contact with our real-life patients. It took three years to qualify for the state registration and two years for state enrolled status.
I loved my job but the last two years before I retired were not very nice because all the upheaval of new ways of doing things were being put into place.
So Stafford Hospital and all the rest of the NHS are now reaping the harvest of altering everything that was good about having nurses in training under the care of fully trained nurses on the wards.
I love the idea put forward of the tick box. Do you want a drink? Do you want to use the toilet? This shows just how good the patient care is if basic nursing is not a normal standard of care.
All the money thrown at the NHS will not make the difference that is needed it will only fatten up the numbers of management. I recommend that you Google the NHS sites and read what is said about the NHS patient care, it makes you want to weep.
Doxey Road Castletown Stafford
