NEWS
TUCKING PATIENTS IN AT NIGHT OFFERS RCN ASKS MEMBERS REASSURANCE AND IMPROVES SLEEP TO RECORD ANY
BARNEY NEWMAN
Nurses should tuck patients in and play soothing music to help them get a better night’s sleep, an out-of-hours care conference heard. Nurse Nicky Westwood (pictured), patient relations and experience manager at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB), told the Out of Hours Care in Hospital conference in London last week that small things such as music can help patients get enough rest.
‘Soothing music can help patients sleep’
A UHB patient survey found a common cause of disturbed sleep was due to patients feeling worried or scared at night, but some did not want to disturb nurses on duty because they believed they were too busy. Following the survey, UHB introduced a ‘care round’ in an effort to improve patients’ chances of a restful night. During the round, nurses focus on pain control, check if patients need the toilet and then tuck them in before they go to sleep. Patients are also given a sleep kit, which includes an eye mask and ear plugs. Ms Westwood said: ‘Doing something so simple as tucking the patient in before they go to sleep can provide vital reassurance. ‘Many patients told us they would like nurses to sing a lullaby too. We don’t actually sing them a lullaby, but we encourage patients to bring in soothing music to help them sleep.’
OVERTIME WORKED
The RCN is calling on its members to record the hours they work and to request payment or time off in lieu for overtime as part of its pay campaign. In response to health secretary Jeremy Hunt’s failure to honour the independent NHS Pay Review Body’s recommendation of a 1 per cent pay increase for all NHS staff, the college is asking members to highlight their value in the new year. It will be asking members to record all the hours they work. Under the Agenda for Change terms, staff are entitled to time off in lieu or pay for overtime. RCN general secretary Peter Carter said: ‘The government regularly says how much it values NHS staff but the failure to give nurses a cost of living increase, coupled with the failure to pay them for the extra work they do, sends out a very different message. ‘Enough is now enough and in the new year we will be supporting members to ensure their rights are met.’
Public sector workers face more misery over pay Health service staff look set to be out of pocket for another year after it was announced that public sector pay curbs will continue. Chancellor George Osborne said in his autumn statement to the Commons last week that pay restraint for public sector workers would continue into the next parliament should the Conservatives be re-elected in 2015. He told MPs that £12 billion had been saved by the coalition government’s decision to limit wage rises. Nurses and other health service staff had their pay frozen for two years from 2010, then received a 1 per cent rise in 2013. The majority of nurses in England were denied a pay rise this year, after the government rejected a recommendation by the independent NHS Pay Review Body to give all NHS staff a 1 per cent pay rise.
The RCN says the decision to continue pay restraint into the new parliament was a further blow to hard-pressed, demoralised staff. Unions say that stagnant wages and higher living costs mean nurses have endured a real-terms pay cut of 9 per cent since 2010.
‘WITHOUT PAYING NURSES A FAIR WAGE, THE GOVERNMENT IS DEVALUING THEIR WORK’ RCN general secretary Peter Carter said: ‘The prospect of this continuing year on year is an insult to hard-working nursing staff and raises serious concerns about the UK’s ability to employ the staff it needs in the long term to meet the level of demand the NHS faces.
‘Without paying nurses a fair wage for the work they do, the government is devaluing their work. Any prospect of creating an NHS that trains and recruits staff sensibly for the long term is badly damaged by this, and we will see hospitals recruiting expensively from overseas for years to come.’ Despite NHS staff losing out in the autumn statement, there was some good news for the health service, with the chancellor pledging an extra £2 billion funding this year for front line services. Dr Carter called for the cash to be used to improve services in community care, mental health services and hospitals. But Labour has accused the chancellor of ‘recycling funds’ rather than finding new money for the NHS, saying the £2 billion investment included £750 million that had already been allocated. Peter Carter, page 26
8 december 10 from :: vol RCNi.com 29 no 15 by :: 2014 STANDARD Downloaded ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 22, 2015. For personal use only. NoNURSING other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
TUCKING PATIENTS IN AT NIGHT OFFERS RCN ASKS MEMBERS REASSURANCE AND IMPROVES SLEEP TO RECORD ANY
BARNEY NEWMAN
Nurses should tuck patients in and play soothing music to help them get a better night’s sleep, an out-of-hours care conference heard. Nurse Nicky Westwood (pictured), patient relations and experience manager at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB), told the Out of Hours Care in Hospital conference in London last week that small things such as music can help patients get enough rest.
‘Soothing music can help patients sleep’
A UHB patient survey found a common cause of disturbed sleep was due to patients feeling worried or scared at night, but some did not want to disturb nurses on duty because they believed they were too busy. Following the survey, UHB introduced a ‘care round’ in an effort to improve patients’ chances of a restful night. During the round, nurses focus on pain control, check if patients need the toilet and then tuck them in before they go to sleep. Patients are also given a sleep kit, which includes an eye mask and ear plugs. Ms Westwood said: ‘Doing something so simple as tucking the patient in before they go to sleep can provide vital reassurance. ‘Many patients told us they would like nurses to sing a lullaby too. We don’t actually sing them a lullaby, but we encourage patients to bring in soothing music to help them sleep.’
OVERTIME WORKED
The RCN is calling on its members to record the hours they work and to request payment or time off in lieu for overtime as part of its pay campaign. In response to health secretary Jeremy Hunt’s failure to honour the independent NHS Pay Review Body’s recommendation of a 1 per cent pay increase for all NHS staff, the college is asking members to highlight their value in the new year. It will be asking members to record all the hours they work. Under the Agenda for Change terms, staff are entitled to time off in lieu or pay for overtime. RCN general secretary Peter Carter said: ‘The government regularly says how much it values NHS staff but the failure to give nurses a cost of living increase, coupled with the failure to pay them for the extra work they do, sends out a very different message. ‘Enough is now enough and in the new year we will be supporting members to ensure their rights are met.’
Public sector workers face more misery over pay Health service staff look set to be out of pocket for another year after it was announced that public sector pay curbs will continue. Chancellor George Osborne said in his autumn statement to the Commons last week that pay restraint for public sector workers would continue into the next parliament should the Conservatives be re-elected in 2015. He told MPs that £12 billion had been saved by the coalition government’s decision to limit wage rises. Nurses and other health service staff had their pay frozen for two years from 2010, then received a 1 per cent rise in 2013. The majority of nurses in England were denied a pay rise this year, after the government rejected a recommendation by the independent NHS Pay Review Body to give all NHS staff a 1 per cent pay rise.
The RCN says the decision to continue pay restraint into the new parliament was a further blow to hard-pressed, demoralised staff. Unions say that stagnant wages and higher living costs mean nurses have endured a real-terms pay cut of 9 per cent since 2010.
‘WITHOUT PAYING NURSES A FAIR WAGE, THE GOVERNMENT IS DEVALUING THEIR WORK’ RCN general secretary Peter Carter said: ‘The prospect of this continuing year on year is an insult to hard-working nursing staff and raises serious concerns about the UK’s ability to employ the staff it needs in the long term to meet the level of demand the NHS faces.
‘Without paying nurses a fair wage for the work they do, the government is devaluing their work. Any prospect of creating an NHS that trains and recruits staff sensibly for the long term is badly damaged by this, and we will see hospitals recruiting expensively from overseas for years to come.’ Despite NHS staff losing out in the autumn statement, there was some good news for the health service, with the chancellor pledging an extra £2 billion funding this year for front line services. Dr Carter called for the cash to be used to improve services in community care, mental health services and hospitals. But Labour has accused the chancellor of ‘recycling funds’ rather than finding new money for the NHS, saying the £2 billion investment included £750 million that had already been allocated. Peter Carter, page 26
8 december 10 from :: vol RCNi.com 29 no 15 by :: 2014 STANDARD Downloaded ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 22, 2015. For personal use only. NoNURSING other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
