Letters
We welcome all readers’ letters, but reserve the right to edit them or withhold names and addresses. Please email: [email protected]
Please keep letters to a maximum of 150 words, and include your full name, address and a daytime telephone number
Urgent action is needed on the lack of time to undertake important tasks Linda Aiken, Anne Marie Rafferty and Walter Sermeus claim that nurses in England are not uncaring (features April 30). They say negative perceptions can be explained by heavy workloads and inadequate skill mix, and this is underpinned by their research, some of it unpublished. Their research should be published and widely disseminated as soon as possible. It would appear from unpublished data supplied by the authors that there are a number of key tasks that nurses say they lack the time to carry out. These include preparing patients for discharge (20 per cent), administering medicines on time (22 per cent), adequately documenting nursing care (33 per cent) and comforting or talking to patients (66 per cent). These statistics are appalling. It is key to the wellbeing of patients with a wide range of conditions that they take their medication on a regular basis. The adequate documentation of nursing care is a legal and regulatory necessity. If there is a problem with documenting observations and recording patient care and interventions, it is something that the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Care Quality Commission should address as a matter of the greatest urgency. Naomi Lyth, Watford
PATIENTS’ AND RELATIVES’ VIEWS SHOULD HAVE FED INTO RESEARCH After reading the feature article ‘Caring nurses hit by a quality storm’, it became clear to me that the heading of your editorial, ‘Leading nurses highlight the truth about nursing’ (April 30), was absolutely spot on. But I saw no reason to share your conclusion that the research found no evidence that our nurses are uncaring. A box in the feature article lists tasks 34 may 14 :: vol 28 no 37 :: 2014
for which nurses in England say they lack the time. Thirty-three per cent, for example, say they cannot adequately document nursing care. The major problem with this kind of study is that it depends on nurses’ views and there is no clear indication of how ‘lack of time’ has been defined. If the findings are correct, then it seems to me that the silence of nurses and managers delivering care in England is deafening. The data should have included some observational work study in clinical areas and an examination of duty rotas, as well as an audit of nursing records. Unfortunately, it would appear that no attempt was made to seek the views of patients and their relatives. The profession cannot continue excusing bad practice because of undefined ‘lack of time’ unless there is a commonly accepted definition of what it means. The list of tasks for which nurses say they lack time, and the implications for patients, leave me feeling very uneasy.
THE GOVERNMENT IS INVESTING IN DOCTORS RATHER THAN NURSES I agree with RCN head of policy Howard Catton that the health service should be placing greater importance on retaining skilled nurses, instead of downbanding staff to save money (Analysis April 30). But I do not see this happening. Nurses are being squeezed between highly trained and well-paid doctors on the one hand and, on the other, unregistered healthcare assistants, who are paid very little. They are the ones becoming the doctors’ handmaidens. This government is investing in doctors rather than nurses. Their pay, terms and conditions are generous, and they are seen as just getting on with their jobs, without ‘rocking the boat’. Medics are seen to be ‘safe pairs of hands’ and they are leading the way in the community in taking over budgets and commissioning services, and will soon start to do the same in other areas. Doctors have influence where it matters.
James P Smith OBE FRCN, by email
Christine Clarke, by email
NURSING STANDARD
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Jul 04, 2016. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2016 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
We welcome all readers’ letters, but reserve the right to edit them or withhold names and addresses. Please email: [email protected]
Please keep letters to a maximum of 150 words, and include your full name, address and a daytime telephone number
Urgent action is needed on the lack of time to undertake important tasks Linda Aiken, Anne Marie Rafferty and Walter Sermeus claim that nurses in England are not uncaring (features April 30). They say negative perceptions can be explained by heavy workloads and inadequate skill mix, and this is underpinned by their research, some of it unpublished. Their research should be published and widely disseminated as soon as possible. It would appear from unpublished data supplied by the authors that there are a number of key tasks that nurses say they lack the time to carry out. These include preparing patients for discharge (20 per cent), administering medicines on time (22 per cent), adequately documenting nursing care (33 per cent) and comforting or talking to patients (66 per cent). These statistics are appalling. It is key to the wellbeing of patients with a wide range of conditions that they take their medication on a regular basis. The adequate documentation of nursing care is a legal and regulatory necessity. If there is a problem with documenting observations and recording patient care and interventions, it is something that the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Care Quality Commission should address as a matter of the greatest urgency. Naomi Lyth, Watford
PATIENTS’ AND RELATIVES’ VIEWS SHOULD HAVE FED INTO RESEARCH After reading the feature article ‘Caring nurses hit by a quality storm’, it became clear to me that the heading of your editorial, ‘Leading nurses highlight the truth about nursing’ (April 30), was absolutely spot on. But I saw no reason to share your conclusion that the research found no evidence that our nurses are uncaring. A box in the feature article lists tasks 34 may 14 :: vol 28 no 37 :: 2014
for which nurses in England say they lack the time. Thirty-three per cent, for example, say they cannot adequately document nursing care. The major problem with this kind of study is that it depends on nurses’ views and there is no clear indication of how ‘lack of time’ has been defined. If the findings are correct, then it seems to me that the silence of nurses and managers delivering care in England is deafening. The data should have included some observational work study in clinical areas and an examination of duty rotas, as well as an audit of nursing records. Unfortunately, it would appear that no attempt was made to seek the views of patients and their relatives. The profession cannot continue excusing bad practice because of undefined ‘lack of time’ unless there is a commonly accepted definition of what it means. The list of tasks for which nurses say they lack time, and the implications for patients, leave me feeling very uneasy.
THE GOVERNMENT IS INVESTING IN DOCTORS RATHER THAN NURSES I agree with RCN head of policy Howard Catton that the health service should be placing greater importance on retaining skilled nurses, instead of downbanding staff to save money (Analysis April 30). But I do not see this happening. Nurses are being squeezed between highly trained and well-paid doctors on the one hand and, on the other, unregistered healthcare assistants, who are paid very little. They are the ones becoming the doctors’ handmaidens. This government is investing in doctors rather than nurses. Their pay, terms and conditions are generous, and they are seen as just getting on with their jobs, without ‘rocking the boat’. Medics are seen to be ‘safe pairs of hands’ and they are leading the way in the community in taking over budgets and commissioning services, and will soon start to do the same in other areas. Doctors have influence where it matters.
James P Smith OBE FRCN, by email
Christine Clarke, by email
NURSING STANDARD
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Jul 04, 2016. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2016 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
