Dedication, not professionalism, is key to good nursing care

THE latest in a very long line of revelations about the abysmal level of nursing care not only for the elderly but for a wide range of patients is not surprising (Yorkshire Post, May 26).

The problem is two-fold, firstly, no longer is the ward sister in total control of her domain. When even consultants had to ask for permission to enter she was not only in charge but responsible for everything that happened whether she was there or not. And woe betide anyone who failed to comply.

Secondly, ever since Barbara Castle turned nursing into a profession instead of a calling, things have gone downhill.

When people were interviewed for nursing posts, vocational qualities were sought, but academic ability, career opportunity, earning capacity, etc, seem to much more important now.

Nurses graduate straight from university to the wards with no hands-on experience and as they are now “qualified” getting involved in the nitty-gritty of real patient care and getting their hands dirty does not go at all well.

If they had to spend six- months on the wards in a nurse supporting role before they ever started the formal aspect of training, they would appreciate that the patients’ first needs are personal and basic and they would quickly become intuitive to that provision.

As for more staff in the work place, I am afraid to say that when nurses were much thinner on the ground with less technical assistance and a hard task master ruled, patients got much better and more empathetic care delivered from the heart.

Good nursing care can only be provided by dedication – not professionalism.

From: Dr Paul Charlson, Brough, East Yorkshire.

JAMES Deehan (Yorkshire Post, May 25) is incorrect about the function of GP Consortia in that they will not oversee the provision of GP practices. He also said that PCTs closed practices and moved them. This is not usually the case, most relocation will have been because the GP practices, which are independent businesses, chose to move themselves for business reasons.

Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the BMA, polarises the debate with his opinion article on the opposite page.

I agree with Dr Meldrum the NHS does need reform but don’t agree about the need for collaboration without competition. There is nothing wrong with clinicians competing to provide the best for patients.

It might actually improve opening times and availability of appointments together with increasing choice and innovation. Sometimes competition works and sometimes integration is better, the NHS should embrace both.

The Health and Social Care Bill is founded on sensible principles which most patients and clinicians agree with, it is the detail that requires better explanation and clarification. Headlines such as “The whole direction of planned NHS reform is wrong” from powerful voices such as Dr Meldrum are frightening to a public who in the main do not understand the complexities of the debate.