[karenG]

Originally Posted by RGN1

Bethin - hope this helps:

Barristers are defined as "a legal practitioner (a lawyer) whose main
function is to act as an advocate in court". In short, a barrister is
a lawyer who is a member of the Inns of Court and who can practice
before the courts. They often have less interaction with clients than
solicitors. Barristers spend their working hours in Chambers where
they prepare their cases.

Barristers also get paid mega bucks!! look at cherie Blair...........

[Silverdragon102]

Merged the 2 threads together for continuity

[datukuno]

Maybe Lord Mancroft was in the set/studios of No Angels not in a real hospital!!

[UKPedsRN]

Being a nurse who has fairly recently been a patient and also accompanied my mother to many hospital visits, I am afraid to say that Lord Mancroft's comments do have more than a grain of truth to them.

I will agree that there are some fabulous nurses out there, yet there are some absolutely atrocious ones too. Such nurses were around when I was a student, as a new grad and continue to be out there today. Again, I say it comes down with being held accountable for ones actions, and if necessary speaking out to our colleagues and holding them accountable.

There is no use being outraged at this man's comments, he experienced the situation with these nurses - and we all know they are out there.

I remember as a student nurse there were a host of students and staff nurses who would party all night long and go in to work for a half shift, and they wouldtalk of their exploits. With the binge drinking culture of today, you can not tell me it is not happening now.

As for him not bringing it to the attention of the Trust, patients rarely do complain at the time (for various reasons) and sometimes life overtakes you, once you are dischrged.

In my situation, I wrote a 4 page letter to the Chief Exec of the Trust where I was hospitalised and the response was "you have no proof of your allegations!" So nothing was done!
Absolutely nothing about why I had to wait for more than 3 hours for a member of the pain team to arrive, when my post op pain was unmanageble, nothing about the fact that not one doctor or nurse washed their hands pre and post touching me, nothing about an Aspetic technique that was so bad, I asked the nurse if we no longer performed aseptic technique when doing dressing changes, no comments about meals not being delivered as ordered, or not at all, no comments made about my having to listen to little old ladies cry because they had not ben fed, washed or received a bedpan ( I was in a cubicle and listened to these poor little old ladies cry day in nd day out, not because they were senile, simply because they had not received care) nothing said about having to wait 4 hours or oral analgesics to be brought to me, nothing about when requesting analgesics being told "I'm too busy doing these BM's" and absolutely noting about the fact that I picked up MRSA whilst in theatre! So, I can almost see why this guy did not make a written complaint - nothing is done. My aunt still works in the hospital where Iwas a patient, and nothing has changed on the ward I was on.

So, what is the answer, I say Let's club together as a profession and hold those nurses accountable, so that we can avoid generalised comments, let's not let such nurses "get away" with giving less than quality care and see if we can advance our profession an avoid such comments.

[scarymary]

Originally Posted by scattycarrot

Serioulsy, I don't know why UK nurses bother. I really don't! Its the comments at the end of the article that annoy me and most of the comments are by people who probably sit in an office all day long and make no public contribution and whose jobs are insignificant and unimportant! If I ever go back to the UK, nursing will NOT be on my employment list!

Anyway, heres the link that has annoyed me:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...Submitted=true

The article annoyed me too, then found out that the man used to be a heroin addict. So now I feel sorry for him. It was interesting that David Cameron has refuted his comments.

[scarymary]

Originally Posted by UKPedsRN

Being a nurse who has fairly recently been a patient and also accompanied my mother to many hospital visits, I am afraid to say that Lord Mancroft's comments do have more than a grain of truth to them.

I will agree that there are some fabulous nurses out there, yet there are some absolutely atrocious ones too. Such nurses were around when I was a student, as a new grad and continue to be out there today. Again, I say it comes down with being held accountable for ones actions, and if necessary speaking out to our colleagues and holding them accountable.

There is no use being outraged at this man's comments, he experienced the situation with these nurses - and we all know they are out there.

I remember as a student nurse there were a host of students and staff nurses who would party all night long and go in to work for a half shift, and they wouldtalk of their exploits. With the binge drinking culture of today, you can not tell me it is not happening now.

As for him not bringing it to the attention of the Trust, patients rarely do complain at the time (for various reasons) and sometimes life overtakes you, once you are dischrged.

In my situation, I wrote a 4 page letter to the Chief Exec of the Trust where I was hospitalised and the response was "you have no proof of your allegations!" So nothing was done!
Absolutely nothing about why I had to wait for more than 3 hours for a member of the pain team to arrive, when my post op pain was unmanageble, nothing about the fact that not one doctor or nurse washed their hands pre and post touching me, nothing about an Aspetic technique that was so bad, I asked the nurse if we no longer performed aseptic technique when doing dressing changes, no comments about meals not being delivered as ordered, or not at all, no comments made about my having to listen to little old ladies cry because they had not ben fed, washed or received a bedpan ( I was in a cubicle and listened to these poor little old ladies cry day in nd day out, not because they were senile, simply because they had not received care) nothing said about having to wait 4 hours or oral analgesics to be brought to me, nothing about when requesting analgesics being told "I'm too busy doing these BM's" and absolutely noting about the fact that I picked up MRSA whilst in theatre! So, I can almost see why this guy did not make a written complaint - nothing is done. My aunt still works in the hospital where Iwas a patient, and nothing has changed on the ward I was on.

So, what is the answer, I say Let's club together as a profession and hold those nurses accountable, so that we can avoid generalised comments, let's not let such nurses "get away" with giving less than quality care and see if we can advance our profession an avoid such comments.

I once had to make a formal complaint about the care my father in law received in a London hospital.

I must admit it made me feel deeply ashamed of my profession at the time.

[RGN1]

Originally Posted by UKPedsRN

So, what is the answer, I say Let's club together as a profession and hold those nurses accountable, so that we can avoid generalised comments, let's not let such nurses "get away" with giving less than quality care and see if we can advance our profession an avoid such comments.

Wouldn't that be great!!!?? Trouble is when have you ever known nurses to club together? They can't even do it at ward level - let alone Nationally!! Add to that the employment laws that make it almost impossible to actually sack a person & it doesn't look good.

I don't want to leave you with such negative thoughts though so here's how I go about things: I lead by example- not that I'm perfect but every shift I work at the best level I can, I tell rather than ask the lazier ones to do things (it does make a difference), I also make a point of documenting in notes when I have made such requests (that usually does the trick - works with docs too), I'm always cheerful on the ward (although the walls of the treatment room have heard some interesting language) and it's really surprising how often you can pull the level of everyone up by just doing what you do well & keeping your cool.

Goodness I just realised how self-righteous that sounds - it isn't meant to be - I just know that at least no-one will be writing articles like that about me or my colleagues! However, I also know that, given the chance, there's one or two of them who could behave, in part, like those nurses cited in this article, if they were in an atmosphere where that sort of behaviour was acceptable.

[chanchi]

Hi All

This article was put up in our staff room......What the Times forgot to mention was that the man complaining was a former Drug addict! wonder how he would have reacted to that being slurred all over the page? We all know it happens on the rare occasion, you would think an educated person would complain to the ward sister not 'go public' I suspect an alterior motive was behind his reason for involving the press! tut tut

[Scubadiver]

FYI - Nurses topped the Gallup poll again for 2007. Nurses have been included in the Gallup poll since 1999 and the only time they didn't make #1 was when firefighters topped the list right after 9/11. Topping the Gallup poll every year for integrity and honesty says a lot. At the bottom of the barrel were lobbyists. Congressmen were 5th from the bottom - slightly ahead of car salesmen and advertising practitioners. Lawyers actually stepped up to 7th from the bottom.

[RGN1]

OH I would have had MP's firmly rooted to the bottom of my list just below hospital directors!!

Hey I'm thinking of a whole new thread here!!