Painful wait under new NHS targets
From: Coun Peter Gruen (Lab), Chair of the Adult Social Services, Public Health & NHS Scrutiny Board, Civic Hall, Leeds.
AND so now we know. Simon Stevens has spoken. No, not the Government or even the Secretary of State; instead it is the top civil servant (thanks Simon; the gong is in the post) who tells us what the NHS will do and more importantly, what it will not do in the next two years.
We now know that there will be an attempt to get back to the four-hour A&E target of 95 per cent, but we do not know by when and we are told that cancer waiting times will be less, but we don’t know by how much or by when?
All this is to be achieved by relaxing the targets for so-called routine operations. We are told that patients will have to wait for longer than 18 weeks, but we are not told how much longer?
Nor was much said about the continuous pain suffered by most people waiting for operations. So are we trading one set of misery for another? And did you notice that nothing was said about the alternative? The Chancellor has just made his choices and the NHS was not one of his priorities.
I can only express the aspiration of local Scrutiny Boards to monitor the new targets and to hold the Secretary of State to account.
From: Hilary Andrews, Nursery Lane, Leeds.
AS usual, The Yorkshire Post has its finger on the pulse (pun intended) regarding nurses and university degrees (The Yorkshire Post, April 3).
I firmly believe that nurses should start “on the job” and see if they really want to look after patients.
Degrees are all very well but they do not establish a good bedside manner and the empathy with a patient that nurses need to do their job in the best way.
Young doctors train for five years, dealing only with patients at a very basic level initially while studying.
Nurses always did the same, and those wanting to have more responsibility were able to progress to do this with all the practical experience that enabled them to train student nurses and understand the difficulties they may encounter. Sometimes, insisting on paper qualifications is no substitute for practical experience.
From: Brian Darvell, Beverley.
MIKE Hookem, the Ukip MEP, should direct his well-known ire at the Government regarding the drop in people applying to be nurses.
Since bursaries were scrapped, there has been a significant drop in applications, and although he probably shrugs his shoulders at the prospect of fewer EU-qualified nurses coming here, he shows his and his party’s true colours. In a complex world of medicine and care, we should have, and expect, top quality trained staff.