Bureaucrats' bonuses rise as NHS jobs cut - Sunday Telegraph
Extract:
"Bonuses awarded to NHS bureaucrats have soared by nearly a third as thousands of health workers have lost their jobs.
Nearly £1.5 million was paid in bonuses to 231 "senior" civil servants in the Department of Health and related agencies last financial year, a rise of 29 per cent.
NHS trade unions criticised the bonuses, worth an average £6,300 - half a year's pay for many health staff. During the same year, 27,000 NHS posts were cut, with widespread redundancies.
On Friday, Unison, the biggest NHS union, followed the Royal College of Nursing by agreeing to ballot members on industrial action if the Government fails to improve its annual pay offer of 1.9 per cent for most front-line workers.
Karen Jennings, the head of health at Unison, said the bonuses were "totally unfair" and left front-line staff "feeling like second-class citizens". Peter Carter, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said he was "stunned" that the Government could behave with such "crass insensitivity"."
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Showing posts with label Dr Peter Carter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dr Peter Carter. Show all posts
Sunday, 24 June 2007
Thursday, 19 April 2007
Nurses threaten industrial action over pay award
Nurses threaten action over pay award - Independent
Extract:
"Nurses' leaders have threatened to ballot their members on industrial action unless ministers reverse their decision to award nurses a below-inflation pay deal.
Dr Peter Carter, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said the union's council would be seeking an emergency meeting with Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, and Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Health, following angry scenes yesterday at the RCN's annual conference in Harrogate.
The RCN's members called the pay award "insulting". Nurses also voted overwhelmingly, by 97 per cent, in favour of calling on the union's council to investigate what forms of industrial action could be taken."
Extract:
"Nurses' leaders have threatened to ballot their members on industrial action unless ministers reverse their decision to award nurses a below-inflation pay deal.
Dr Peter Carter, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said the union's council would be seeking an emergency meeting with Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, and Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Health, following angry scenes yesterday at the RCN's annual conference in Harrogate.
The RCN's members called the pay award "insulting". Nurses also voted overwhelmingly, by 97 per cent, in favour of calling on the union's council to investigate what forms of industrial action could be taken."
Tuesday, 17 April 2007
NHS patients are being put in danger when student nurses are left unsupervised in charge of wards.
Patients 'at risk as student nurses left alone' - Telegraph
Extract:
"NHS patients are being put in danger because student nurses, sometimes only weeks into their training, are increasingly being left unsupervised in charge of wards.
A survey for the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) found that almost half of students had been placed in sole charge of patients without warning. Of these, nearly one in seven reported witnessing adverse events while unattended, such as patients falling over or suffering a rapid deterioration in condition.
The RCN said patient care was suffering drastically as a result, adding that students felt under pressure not to raise the matter with superiors because they did not want to appear to be out of their depth.
Guidelines state that student nurses should spend 40 per cent of clinical placements in hospitals with mentors and that they should only be left alone with patients in pre-arranged situations where they are supervised from a distance.
Dr Peter Carter, the general secretary of the RCN, said: "This is yet another example of how cost-cutting is compromising patient safety. Up and down the country, we are seeing nursing jobs being lost and posts being frozen to cut costs."
Extract:
"NHS patients are being put in danger because student nurses, sometimes only weeks into their training, are increasingly being left unsupervised in charge of wards.
A survey for the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) found that almost half of students had been placed in sole charge of patients without warning. Of these, nearly one in seven reported witnessing adverse events while unattended, such as patients falling over or suffering a rapid deterioration in condition.
The RCN said patient care was suffering drastically as a result, adding that students felt under pressure not to raise the matter with superiors because they did not want to appear to be out of their depth.
Guidelines state that student nurses should spend 40 per cent of clinical placements in hospitals with mentors and that they should only be left alone with patients in pre-arranged situations where they are supervised from a distance.
Dr Peter Carter, the general secretary of the RCN, said: "This is yet another example of how cost-cutting is compromising patient safety. Up and down the country, we are seeing nursing jobs being lost and posts being frozen to cut costs."
Sunday, 8 April 2007
Blair's spin is ruining the NHS, says Dr Peter Carter, the new head of the Royal College of Nursing.
Nurses' leader: Blair's spin ruining NHS - Sunday Telegraph
Extracts:
"The Prime Minister has allowed the NHS to plunge into crisis by becoming trapped in a "parallel universe of spin", according to the new head of the Royal College of Nursing.
In a blistering attack on the Government's running of the health service, Dr Peter Carter, the RCN general secretary, said cuts in jobs, services and training were catastrophic for the country and a "personal tragedy" for the Prime Minister."
"Millions were wasted on repeated changes to structures that had now almost reverted back to the position they were in 10 years ago, with money lavished on salaries, redundancies and creating offices.
Worse still, the replacement of 100 health authorities with more than 300 primary care trusts created more jobs than there were talented managers, leading to poor decision-making and a "frittering away of much of the Government's investment".
Government figures show 15,000 managers have been recruited since Labour came to power. Dr Carter, who ran an NHS mental health trust in London for 12 years, said he believed one manager in five was not up to the job, while about the same proportion of NHS organisations were not fit for purpose.
The number of nurses emigrating to find work had doubled to 8,000 since Labour came to power in 1997, and the number will continue to grow, he said.
The Government expects that Britain will be short of 14,000 nurses in three years' time, which will force the UK to poach replacements from some of the poorest parts of the world, Dr Carter said."
Extracts:
"The Prime Minister has allowed the NHS to plunge into crisis by becoming trapped in a "parallel universe of spin", according to the new head of the Royal College of Nursing.
In a blistering attack on the Government's running of the health service, Dr Peter Carter, the RCN general secretary, said cuts in jobs, services and training were catastrophic for the country and a "personal tragedy" for the Prime Minister."
"Millions were wasted on repeated changes to structures that had now almost reverted back to the position they were in 10 years ago, with money lavished on salaries, redundancies and creating offices.
Worse still, the replacement of 100 health authorities with more than 300 primary care trusts created more jobs than there were talented managers, leading to poor decision-making and a "frittering away of much of the Government's investment".
Government figures show 15,000 managers have been recruited since Labour came to power. Dr Carter, who ran an NHS mental health trust in London for 12 years, said he believed one manager in five was not up to the job, while about the same proportion of NHS organisations were not fit for purpose.
The number of nurses emigrating to find work had doubled to 8,000 since Labour came to power in 1997, and the number will continue to grow, he said.
The Government expects that Britain will be short of 14,000 nurses in three years' time, which will force the UK to poach replacements from some of the poorest parts of the world, Dr Carter said."
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