All change?

The transition from a year of hell and misery to a 2021 full of potential and recovery is an illusion. The arbitrary measurement of time in years, seasons, months and days is not something recognised by illness, economics or climate. The former three are the ever present and extreme challenges that need constant addressing. We …

Moving on

The end of a wretched 2020 sees the end of my term as Chair of the RCN Mental Health Forum, a position I've held formally for four years having been on the committee for a total of six. In that time there have been some great wins, some losses but more than anything I've had …

Statement following RCN General Meeting

At today’s RCN General Meeting, a resolution was passed by an overwhelming majority for RCN Council to initiate a comprehensive review of governance. This vote gives Council the mandate to address the issues that led to a failed Presidential election this year, and as authors of the petition that called this meeting we are delighted …

RCN Petitioners’ Working Group – open meeting

https://youtu.be/tdJOfIERnsY On Friday 20th November 2020, the Petitioners' Working Group (comprising myself, Stuart McKenzie, Andrea Spyropoulos, Michael Brown, Linda Bailey and Craig Davidson) hosted an open meeting to discuss issues around the RCN Presidential elections, the calling of the General Meeting and subsequent shennanigans. Questions were submitted by attendees in writing and asked in person. …

Statement from the RCN Petitioners’ Working Group

RCN Council vote against convening planned General Meeting On Thursday 12th November, RCN Council met and voted against convening the general meeting, citing Covid19, an inability to find an online AGM platform and “safety of staff” as reasons. The RCN had already emailed all members giving notice of the meeting, and asking members to register …

Update on RCN EGM – 24.Sep.2020

Members of a Petitioners’ Working Group (names below) and RCN Council members Jeremy Benton and Rod Thomson met this evening to discuss the Extraordinary General Meeting petition submitted on 1st September 2020. We discussed failures of RCN Governance that led to the RCN Presidential elections being paused, the disqualification of two candidates and the remaining …

Update on RCN EGM – 16th Sept 2020

“Despite our approaches, we have had no formal discussions with RCN Council to date. We have offered a meeting but this was postponed by Council at short notice. There has been no collaboration and, while we aim for a co-produced process, it is extremely disappointing that RCN Council and the Executive have put out statements …

Update on the RCN EGM

Discussions are underway following the submission of the EGM petition which so many of you signed. As the submitter of that petition, I am working with some of the original authors to sort out details of the EGM with representatives from RCN Council to figure out how we can go forward and get as many …

RCN presidential election 2020

The election of RCN President should be a celebration of the best our profession has to offer; every two years members are asked to vote for a nurse who will be a visible and vocal representative for nursing of all kinds across the UK. Sadly, this year opaque process and extremely questionable interpretations were used …

#NHSpay15 – part 2

The national protests by NHS workers showed the breadth and depth of anger within healthcare at the refusal to bring forward pay negotiations. Here's my closing speech from the Birmingham demonstration: "Today we, the frontline workers in the NHS, have spoken in unity to say that our pay and our conditions are not good enough. …