In yesterday's Guardian, an article reported that DHSC figures show 2,000 mental health staff are leaving their jobs every month. Every Month. Mental health services are short of over 42,000 staff, 24,000 of whom left in the year to May 2018. That's 1 in 8 staff. That's leave being cancelled, appointments rebooked and delayed, lack … Continue reading 1 in 8
Third runway
Chris Grayling, the Secretary of State for Transport, announced today that the UK Government has agreed to allow the building of a third runway at Heathrow Airport. In amongst the details, he included setting aside £2.6billion (!) for compensation to people who live in the area, much of that to cover soundproofing. I've read numerous … Continue reading Third runway
#RCN18 – Tuesday
The key activity of the Mental Health Forum at Congress was the discussion on improving suicide awareness in nursing. As you can imagine, for such an emotive issue, the debate had to be handled with great sensitivity and compassion. Several members recounted their experience of dealing with suicide, and we were privileged to hear some … Continue reading #RCN18 – Tuesday
#RCN18 – Therapeutic Staffing
A few people asked for the text of the RCN Mental Health Forum resolution on Therapeutic Staffing, so here it is: Thank you for considering this resolution - that this meeting of RCN Congress calls on Council to commission research into therapeutic staffing levels for mental health nursing. There’s so much going on around safe … Continue reading #RCN18 – Therapeutic Staffing
#RCN18 Congress – Monday
Today was fantastically busy, in the best possible way. A key highlight was to present our resolution on Therapeutic Staffing in Mental Health settings. This is a real passion of mine - to recognise that we as mental health nurses have therapeutic clinical effect through our interactions with service users. This effect is seldom represented … Continue reading #RCN18 Congress – Monday
#RCN18 Congress – Sunday
The first day of debates got underway and we debated recruitment and retention as well as redeployment. We voted to deplore the UK government's handling of the nursing workforce, and speakers from all disciplines and all over the UK shared their experiences. The situation facing nurses and the nursing profession is pretty grim at the … Continue reading #RCN18 Congress – Sunday
RCN Congress – Intro
Today (Saturday 12th May) is International Nurses' Day, and the first day of RCN Congress in Belfast. This year the Mental Health Forum has eleven delegates who are voting members - the Congress agenda has items for discussion and resolutions to vote on. Each of our delegates represents over a thousand members. Over the next … Continue reading RCN Congress – Intro
Moaning about negativity
There have been complaints that posts on the RCN Members Facebook group have become too negative, so I want to share some good vibes, and not in a fluffy hug-a-rainbow way. Just under a year ago, the day after last year's Congress where I was riding on a high after our emergency resolution on pay … Continue reading Moaning about negativity
A typical ‘male’ response
Let me say from the beginning, I am a big fan of the RCN. I've had great professional and personal support from the institution and the members in the six years I've been a member. I've gone from insecure student not knowing anything to chairing the largest professional forum in that short time, my skills … Continue reading A typical ‘male’ response
#MHNursesDay 2019 – Why I do what I do
Today is the first ever Mental Health Nurses' Day, so here's a repost of a spoken word performance I did a couple of years ago, about the high and the low of my job. There's obviously clinical skills in there, but these are the feels: I work with mummies and mummies to be, and I … Continue reading #MHNursesDay 2019 – Why I do what I do
