The Daily Echo 8 March 2007

Written by Sandra Gidley MP on Thu 8th Mar 2007

My e-mail in box has been flooded with e mails from angry nurses and doctors. Health is a high profile issue and the Government has spectacularly managed to anger the very people needed to help deliver its vision for the NHS. The vision may be a little fuzzy but that is a subject for another day.

The problems are two fold. The nurses are angry about the pay award which works out at approximately 1.9% when calculated over a year. This is less than inflation. Nurses have been in a similar situation before and not complained. The difference here and now is that this is the straw that broke the camel's back.

I regularly hear tales of nurses working in an understaffed environment, of working extra unpaid hours to get the basics done and of concern about job cuts because of the problem of NHS deficits. Specialist nurses are particularly vulnerable. The work force is completely demoralised. On top of this, in some hospitals staff have been approached about "giving an hour free" for the NHS.

In my experience if you treat staff well then they pull out the stops and deliver what you ask of them. It is not always about money but staff do need to feel valued. It is unclear to me why the NHS has so spectacularly failed on this basic principle as a motivated work force could do so much to help meet Government targets.

The complaints from doctors are not about money. The problem here is that the whole system of post graduate training has been changed. There are always concerns about any change but in this case the basic principles behind the change were not the issue. The British Medical Association has, however, been raising concerns about the rushed implementation and a recent press release commented on "the thousands of doctors who've been messed around, given incorrect information, or denied job opportunities that they deserved".

However, the inadequate computer system which is unclear and prone to crashing has contributed to the misery and anger. The doctors have quite rightly asked that the system be put on hold until the problems are sorted out but the Government are carrying on whilst they "review" the system. It is a breathtaking example of the "we know best" mentality which has sprung up in Westminster and Whitehall.

The Government claims to listen and sets up expensive public consultation exercises. What a pity they don't pay more attention to the concerns of those delivering front line services.

Published with kind permission of the Daily Echo