'Lansley must listen to nurses on the front line' Nursing Times' team blog
Britain's got talent?
It is one of the shows you watch for all the wrong reasons - it’s tacky and appeals to the British notion of making fun of people who dare to stick their heads above the parapet.
As with many people I was concerned about young Hollie Steel after she overcame her nerves in the semi-final.
But I feel the ongoing debate about whether children should be allowed to perform on the show is only tackling half the story.
Several other contestants were ill-equipped psychologically to deal with the sudden exposure and celebrity status - most obviously Susan Boyle.
Voting figures suggest that voters turned on Ms Boyle, a woman reported to have learning disabilities, following reports in the tabloids about her behaviour in the build-up to the final on Saturday night. Some of that behaviour seems to be the result of her being bullied by members of the public.
It is not clear how much psychological support Ms Boyle was receiving throughout her meteoric rise to fame, but it seems pretty clear that it wasn’t enough. At least the contestants on the forthcoming Big Brother are protected from the media while they are in the house, and have 24-hour access to psychological support.
Surely the debate should be about whether vulnerable people, be they children or adults with learning disabilities or mental health problems, really understand what they are consenting to when they sign up for BGT. Perhaps the media should be expected to obtain informed consent before providing emotional and psychological support for all contestants - after all some adults are vulnerable too.
Is it better for someone like Susan Boyle, a lady clearly ill-equipped for dealing with sudden fame, to remain at home dreaming the dream?
And have the show’s producers jeopardised her mental health by pushing her to sign record deals and perform in front of millions of people, on the television and internet?
My scariest assignment yet
Today I had one of my scariest assignments yet for Nursing Times.
Normally the most excitement I get is listening to Socialist Worker Party militants at the Unison conference, trying to get the NHS Pay Review Body abolished.
But today’s visit to the Islington Hilton hotel in London was far more nerve-wracking.
It featured Robert Kaiser, managing director of ASEO Intelligent Body Armour Solutions, being slashed by a knife usually used only by US Navy Seals.
At least that’s what he told me, but I wasn’t going to go try and find out how sharp it was.
Thankfully Mr Kaiser was wearing his revolutionary slash resistant T-shirt, which prevented the whole thing turning into some kind of snuff movie.
Afterwards the demonstration at the press conference-cum-product launch, I also met several other quite scary people.
Two suited gentlemen looking shifty in the corner turned out to be those people who bash your door down if you have not paid the leccy for six months.
And another disconcertingly friendly man turned out to be the chief doorman at Fabric nightclub, who wore a gold chain that reminded me of something Mr T would wear and kept playfully punching me while talking to me.
As they often say in the journalistic trade, I made my excuses and left.
The Blog Doctor and the BNP
The BNP debate is finally fizzing out. The entertaining editorial disputes, vitriolic complaints and political abuse have given way to an uneasy calm.
For those who missed it:
- UNISON called for nurses to be banned from the BNP because they feel that its beliefs are incompatible with the nursing ethos.
- BNP supporters disagreed, and felt that no legitimate political party should be banned from nursing or anything else.
In some of the more colourful episodes, the Nursing Times team and yours truly have been called ‘communist’, ‘facist’ and ‘gay’.
While Dr John Crippen weighed in with his usual candour over on NHS Blog Doctor.
Playground abuse or measured commentary, an important ethical and profesional debate took place, and we’re glad to have hosted it.
Does the 'undercover nurse' deserve to be struck off?
Covert filming is a none-too-subtle breach of patient confidentiality. But the evidence of poo-stained floors, hungry patients and ignored pleas for help surely needed to be heard.
Whether it also needed to be sensationalised on prime-time TV is another matter, but Ms Haywood claims she tried to alert her seniors before going public.
The NMC beg to differ, ruling that her failure to go through the proper channels was serious enough to end a 20-year career in nursing.
NMC ruling:
…the panel is referring to the need to protect the public, to maintain standards of nursing in this country and to maintain public confidence in the profession and the NMC.
She may have been naive; maybe even a teensy bit seduced by the TV cameras; but she brought some very serious service failures out into the open, and forced the hospital to address them. That can never be a bad thing. A point also made by Dr John Crippen, with his usual effervescent wit, over on NHS Blog Doctor.
Good to see our favourite NHS blogger getting over his rage about nurses being seen as more trustworthy thandoctors by the public. This outrageous claim is dismissed thus:
“It was reported in the Nursing Times. Enough said.”
Charming.
