Bedbugs and consultants are bleeding us dry
Colour-coded uniforms to help Welsh patients
Nurses in Wales will be given colour-coded uniforms to help patients identify their role and who is in charge of wards.
According to the Welsh Assembly Government, the new scrubs, which will be worn by 33,000 nurses, should end any confusion about job roles in the hospital.
From October, each nurse will receive one uniform for every shift in the week, with male and female staff wearing loose-fitting tops and trousers, while ward sisters will wear navy blue uniforms.
Clinical specialist nurses will be identified through royal blue, staff nurses sky blue and healthcare support workers green.
A dress code for other hospital workers is now being looked at to make sure it meets the needs of religious and ethnic minority staff.
Chief nursing officer Rosemary Kennedy said: ‘We do have doctors floating around with white coats flapping around behind them. We have got very lax.’
As well as introducing new uniforms, the assembly hopes to have laundries in hospitals so that uniforms can be washed thoroughly.
The Royal College of Nursing is now meeting to discuss calls to introduce a similar national uniform in England.
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Readers' comments (4)
Anonymous | 7-May-2009 3:50 pm
Wow! What a great idea, colour coded uniforms. So innovation is really about recognising that something's were really done better in the past. Nice to hear the RCN is also on the ball...
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Anonymous | 31-Mar-2010 10:19 am
lol madness.. You so know the wrong uniform or no uniform is going to be there for you shift under this system. What colour do they plan to put Assistant Practitioners in?
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Anonymous | 31-Mar-2010 11:05 am
We have reintroduced chlorhexidine and now laundries - sometimes the old ways were the best!
Hardly an innovation for nurses to wear colour coded uniforms though is it? Or is Wales bumbling about again?
And lol at the Rcn wanting national uniforms. Last time they existed they were a massive fire risk hence the move away [applauded by the Rcn!!!]. Any other bandwagons they will jump on?
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Ezesomaga Ejimogu | 21-Apr-2010 4:50 pm
Colour coded uniforms have been around for some time. So this is innovative only in inpracticality and dullness. When they model this new one, they may consider it appropriate to do so alongside a model for the old one. This way, people are better informed on their respective features. This much is owed.
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