'We can’t have excellent patient care without excellent staff care'
Jocelyn Cornwell points out that, in order for patients to receive the best possible care, nurses need to be taken care of themselves.
Jocelyn Cornwell points out that, in order for patients to receive the best possible care, nurses need to be taken care of themselves.
Despite the winter pressures, spiralling demand on the health service, and pressures on care quality, I haven’t heard anyone in healthcare arguing against the moral imperative to make sure the NHS is safe and delivers high quality care.
Unfortunately however, the national focus on quality, chiefly focussed on performance targets, comes at a time when the NHS is also facing sustained financial pressure.
For nurses and other health professionals, the effects of austerity have been most keenly felt in stagnant pay, but efficiency savings combined with increasing demand are having effects elsewhere as well.