21/07/07 - Deborah Dunleavy - Nurses Voice

PRESS RELEASE 21 July 2007
DEBORAH DUNLEAVY

NURSES VOICE

Nurses voice is a new initiative from the Conservative party that I am supporting.

“Nurses’ Voice” will give nurses - whatever their political persuasion - a place to debate and inform policy. So often those who make policy forget to speak to those on the ground actually doing the job. “Nurses’ Voice” will give nurses across England a chance to make their views known. And that can only improve the service offered to every patient.

This week  a group of nurses and health care workers met to discuss their hopes and fears with Deborah Dunleavy the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Bolton North East and Stephen O’Brian MP the Shadow Minister for health. The meeting was chaired by Sylvia Denton who was a nurse for over 4 decades and was also the former president of the Royal College or Nursing. Both pictured here with Stephen O’Brian MP and some of the other attendees.

Deborah said “This was an excellent meeting which brought up some really important topics for us to take away. There were many issues ranging from the low moral within nursing due to cutbacks, too many issues and reorganisations all happening at once, and policy rather than patient need driving things.

It was unanimous that clinical management should be established to make key decisions unlike presently where just doesn’t happen.”

Deborah also went on to say that one of the points she would certainly take away was how all the nurses who attended where really quite concerned that it’s now the normal for night shifts and weekends to be staffed in the main by health care assistants. This is down to cut backs and trusts not wanting to pay senior nurses to cover these shifts. All where worried that patient care would suffer as a result.

Any nurses wanting to have their say can do so by logging on to http://www.nursesvoice.com/