Feature
NURSING MANAGEMENTApril 2009 | Volume 16 | Number 122
Another respondent flagged up weaknesses
in the Choose and Book system to help GPs make
referrals to hospitals.
she said: `We need improved technology,
particularly for Choose and Book. The nHs mail
system is also unreliable and we need more
computers that can talk to each other.'
Recommendations
only 4 per cent of Nursing Management respondents
were under 34, which, according to Ms Howarth,
reflects the age of nursing graduates nowadays.
`A lot of people that qualify for nursing are mature
students,' she said.
About 85 per cent of Nursing Management
readers have been in nursing for more than 16 years,
which is a higher proportion than any other
readership group, while an encouraging 94 per cent
said they would recommend their specialties to other
nurses. only among cancer nurses was a higher
figure, 96 per cent, recorded for this question.
one reader of Nursing Management explained:
`There will always be a need for orthopaedic
nurses in my specialty. And the patients are always
grateful.' Another said: `In my role I can exercise my
knowledge and expertise and get alongside patients,
where I can make the most difference.'
Another respondent said that she would
recommend her specialty, public health, but on
the proviso that it receives adequate funding from
the government.
she explained: `The community has to be the
way forward so long as it's adequately resourced for
caring for the increasing elderly population.'
Asked what they considered the most
important issue facing their specialties, some
Nursing Management readers expressed concerns
about a lack of resources.
one highlighted the `gap between experienced
older nurses, who will retire in the next 20 years, and
inexperienced younger staff'.
Male Nursing Management respondents totalled
6 per cent, which is less than the survey average
of 8 per cent. This could mean that men are less
likely to fill in readership surveys than women,
but Mr Deacon argues that the days of men being
over-represented in nursing management are gone.
`I now see more female managers than male,'
he said. `Ten years ago, I wouldn't have said that.
I think the change reflects workforces in society
generally, with more equality and diversity.'
Ms Howarth is unconvinced, however. Although
she acknowledges that the gap has closed, she says
that there remain disproportionately high numbers
of male nurse managers.
Case study
Wilna Smith remembers when 60 older people were evicted from their care
home because the premises were being sold to property developers. At the
time, she was a nurse at the home, which was near Cape Town. `It was very
traumatic for them, and for me,' she recalls. `I felt like I wanted to go into
another field of nursing where I wouldn't get so attached to my patients.'
It was partly because of this event that Ms Smith left South Africa to start a
new life as a nurse in the UK. `There was a huge recruitment drive ten years
ago in South Africa because the UK was short of nurses. I was young, free
and single, and I thought: "Why not travel a bit?"'
Early on, she noted differences between nurses in South Africa and those in
the UK. Many of the former must cover large geographical areas in which
there are no doctors, and so are highly trained in suturing and minor surgery.
Ms Smith had planned to stay in England for only a year, but after she met
her future husband, Martin, who was a heating engineer at her hospital in
Chelmsford, Essex, she decided to stay. She has now been in the UK for a
decade. After working as a theatre nurse, and becoming bored of the job,
she returned to her `first love' of caring for older people.
She currently manages about 60 staff at Hyman Fine House, a Jewish Carerun
nursing and residential home in Brighton, East Sussex. A major challenge is
complying with the many inspection regimens and legal changes, including the
introduction of the 38 quality standards required under the Care Standards Act
2000. `Some of the standards, like promoting dignity, are intangible. It's difficult
to find ways of meeting standards that are hard to measure,' says Ms Smith.
The most beneficial change for care home service users and nurses over the
next five years is likely to be the introduction of electronic patient records,
she thinks. Highlighting their potential, she explains: `If somebody phones
up from London and asks me what sort of night their mum had, I can look at
the latest entries on my computer. And if I need to discuss medical histories
with a doctor, I can just bring them up on the screen instead of having to use
lots of paper files.'
DavidGee

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