Nurses are the lifeblood of the National Health Service. Without them, the NHS simply could not function. They have the support and trust of the public. So why did Health Secretary Andrew Lansley
snub them?
He brazenly ducked out of addressing the Royal College of Nursing’s annual conference. Instead he opted to take part in a private meeting with just 50 nurses. Although why the RCN accepted this
cop-out and did not tell him to stay away if he couldn’t face the whole conference, I will never understand.
Even Frank Dobson, when he was Health Secretary and had just infuriated the nursing profession by halving its wage rise, had the courage and confidence to address the RCN in 1998.
He knew he would face an enraged conference hall. And he did. But he faced the flak and apologised, saying: “I accept responsibility for the decision and I apologise for it.”
No such courage, confidence or humility from Andrew Lansley. He was too scared to stand up and admit responsibility for a plan that is going to wreck the NHS. And he was obviously not going to apologise for it.
The result was an overwhelming vote of no confidence – the first such vote in the RCN’s 95-year history. How did Lansley react to this devastating decision from the very heart of the NHS? He claimed arrogantly it was simply a “rebuke” and that the nurses actually supported his reforms.
Does he really believe, as he said to the small group of nurses he did actually meet: “I would be joining you in voting against me if I thought the product of what I was doing was to undermine the NHS”? If he really believes he is not undermining the NHS, just what does he think he is doing?
If he thinks a vote of no confidence is a sign of support, what does he think is a sign of opposition? Is his head so deeply buried in the sand that he simply can’t accept what is obvious to everyone, even in his own Government – that this shake-up of the NHS goes too far.
Is he oblivious to the growing opposition and criticism from the medical profession? Is he unaware of the strong public fears that his reforms will be the beginning of the end of the NHS as we know and love it? Is he so naive that he can’t see that the alleged “amendments” to his Health and Social Care Bill are his bosses’ way of telling him he has gone too far? That the launch of a listening exercise is a wrap over the knuckles?
David Cameron and Nick Clegg must be very worried. They are already speaking in platitudes in a desperate attempt to get NHS staff on board.
Clegg, who is under pressure from his own party over the details of the reform, has said he cares “more about getting this right than just getting it done”.
Cameron, who has described himself as “passionate” about the NHS, said it was Britain’s “most precious national asset” and that he as prime minister had no intention of putting it at risk.
When they came to power, I am sure Cameron and Clegg had no thoughts that Lansley would introduce such a maverick plan.
Every in-coming government tinkers with the NHS. But Lansley has gone too far, too soon – especially as the changes are combined with such drastic cash cutbacks.
No one says the NHS is perfect. Even if Labour had won the 2010 general election, it would have continued to make changes and improvements.
But what Lansley is doing will not be an improvement. It will be to the detriment of every aspect of the health service and to the detriment of every patient and every prospective patient.
There is really only one option if we want to protect the NHS. Scrap the current bill, start again and sack Andrew Lansley.
