Published: 13/11/2003, Volume II3, No. 5881 Page 15
Today HSJ, in conjunction with Nursing Times, launches a manifesto for the NHS drawn up by nurses (see pages 32-35). It stems from a series of forums at which nurses devised their own ways of organising and running the NHS and debated these with their local health service managers.
The nurse teams came up with a range of ideas. Some were visionary - requiring doctors to spend a year training as nurses to improve their caring and communication skills; some were ambitious - a case manager for every patient; and some were radical - fully integrating social services with primary care trusts.
A number reflected nurses' concerns about capacity and cost and a belief that the public takes the NHS for granted. They wanted to move away from the idea of a 'service' to one of a 'partnership' and believed that changing the name of the NHS would signal a move to a culture of individual and collective responsibility for health.
They also suggested consideration of co-payment for certain treatments.
Unsurprisingly, all the ideas that were generated by the forums were innovative and practical. It is nurses, with their understanding of the health service and patient experiences, who are in a unique position to inform health service managers and politicians about what needs to be done to improve life for both users and staff.
The project proved, yet again, that nurses can solve many of the problems facing the health service. They already do this every day. In the words of former health secretary Frank Dobson on the 50th anniversary of the NHS: 'Nurses are not part of the problem, they are part of the solution.'
The NHS plan states that nurses should be leading the development of the service.
When it comes to advancing new nurse-led initiatives, as chief nursing officer Sarah Mullally points out (pages 26 and 27), they are already at the forefront However, this is not always the case when it comes to developing overall service delivery. It is now time for all health service managers to follow the example set by the best trusts and to use the knowledge and experience of nurses to help shape the new NHS.
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