Wednesday 13 April 2011

Andrew Lansley Receives Vote of No Confidence from Royal College of Nursing

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Nurses have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion saying they have "no confidence" in the Health Secretary's management of NHS reforms.


Delegates at the Royal College of Nursing conference in Liverpool voted 99 per cent in favour of the motion, to 1 per cent against.

Never before has the RCN voted on a motion of no confidence in a Health Secretary. Nurse Geoff Earl told delegates it was a "very, very serious issue".

"Mr Lansley says he wants to hear from us - well go out on to the wards, go out into the community and listen to what our colleagues are saying.

"This is being driven by ideological dogma, not what is best for our patients."

Angry delegates said Andrew Lansley's plans would ruin the NHS and lead to worse patient care.

Bethann Siviter, from Birmingham, said she did not have confidence in GP commissioning - one of the central planks of the reforms.

"They mismanaged the flu jabs - how are they going to manage the NHS?" She added that if the reforms went ahead "the NHS is dying". » | Wednesday, April 13, 2011