Chamber
Plenary, 09 May 2002
09 May 2002 · S1 · Plenary
Item of business
Nurses
The contribution that our nurses make to our health care system is phenomenal. They are the backbone of the NHS and without them the NHS would crumble. Therefore, ensuring that nurses are happy and motivated is vital for good patient care and the efficient running of our health service. If things go wrong, nurses are the first to experience the problems. While we may sit in our ivory towers, they are in direct contact with patients every day. They work tirelessly to help others for comparatively little reward.
The problem is that the nursing work force is too small. Recruitment and retention problems are huge and are caused by many factors. A demoralised work force leads nurses to leave the service and does not encourage many to enter it. Understaffing leads to overworked staff who can put up with only so much for so long. Continual change leads to continual uncertainty and instability. Lack of involvement in decision making leads to feelings of being uninvolved and undervalued. The constant pressure of dealing with patients who have waited too long for treatment leads to futility and anger.
Last September, I visited Lorne and Islands district general hospital in Oban, where nurses kindly gave me their valuable time to describe the pressure. It is intolerable that a huge number of nurses are being forced out of the NHS because they can no longer take the pressure. Nurses are hugely committed to a caring, vocational profession. We can only imagine what it takes to destroy that commitment.
Some of the Executive's initiatives are good, but they do not address the fundamental problem. They are akin to rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic. Nurses are leaving because they are not being allowed to do their jobs properly. Patients are waiting far too long for admission, which leaves them more severely ill and needing more intensive treatment. That leaves them weaker and more susceptible to hospital-acquired infection, which prolongs their stay. By that stage, many patients must be exasperated with the NHS, deeply frightened and perhaps in pain. Nurses bear the brunt of all that. Their job becomes infinitely more difficult if they see too many people needlessly suffering and dying. They must continually apologise for a system over which they have no control.
Many nurses are not leaving the health service and are simply moving to more flexible and responsive systems. England appears to be the prime beneficiary of that movement, along with other European countries and Australia. It does not take a genius to work out why. In Germany, nurses are happy, well trained and content. They work in clean hospitals and see patients when they need to be seen—almost immediately. As a result, the recovery rate is faster and greater, and nurses feel that, rather than just stemming the tide, they are having a positive impact on the health of their patients. That contrasts dramatically with the situation in our NHS.
The issue is not money. Germany puts only a small percentage more of public funding into its health service than we do, and soon, Scottish health funding will be higher than that in other European countries, including Germany. The difference is that Germany has a flexible, responsive system in which a happy work force provides patient-oriented care. There is no excuse for Scotland not to have that same quality.
I look forward to the day when there will be no waiting lists, when waiting times will be short, when there will be clean hospitals and when patients will be cared for by the appropriate number of well-qualified, highly motivated nurses. The nursing profession is full of wonderful people who are doing their best under impossible circumstances. Although some of the measures that the Scottish Executive has brought in seem to be good ideas, I ask how successful those measures will be and how they will improve patient care and nurse morale when our entire NHS system is working against them.
The problem is that the nursing work force is too small. Recruitment and retention problems are huge and are caused by many factors. A demoralised work force leads nurses to leave the service and does not encourage many to enter it. Understaffing leads to overworked staff who can put up with only so much for so long. Continual change leads to continual uncertainty and instability. Lack of involvement in decision making leads to feelings of being uninvolved and undervalued. The constant pressure of dealing with patients who have waited too long for treatment leads to futility and anger.
Last September, I visited Lorne and Islands district general hospital in Oban, where nurses kindly gave me their valuable time to describe the pressure. It is intolerable that a huge number of nurses are being forced out of the NHS because they can no longer take the pressure. Nurses are hugely committed to a caring, vocational profession. We can only imagine what it takes to destroy that commitment.
Some of the Executive's initiatives are good, but they do not address the fundamental problem. They are akin to rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic. Nurses are leaving because they are not being allowed to do their jobs properly. Patients are waiting far too long for admission, which leaves them more severely ill and needing more intensive treatment. That leaves them weaker and more susceptible to hospital-acquired infection, which prolongs their stay. By that stage, many patients must be exasperated with the NHS, deeply frightened and perhaps in pain. Nurses bear the brunt of all that. Their job becomes infinitely more difficult if they see too many people needlessly suffering and dying. They must continually apologise for a system over which they have no control.
Many nurses are not leaving the health service and are simply moving to more flexible and responsive systems. England appears to be the prime beneficiary of that movement, along with other European countries and Australia. It does not take a genius to work out why. In Germany, nurses are happy, well trained and content. They work in clean hospitals and see patients when they need to be seen—almost immediately. As a result, the recovery rate is faster and greater, and nurses feel that, rather than just stemming the tide, they are having a positive impact on the health of their patients. That contrasts dramatically with the situation in our NHS.
The issue is not money. Germany puts only a small percentage more of public funding into its health service than we do, and soon, Scottish health funding will be higher than that in other European countries, including Germany. The difference is that Germany has a flexible, responsive system in which a happy work force provides patient-oriented care. There is no excuse for Scotland not to have that same quality.
I look forward to the day when there will be no waiting lists, when waiting times will be short, when there will be clean hospitals and when patients will be cared for by the appropriate number of well-qualified, highly motivated nurses. The nursing profession is full of wonderful people who are doing their best under impossible circumstances. Although some of the measures that the Scottish Executive has brought in seem to be good ideas, I ask how successful those measures will be and how they will improve patient care and nurse morale when our entire NHS system is working against them.
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Sir David Steel):
NPA
The next item of business is a debate on motion S1M-3078, in the name of Malcolm Chisholm, on action to recruit, retain and value nurses, and two amendments ...
The Minister for Health and Community Care (Malcolm Chisholm):
Lab
The delivery of health services for patients requires a combination of sustained investment and reform—investment in staff, equipment, facilities and new tre...
Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP):
SSP
Will Malcolm Chisholm give way?
Malcolm Chisholm:
Lab
In a moment. I need to make more progress first.We want all those who qualify to secure employment within NHS Scotland, if they wish to do so. We have theref...
Tommy Sheridan:
SSP
My question relates specifically to nurses' bursaries. Given his experience of speaking at various conferences, the minister will surely accept that the bigg...
Malcolm Chisholm:
Lab
There will be a further increase in bursaries this year. I am aware of the issue that Tommy Sheridan raises, and I am sure that it will come up at the specia...
Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
Will the minister give way?
Malcolm Chisholm:
Lab
Time will not allow me to take an intervention. I have only one and a half minutes left.Flexibility is another key issue that has been raised at nursing conv...
Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP):
SNP
I thank nurses, midwives and health visitors for the enormous contribution that they make to patient care and the national health service. I also pay tribute...
Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con):
Con
Another week, another health debate, and this week another health minister, too. I welcome this debate on recruiting, retaining and valuing nurses, given tha...
Mrs Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD):
LD
I am pleased to speak in the debate to acknowledge the work that Scotland's nurses do in international nurses week and throughout the year, and to highlight ...
Brian Adam:
SNP
Will Margaret Smith give way?
Mrs Smith:
LD
I will not give way. I have no time. I have only five minutes.
Brian Adam:
SNP
There will be no debate if she does not give way.
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Mr George Reid):
SNP
Order.
Mrs Smith:
LD
In areas in which the Scottish Executive has the power to make a positive difference to conditions, it has been listening to the RCN's campaign and has made ...
The Deputy Presiding Officer:
SNP
We now come to the open debate. We are obviously tight for time, but I will allow speeches of four minutes with some extra time for interventions.
Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab):
Lab
I agree with other members that it is highly appropriate for us to hold this debate during international nurses week. Since 1997, Labour has delivered 20,000...
Nicola Sturgeon:
SNP
Will Sarah Boyack give way?
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
No, thank you, Ms Sturgeon. Those concerns are a legacy of what the Tories did to the health service. The recent pronouncements of Liam Fox show the Tories' ...
Ben Wallace (North-East Scotland) (Con):
Con
Will the member take an intervention?
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
I will take a brief intervention.
Ben Wallace:
Con
How does Ms Boyack reconcile her fine words and the fine words of the Scottish Executive with the fact that the chancellor will take £5.8 million out of the ...
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
I have not met any nurse who is unhappy about the massive increase that everyone recognises is going into the NHS. We need to talk up the fact that the money...
Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP):
SNP
Nurses now take on greater roles and greater responsibilities than ever before, but the average age of nurses is increasing. The average age in Scotland is n...
Mr Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con):
Con
The contribution that our nurses make to our health care system is phenomenal. They are the backbone of the NHS and without them the NHS would crumble. There...
Brian Fitzpatrick (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab):
Lab
Jamie McGrigor's contribution—or perhaps what was omitted from it—speaks volumes about the lack of consensus in Scotland on sustained and rising investment i...
Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
Members of all parties have produced statistics on a variety of issues, such as the number of nurses who leave the profession, the number of nursing students...
Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD):
LD
I will concentrate on two points—job satisfaction and prisons. Three things make a job worth having and attract people to it: pay and conditions; the public ...
Janis Hughes (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab):
Lab
I declare an interest as a member of Unison. As a nurse, I am delighted to speak in today's debate. During my years in the health service, I considered mysel...