Category Archives: Britain

Britain, Government, Health, Medical

Nursing code of conduct under review…

NURSING RULE BOOK AND THE NEED FOR ‘COMPASSION’

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is to overhaul its code of conduct, an eight-page handbook setting out good practice. This comes in the wake of a damning report into the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal which has ordered the profession to show more compassion.

While for many people it would seem a prerequisite for the job, nurses could for the first time be ordered to treat their patients with compassion. The word is not mentioned anywhere in the profession’s current official code of conduct.

Such an obligation could lead to more nurses being struck-off or suspended for failing to care properly for patients or by treating them with dignity.

Last week, concerns over nursing standards were raised in two separate reports.

One, into the controversial Liverpool Care Pathway, said many nurses were ‘callous and brutal’ in their treatment of dying patients. The other, into needless deaths at 11 failing hospital trusts, found nurses did not have time for basic acts of compassion such as holding the hand of a dying patient.

Professor Judith Ellis, a member of the NMC council, said the new code of conduct would be drawn up this autumn. She said that a working party has been looking in depth at the code which needs to be reviewed because ‘it can get out of date.’

Introducing a requirement to show compassion would send a powerful message to the profession, reminding nurses of their basic duties which could see more staff being struck-off or suspended if they fall short. At present, very few nurses are disciplined just for not being compassionate – the most common offence for those disciplined is for physical abuse, followed by failing to keep adequate records.

The chief nursing officer for NHS England, Jane Cummings, has backed the move, saying:

… It is appropriate that compassion is reflected in the code of conduct.

Baroness Emerton, a retired nurse and crossbench peer, said nurses should not be put out at being reminded to show compassion. But she also added:

… You would hope that all nurses have compassion but it can be difficult if patients are aggressive… I do not think any nurse should be offended by being told that in difficult circumstances they have to stay compassionate.

A representative for Patient Concern, an organisation committed to promoting choice and empowerment for all health service users, said that whilst nurses should be reminded that they must be kind and considerate to patients, they shouldn’t be abdicating this responsibility to healthcare assistants.

WHAT NURSES ARE TOLD NOW

  • You must treat people as individuals and respect their dignity.
  • You must not discriminate in any way against those in your care.
  • You must act as an advocate for those in your care, helping them to access relevant health and social care, information and support.
  • You must treat people kindly and considerately.
  • Other sections of the nursing code tell nurses to maintain patient confidentiality, not to have inappropriate relationships with patients and to work well with other staff.
  • Nurses are also told to alert managers if they think staff are putting patients at risk, and to get patients or relatives’ consent before beginning treatment.
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Britain, Government, National Security, Politics, Syria

Engage in Syria at your own peril…

SYRIA: A RISKY VENTURE

The Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond, has hinted that hundreds of British soldiers could be sent to Syria to prevent a chemical threat to the West.

Mr Hammond has refused to rule out ordering troops to the war zone to rein in President Bashar al-Assad’s regime or seize stockpiles of illegal weapons.

He said it was ‘unlikely’ but no option was ‘off the table’ – in the most serious warning yet that the UK could deploy forces to Syria.

Mr Hammond gave his remarks after the outgoing head of the Armed Forces, General Sir David Richards, said Britain risked being dragged into the war.

Sir David, who has stepped down after three years as Chief of the Defence Staff, said ministers ‘would have to act’ if hoards of chemical weapons were discovered.

The UK must be prepared to ‘go to war’ if it wanted to stop the bloodshed inflicted by President Assad to crush a pro-freedom uprising in his country, he said.

At a ceremony at Horse Guards Parade in London to mark the end of General Richards’ tenure, the Defence Secretary said:

… I think it’s very unlikely we would see boots on the ground but we must never take any options off the table.

… It’s not our job to decide how and when and if to deploy forces but to make sure the Prime Minister and the National Security Council have the maximum range of options open to them.

General Richards revealed planning for a major operation led by Special Forces was under way. He said:

… The risk of terrorism is becoming more dominant in our vision for what we do in Syria.

… If that risk develops, we would almost certainly have to act … and we are ready to do so. Some could characterise that as war.

OPINION

The Prime Minister should consider very carefully the words of the outgoing Chief of Defence Staff, General Sir David Richards, before promising to give military assistance to rebel forces in Syria.

On leaving his post, Sir David has warned that plans under consideration to arm the rebels and set up a no-fly zone (NFZ) would be the start of a deeper and more dangerous British involvement. Stemming from that would invariably be aerial attacks on ground targets, followed by advisers to train the rebels, and, potentially, British combat troops on the ground.

Do we really know who these rebels are? Can we be confident that if they overthrow Assad, who has an advanced Air Force, they would govern any better? If Britain was to arm the rebels, could those weapons be used against British or other Western targets?

Syria has evolved into a pernicious bloody civil war with complex sectarian dimensions the West barely understands.

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Britain, Intelligence, National Security, United States

Britain’s Spy watchdog rules on GCHQ eavesdropping…

INTELLIGENCE & SECURITY COMMITTEE

The Westminster Parliament’s spy watchdog has called for an investigation into Britain’s laws on intelligence eavesdropping as it cleared GCHQ of flouting the existing rules.

The Intelligence and Security Committee ruled on Wednesday that the listening station in Cheltenham acted with ministerial backing when it requested electronic intercepts from the US National Security Agency’s PRISM programme.

But the committee has raised questions about whether there is a need for new laws.

GCHQ has faced criticism after NSA whistleblower and US fugitive Edward Snowden claimed that British intelligence used PRISM by circumventing British laws.

The committee said the claims were ‘unfounded’ and that in each case where GCHQ sought information from the US, an intercept warrant signed by a minister was already in place. Crucially, however, it has not yet investigated what happened when the NSA handed over unsolicited intelligence.

And, in dealing with only the ‘content of private communications’, the committee has not examined the vast majority of the intelligence generated by PRISM – data which reveals who sends emails and other messages, to whom they send them, at what time and from where.

The watchdog suggested that the ‘law has not caught up with technology’ that allows the listening post to tap millions of emails.

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