The government published a framework for supporting local workforce development in the National Health Service.
Source: A National Framework to Support Local Workforce Strategy Development, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Framework | DH press release
Date: 2005-Dec
An article said that nurses were the key to restoring public confidence in hospital care. Nurses should be central to the running of all aspects of hospitals, not just those areas deemed appropriate by the medical profession. This would require improved leadership and enhanced opportunities for nurses.
Source: Nick Black, 'Rise and demise of the hospital: a reappraisal of nursing': Subtitle, British Medical Journal, 10 December 2005
Links: Extract | LSHTM press release
Date: 2005-Dec
The government announced that experienced nurses would be given the right to prescribe almost every medicine in the national formulary, for every type of medical condition. Doctors said that it was difficult to see how staff who were not trained to diagnose disease could safely prescribe.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 10 November 2005, columns 24-25WS, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Press release 10 November 2005, British Medical Association (020 7383 6244)
Links: Hansard | BMA press release | Guardian report
Date: 2005-Nov
A report said that over 60 per cent of National Health Service organizations believed up to half their staff might be suffering from workplace stress.
Source: Consult GEE, Workplace Stress in the NHS, NHS Confederation (020 7959 7272)
Links: Report | NHS Confederation press release
Date: 2005-Nov
Agreement was reached in the National Health Service to give cleaners, porters (and other soft facilities management staff working for contractors) pay and conditions from October 2006 no less favourable overall than the 'Agenda for Change' pay deal for other NHS staff; and provide for better development and training and closer involvement in NHS workforce reforms.
Source: Press release 6 October 2005, Department of Health (020 7210 4850)
Links: DH press release | Joint statement (pdf) | Guardian report
Date: 2005-Oct
An article said that recent reorganization within the National Health Service had exacerbated existing anxieties about the capacity of the public health workforce.
Source: Stephen Abbott et al., 'Flattening the National Health Service hierarchy: the case of public health', Policy Studies, Volume 26 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2005-Jun
The healthcare inspectorate said that nursing ward staff took more sick days than most other public sector workers. On average, 16.8 days per ward staff member a year were lost to sickness.
Source: Ward Staffing, Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (020 7448 9200)
Links: Report (pdf) | CHAI press release | Guardian report
Date: 2005-Jun
Researchers summarized data on the views of National Health Service staff on how system reform changes affected them. Many staff were positive about the ideology of the changes: but in the short term the constant pace of change, the resulting increased pressures on workload, and the development of a ?tick box culture? - all of which took time away from patient care - created negativity and resistance to change.
Source: Douglas Dalziel, Jeanette Attan and Pamela Bremner, System Reform: Behaviours and Relationships - Final report, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2005-Jun
An article said that the use of positive action to promote greater ethnic diversity might fail in the National Health Service, owing to the suspicion that positive action naturally leads to positive discrimination. It might be easier to take a more radical route by introducing ethnic components to selection criteria and processes.
Source: Nick Johns, 'Positive action and the problem of merit: employment policies in the National Health Service', Critical Social Policy, Volume 25 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2005-May
A survey found that over half of National Health Service staff said that they regularly worked unpaid overtime; and 1 in 4 said that they had been harassed or abused by patients or their relatives in the previous year. But staff said that they were generally satisfied with their work and committed to providing the best possible care for patients.
Source: National NHS Staff Survey 2004, Healthcare Commission (020 7448 9200)
Links: Summary (pdf) | Healthcare Commission press release | NHS Employers press release
Date: 2005-Mar
A report sought to dispel 'insulting myths' about the contribution of National Health Service staff who supported frontline staff such as doctors and nurses everyone from chief executives to cleaners.
Source: Completing the Picture, NHS Confederation (020 7959 7272) and Unison
Links: NHS Confederation press release | Case studies (pdf links)
Date: 2005-Mar
The government announced measures aimed at tackling the cost of disciplinary procedures and staff suspensions within the National Health Service. New disciplinary procedures for doctors and dentists aimed to speed up investigations into their performance.
Source: Maintaining High Professional Standards in the Modern NHS, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report (pdf) | DH press release | BMA press release | Guardian report
Date: 2005-Feb
Consultation began over plans to overhaul pension arrangements in the National Health Service, which included the prospect of staff seeing their final salary pension scheme replaced by one that paid a 'career average' pension on retirement. The proposed new scheme would provide a higher accrual rate, but with benefits paid at age 65 rather than 60.
Source: Moving to a 21st Century Pension Scheme, NHS Employers (020 7074 3200)
Links: Consultation document (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | NHS Employers press release | Guardian report
Date: 2005-Jan
