Staff who have advanced respiratory care skills are now sporting yellow lanyards. This is being done at one trust and it is completely designed to help nurses deal with those who have breathing difficulties. The move is part of the Gloucestershire Hospital Trust response to the outbreak of Covid-19 which is a respiratory illness. Healthcare workers are also being given additional care and training as well to help them deal with the outbreak.

Online Learning Package

An online package is has been developed by clinicians to makes sure that more nurses and staff have the skills they need to actively care for people who have these kinds of issues. The training package which was put together in 48 hours contains all of the information that people need to try and take care of those around them. The lanyard is very eye-catching, and it comes with the words respiratory skills printed onto the tape. This idea comes from Craig Bradley who is the associate chief nurse.

The Lanyard

The lanyard has been developed as the result of the Covid-19 response. The staff who may be asked about the respiratory patients can easily identify colleagues who have the experience needed to get the job done. It also means that those who are coming from a nurse agency or even a nursing recruitment agency will benefit from this if they are not familiar with the staff who they are working with.
Gloucestershire Hospitals have said that over 200 people are going to be wearing the lanyard in the next few days and that healthcare workers need to be prepared for everything that is going to come their way. If they aren’t then this could mean a disaster for the future.

A backdated pay increase of over 10% for nurses who work on the island of Guernsey has been imposed. This is of specialist interest to those who are part of a nursing recruitment agency or even a nurse agency. The negotiations have been put on hold as the result of the coronavirus. The State of Guernsey Policy has implemented the recent offer that was made for the Agenda For Change. The award includes a 5% pay increase which is going to be effective from January. Another 5% increase is going to be put in place from September 2019. This ultimately means that staff who are under the scheme are going to be seeing their salaries increase by over 10%.

The P&R have stated that the negotiations for the year 2020 and even the future years as well are going to be taken into consideration. These are being paused given the unquantified demands of public funding and the enormity of the potential. Unions have expressed their disappointment on the situation, and they have also agreed to stop any industrial action from taking place. This is especially the case given the fact that the Covid crisis is still happening. Leaders of the Royal College of Nursing have released a statement and they have warned that the pay dispute is not in fact over yet. They have said that they recognise the fact that the Covid-19 crisis is putting a lot of pressure on things like public finances and that this is happening more than ever before. That being said, withholding money will not help at all. The pay gap remains but in this day and age, staff are now feeling way more valued than ever. This is not good to say the least, but it looks like more can be done right now.

Trusts have been given a lot of advice on the various steps that they can take to try and look after the mental wellbeing of their staff. They need to address issues which include fatigue, because nurses are now struggling to deal with the crises that has been brought about as the result of Covid-19. It’s important to know that experiencing an outbreak can be unsettling to say the least, so it is vital that people understand this.

The Guidance

Those who work with a nurse agency or even those who are members of a nursing recruitment agency should really know that the guidance has been developed with the input of various trade unions. They are stressing how important it is to try and protect the health of the people and that the wellbeing of the staff needs to be looked at as well. This is critical if the NHS organisations are going to be able to respond to the outbreak to the best of their ability. The pressure on the NHS is going to carry on and now it is becoming even more important that the right strategies are in place. Staff need to be looked after because if they aren’t then they can’t hope to look after other people.

Concerns

There are concerns about the sheer lack of personal protection for nurses and organisations have stated that they need to review this. They need to have a clear and direct process in place so that staff can easily raise their concerns. Staff need to know that they are going to be kept safe and they also need to know that they are going to be given the help they need on a day to day basis.

Andrea Sutcliffe who is the chief executor over at the Nursing and Midwifery Council has come out to say that nurses need to have more protection if they want to give the support that the patients need. Nurses are currently facing some of the biggest challenges in their lives right now and if they are not looked after then the entire front line is going to crumble. Sutcliffe has stated that more needs to be done to try and give PPE to nurses and this comes after the Royal College of Nursing wrote a letter to the prime minister regarding the same issue.

Health and Social Staff

If you work in a nurse agency or in a nursing recruitment agency then you will know what a difficult time this is right now. Covid-19 essentially means that midwives and even nursing professionals are under so much more pressure than normal and that they need to try and do everything they can to provide the critical care required to those who are in need. This needs to be done across the entire industry of health and social care. If this is not done, then nurses are not going to be able to provide the support that they need, and everyone is going to suffer as a result.
It’s incredibly vital that the frontline staff are given the help they need with testing and they are also given the right level of personal protection as well. If they aren’t then this could mean bad things for the future and it might even mean that the virus ends up killing far more people than it should. Right now, the times are uncertain but if nurses are given the help they need then they will be able to do their job properly.

The RCN Northern Ireland have launched a conservative ballot. The general idea is to try and ask members to see if they agree to the proposed framework agreement regarding pay parity and to also find out if this can be done with the NHS England. The RCN have appointed Civica Election Services to see if they can dispatch all of the ballot papers and to also see if they can hand out the associated consultation documents as well. This is going to be done for members who are in Northern Ireland, but it is only going to include those who are actually eligible to take part. They are going to be distributed via email but if you do not have a valid email address then you can take part by post.

Any member of a nursing recruitment agency, or anyone for that matter, who does not actually receive a ballot paper over the next days can easily order a replacement. Those who work in a nurse agency or those who are seeking nursing jobs should know that the ballot is going to consult members on pay parity and the proposals that are going to be made in regards to safe staffing. The Department of Health are now developing a pay calculator. When this is used, members will be able to check their own pay journey as it changes.

The RCN have also produced a consultation document among with other trade unions. These are available through RCN members. There is also going to be a series of workplace consultation events as well. This is going to give those who are active members of the community the chance to ask questions about the proposals as well as helping them to understand the gravity of the situation. Of course, it was never easy to take action like this but as some may know, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Those who work as part of a nurse agency or even in a nursing recruitment agency should know that the RCN have reiterated calls for an urgent investigation. This was for the upcoming budget which would build the nursing workforce. Nursing degree applications are currently below what is required for effective care and safe staffing. There has been a small increase since last year but the number of people who are actually applying for a nursing degree still stands at 25% lower than it was in the year 2016. Last year, students were able to receive the bursary but there are 43,000 nursing vacancies in England right now.

Dame Donna Kinnair, who is the RCN Chief Executive has come out to say that today, there is a general increase and that this is positive, but decisive action is still needed. Urgency is also required because people need to rise to the scale of the challenge and they also need to be able to really focus on the future and what it has to offer. Nurses are being put off at the fact that they are going to have to pay tuition fees and they are also concerned about the idea of having a lifetime of student debt as well. The RCN have welcomed the promise that has been made by the government. This comes in the form of a £5,000 grant and it is designed to help students with their starting studies. The grant can go towards living costs and this is great, but many have called for all nursing students to be given a higher level of support on top of this. If action was taken, then this would really help people to be given the opportunity to pursue a career in nursing.

Members who are in Guernsey are going to vote on whether or not they are going to take industrial action. The ballot papers actually reached the island this week. The ballot is going to run until the 28th of February and the members are being asked to vote on whether or not they are willing to take some degree of action, whether it’s strike action or anything else similar. They are doing this to try and secure pay parity amongst other public sector workers. It’s the second time in the history of the RCN that a ballot like this has happened. If you work in a nursing recruitment agency or even in a nurse agency, then this is almost certainly going to affect you.

It’s important to know that Guernsey is an independent country. The pay in the healthcare sector is actually negotiated locally. Of course, it’s important to know that the campaign is used to secure pay parity amongst other public sector workers and that this became the case in 2017. It has continued in 2019 as part of the pay round. Two offers have been rejected by the members so far and the matter was also referred for mediation as well. This then generated a third offer. This was again, rejected because there was not a clear timetable in which to resolve the disparity between the nurses and the other people who are employed by the state.

In response to a dispute, the South East board started the industrial action process. This happened when they asked the RCN Council to see if they could be given approval to have a full-industrial action ballot. After the mediation failed, the matter was then put forward for an industrial tribunal. The tribunal would only rule the pay rise for 2019 but it would not resolve the issue regarding parity.

Discussions are being held about the safety of nursing staff and also their patients. It’s going to be discussed whether the RCN should really be lobbying every government across the UK to see if they can find a solution to corridor care. Delegates are also going to debate some of the implications and even the opportunities for NHS staff after the introduction of things like the mental health act. This is going to include first-aiders who work in companies and even how patients and staff who are affected by things like abortion clinics can be supported. This is really going to help those who work as part of a nurse agency or even a nursing recruitment agency.

A number of important issues regarding the RCN are also going to be discussed. Some of the issues that are going to be discussed include whether or not the College will need to establish a country board, and the impact on staffing and effective care overall. The RCN also want to have their role debated. BJ Waltho who is the chair of the RCN congress has stated that as ever, it’s important that members are able to deal with the various issues that they face through their work and that they feel strongly about this. They are looking forward to hearing voices from every side as a result of the debates in Liverpool and they are also trying to continue to ensure that the views of everyone involved are actually being heard. The congress is going to take place in June and everyone is doing their part to try and make sure that enough support is given to those who need it the most. This includes some of the unheard members of the community.