Tag: PPE

Tory MP attacks the Royal college of nursing

Mark Jenkinson says it’s “Disgusting” that the RCN is politicizing the coronavirus question. What he means is that it’s embarrassing for him to have to face questions about inadequate PPE and so he’s accusing and blaming the victims.

The fact that the NHS is a nationally funded institution that was created politically and has been managed politically ever since doesn’t mean that when we complain about working conditions we’re ‘politicizing’ anything. It just means we’re talking about our terms of employment!

How dare you try to blame the victims in all this, Mark. That’s what’s truly disgusting!

22/4/2020: Update
Since I posted this one or two people have accused me of biased editing. In truth I edited only slightly for brevity but was scrupulously fair in leaving Jenky enough rope to hang himself. If you’re concerned about editing you can compare my video with the original to see how little I edited this disgraceful MP’s words. Hardly anything has been changed. Click the link and go up to around 3hrs 18minutes. You’ll see that Jenky screwed himself with his own ignorant views.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p088vp90

RCN statement on PPE

Responding to PHE latest “Considerations for acute personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages” guidance, RCN Chief Executive and General Secretary, Dame Donna Kinnair, said:

“This guidance was developed without full and formal consultation with the Royal College of Nursing. It is unacceptable that any healthcare setting in the UK does not provide PPE as required by HSE and set out in the existing guidance. Only sound scientific evidence or safety concerns should change the guidance. We have written to the HSE in the strongest terms to voice our concerns. Nursing staff need to be afforded proper protection full stop.”

Here’s my view – not the RCN’s…

This Thursday you can clap for the NHS if you like. Or, you can write to your MP and demand they put pressure on the govt to take whatever measures are necessary to fix this needless PPE crisis. You can explain that you’ll be watching.

You can explain that their future votes depends upon this… and you can mean it!

The great PPE swindle

Last Friday Matt Hancock, Secretary of state for health and all round bad egg stooped about as low as he could. He actually tried to blame hard-pressed clinicians on the front line in the fight against coronavirus for over-using the PPE that his own department had spectacularly failed to plan for or provide.

Like all tory politicians, Hancock wilfully left the NHS under-resourced and now attempts to cover his guilt by throwing the blame on to his victims. Shame on you Hancock! Shame on you.

So I decided to make a short, 3 minute video, highlighting just some of the statements made by Hancock and his cabinet cronies in the face of questions asked by more sensible heads. Enjoy!

How dare you Matt Hancock?

How bloody dare you?

It’s not #NHS staff who are misusing #PPE. It’s all the numpties wearing it for dog-walking or wearing the same gloves from one customer to the next in shops. It’s all those selfish oafs who stock their cupboards full of much-needed kit & then stay at home. That’s the misuse that means we #nurses can’t get enough PPE!

But even that pales into insignificance against the decade of cuts that has left the health service so depleted we hadn’t stocks to begin with.

As usual, for all their superficial praise, the Tories are gearing up to blame us for their betrayal of our efforts against #coronavirus. And as usual, people will believe them and another bit of the NHS will be declared unfit for purpose and flogged off once the crisis passes.

Nurses aren’t heroes!

It’s lovely that you think we’re heroic and all that but it’s just not true. We’re working people like any other doing the best we can in extremely difficult circumstances. Like everyone else we’re doing the jobs we’re good at. Personally I’d be a rubbish plumber but I am pretty decent as a mental health nurse. Provided, of course, I’ve got enough equipment to do what I need to do safely.

If you’d really like to do something to support nurses and all the rest of the staff who are keeping Britain as healthy as we can in these difficult circumstances, there is something you can do, something that is far more powerful and long-lasting than applauding on Thursday evenings…

Coronavirus: What to do with all that hand-sanitiser?

I’m a community psychiatric nurse, a CPN. That tells you something about where I work – in the community. You know, the place where I can’t always get to a sink. I’ve relied on hand-sanitiser gel throughout my career to keep myself and my patients safe, especially when giving injections or performing other procedures involving a biological risk.

Hand sanitiser is OK but it’s not as good as soap and water. When I’m near a usable sink I use soap and water because it’s better. When I can’t get to a usable sink I use gel. At least I used to – until a few weeks ago when we ran out.