Nursing Counts - please show your support.

[Night Owl]

Hi folks,
with a general election just around the corner, and a struggling NHS service, please show nurses your support.

This is from the Royal College of Nursing Campaign, Nursing Counts.

This General Election is going to matter; not just to your working life as a nurse but also to the lives of your patients. The coming months will see politicians of all parties set out their vision for the care of future generations. Dr. Peter Carter
Whatever happens over the next few weeks, the nursing voice must be heard. It's becoming clearer and clearer that after this election, in this new decade; fundamental decisions about the future of healthcare will be taken.
With an average of over 1,800 nurses and healthcare assistants living and voting in each constituency, parliamentary candidates and political parties know that the nursing family is one they cannot afford to ignore.
Whether or not you have a politician knocking on your door, it is up to us as nurses to make our voices heard in the debates over the future of the health service.
To recognise the sheer importance of this election, we have launched our ‘Nursing counts' campaign and with it, this exciting new website. From this site you'll be able to sign up to our manifesto pledges, send them on to friends and family, upload photos, watch our latest films and interact with Twitter and Facebook.
Nurses represent one of the largest and most significant voting blocs in the UK, if we use our voice to stand up for quality care, for sustained investment and for the bright future that we know patients deserve, we will make a difference.
Politics counts, votes count, nursing counts.

PRIORITIES
1. Standing up for staff who speak out.
Nurses and healthcare staff need to be confident that their concerns over failures in patient care will be heard. All healthcare organisations should be required to hold a register of staff concerns that must be reported to their board regularly and made available to the public.
2. Safer staffing levels.
To ensure nurses and other healthcare staff have the time needed to give patients the dignified care they deserve, there must be the right number and right balance of nursing staff on the wards. The RCN wants to see regular staffing reviews, which are then reported to trusts boards, to guarantee safe staffing numbers and the highest level of quality care for patients.
3. Give Nurses the time to train.
Quality patient care needs healthcare workers who are continually trained to the highest level. All too often training budgets are under pressure or staff have to learn in their own time. Improved training and regulation for healthcare assistants and support workers must be a priority. The RCN is calling for the regulation of healthcare assistants and for every nurse and healthcare worker to have protected training time as part of their continuous professional development.
4. Protect the Nation's Health.
Specific resources need to be targeted at reducing health inequalities by providing public health information, tackling the root causes of ill health and promoting healthy lifestyles, with a particular focus on smoking, obesity and alcohol abuse. The RCN is calling for a single mandatory code to better regulate the drinks industry to minimise the dangers and healthcare costs associated with excessive drinking.
5. Improve Care for those with long term conditions.
Improve care for patients with long-term conditions by supporting and investing in specialist nurses. The RCN is calling for every patient with a long term condition to have guaranteed access to specialist nursing care.
6. Sustain Health Care Investment.
In order to ensure a first class health care system that delivers the highest level of care to patients, there needs to be sustained investment in services, staff and facilities. The RCN is calling for current levels of health care spending to be maintained in order to ensure patients continue to receive the care they deserve.

Royal College of Nursing - Nursing Counts

Please show us your support.
Thank you.

[Night Owl]

Giving this post a bit of a bump!

Friends, family, members of the public can support this, not just nurses.
Anybody who has had dealings with the NHS as it is today can sign it and hopefully we can bombard the Government to sit up and listen and make positive, sustainable changes.

We have the opportunity here to do something positive, lets not waste it please.

Please show your support here
Royal College of Nursing - Nursing Counts

Big Big thank you.

[**Tilly**]

Done

[caro]

Done.