It’s not unusual for a trade union representing its members to resist change, and today the Royal College of Nursing is sticking well and truly to form. Not only has Peter Carter, its chief executive, called the government’s plan to put nurses through a year of work as healthcare assistants ‘stupid’, he has also penned an op-ed for the Guardian in which he appears resistant to the suggestion that the profession needs to consider wholesale reform following the Francis Report. Carter writes:
‘For the million or so people working in the NHS, a number of things come with the job: a boom-and-bust budget, growing demand and a high level of public expectation. What staff don’t always expect, although many have now become attuned to it, is repeated criticism from the government responsible for the health service.’
Carter goes on to call Jeremy Hunt’s remarks about the ‘normalisation of cruelty’ ‘unintentionally misdirected’, adding that ‘the sad reality is his remarks disappointed many in the health world, myself included.
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