Independent Nurse Magazine

5 February 2007

Helen Evans is director of Nurses for Reform, a pan-European network dedicated to consumer-oriented reform of healthcare systems. A former senior nurse with nearly twenty years experience in the NHS, she was recently awarded a PhD in Health Economics from Brunel University.

As frontline practitioners, nurses know only too well that we have to find new and better ways of organising, delivering and funding healthcare. In an age of fast moving consumerism, people are no longer prepared to tolerate unresponsive, inefficient and uniform nationalised services.

Too many nursing trade unions and representative bodies fail nurses because they invariably stick to old and out dated agendas. Instead of championing substantive reform - and in doing so, championing the rights of consumers - they default to short-term platitudes such as demanding more taxpayers’ money or new forms of legislative favour. Such an approach is not only disasterous for nurses but in playing the political game it is also catastrophic for patients.

Nurses for Reform (NFR) is a growing pan-European network of nurses dedicated to consumer-oriented reform of British and other European healthcare systems. In Britain, NFR rejects bland egalitarianism in favour of contestability and it believes in people not politics. Above all else, we believe that greater partnership with the private sector is to be actively welcomed and that the independent sector’s contributions are good news for patients and healthcare professionals alike.

Only by putting patients and consumers interests’ first will healthcare improve. It is only when healthcare is opened up to real consumers and trusted brands in a market that nurses will find themselves working in a sustainable environment with the incentives, resources and encouragement to deliver a responsive, popular and truly high quality service.

The RCN and Unison should be more realistic about nurse pay and stop living in cloud cuckoo land. If such groups really want nurses to be valued and paid appropriately they have to stop arguing such incoherent nonsense as ‘healthcare is so important it is beyond monetary consideration’. In the real world, all healthcare has a monetary dimension and the nursing profession has to accept this. As long as we stay in denial of this we will continue to be exploited by politicians driven by their vote motive.

NFR believes that the government should re-cast the NHS as an important, but not sole, funder of healthcare services. The state should set free all NHS hospitals through a range of for-profit and not-for-profit privatisations. Moreover, NFR believes that all hospitals in Europe should be allowed to openly compete with each other. If a hospital fails in this market it should either close or be taken over by a more successful organisation. In addition, all hospitals, as independent entities, should be allowed to pick and choose from a dynamic and fluid labour market. The counter-productive idea of national pay agreements should be abandoned.

Finally, NFR passionately believes in the benefits of commercial free speech. Hospitals, doctors, and other healthcare providers should be allowed to openly advertise their wares and in so doing pro-actively inform consumers of where the best deals can be found.

Together, this initial package of reforms would not only improve efficiency and the experience of consumers but it would start to build a better world for nurses.

The Times

4 January 2007

Dear Sir,

It is clear from Nigel Hawkes article ‘Operations cancelled as NHS runs out of money’ (4 January 2006) that the ‘tractor production is rising’ view of the NHS is finally running out of fuel. As our nationalised healthcare system implements swinging cuts and delays countless operations it is increasingly clear to me that nurses should no longer sign up for careers in public sector healthcare only to find they are unable to access the resources and autonomy they need to do their chosen work.

Today, too many nursing trade unions and representative bodies fail nurses because they invariably stick to old and out dated agendas. Instead of championing substantive reform - and in doing so, championing the rights of patients as consumers - they default to short term platitudes such as demanding more tax payers’ money or new forms of legislative favour. Such an approach is not only disasterous for nurses but it is catastrophic for patients.

In 1948, the British government promised: “The NHS will provide all medical, dental and nursing care. Everyone - rich or poor – can use it”. Yet, sixty years on from the end of the Second World War, Britain is a very different place and increasing numbers of people recognise the limitations of what the public sector can offer.

Nurses for Reform (NFR) believes in fundamental change and in telling the truth. It believes that only by putting patients and consumers interests’ first will healthcare improve. It is only when healthcare is opened up to real consumers and trusted brands in a genuine market that nurses will find themselves working in a sustainable environment with the incentives, resources and encouragement to deliver a responsive, popular and truly high quality service.

Yours sincerely,

Helen Evans

Director
Nurses for Reform

Nursing Times

5 November 2006

Dear Editor,

I was delighted to read Karen Lamb’s comments, ‘Starting Out’ (31 October - 6 November 2006), that “in the real world” of private hospitals, evidence based practice is not just encouraged but it is actively embraced, good hygiene practice is “carried out regimentally” - and where “a new treatment is introduced nurses are encouraged to research the treatment and condition”. Pointing out that the nurse-patient ratio is 1:3 in a private hospital compared with 1:8 in the NHS, Karen is right to conclude that working in the private hospitals sector has “restored [her] faith in the nursing profession”.

Today, nurses are increasingly recognising that nationalised healthcare is not only disastrous for their professional standards but it is catastrophic for patients. This is why Nurses for Reform believe (NFR) it is no longer acceptable for nurses to sign up to careers in public sector healthcare only to find they are unable to access the resources and autonomy they need to do their work. NFR rejects bland egalitarianism in favour of contestability. Above all else we believe that greater partnership with the private sector is to be actively welcomed and that this sector’s contributions are good news for patients and healthcare professionals alike.

NFR believes in fundamental change. It believes that only by putting patients and consumers interests’ first will healthcare improve. It is only when healthcare is opened up to real consumers and trusted brands that nurses will find themselves working in a sustainable environment and with the incentives, resources and encouragement to deliver a responsive, popular and truly high quality service.

Yours sincerely,

Helen Evans

Helen Evans
Director
Nurses for Reform