Letter: Better late than never for NHS

WE ARE very fortunate in Scotland to have a) a devolved Parliament and b) to have Nicola Sturgeon as Health Minister. She is intelligent, astute, and has the courage to face the challenges of the NHS head on.

Her latest intention to axe or phase out managers in the NHS has come a little late in the day, but soon enough to make a difference, I hope.

When I did my nurse training in the early 80s, a tutor told us that when she was a Sister on the wards an Enrolled Nurse (2-year fully trained) would be her right hand while the Registered General Nurse (3-year trained) could be trusted to do the paperwork. In other words the Enrolled Nurse had a special aptitude to get on with the basic practical patient care.

Perhaps something was necessary to bring greater efficiency in the running of the health service; but to airbrush out the very core of nursing to make way for the expensive flotsam of managerial staff and to contract hospital cleaning to private companies was the worst thing to have happened. It has resulted in overworked staff and low morale in the wards, and, quite frankly, a less than clean environment that no number of clinical handwashing dispensers placed in corridors can cover up. Nursing staff deserve a better deal and patients the service nurses wish to give.

Janet Cunningham (retired RGN), Stirling