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The title says it all, article is from here: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,,1762303,00.html
"Catcalls, barracking and laughter force Hewitt to abandon speech
· Delegates give health secretary 'dose of reality'
· Top civil servant blames Reid for NHS distrust
John Carvel, social affairs editor
Thursday April 27, 2006
The Guardian
Patricia Hewitt endured 50 minutes of catcalls, barracking and derisive laughter yesterday as she addressed the annual congress of the Royal College of Nursing. Almost 2,000 delegates in Bournemouth did not permit her to finish a prepared speech in which she battled, against persistent interruptions, to defend the government's record of increased investment in the NHS.
They shrieked in disbelief when she asserted that most trusts were not in financial difficulty, and started a slow handclap when she suggested that nurses could reorganise their rotas to make better use of permanent staff. The hostility continued when she repeated the government's boasts about record investment in new hospital building and bumper pay rises. After doggedly fielding a succession of hostile questions from nurses, she walked off to a deafening chorus of protest. Delegates chanted the slogan that will be paraded through London at a march to parliament on May 11 - "Keep nurses working, keep patients safe" - until long after she had left the stage.
Article continues
It was the most strident display of opposition in the college's 90-year history, and contrasted with the quiet contempt for her speech to the public service union Unison in Gateshead on Monday.
Beverly Malone, the college's general secretary, said: "The goal was to make sure our members were heard. They are hurting out there, making life and death decisions when under-resourced and understaffed. The RCN has warned the government that when it comes to nurses' goodwill, they're skating on thin ice. The secretary of state saw for herself just how quickly that ice is melting."
Ms Hewitt cut short her prepared speech when the conference chairman responded to increasing impatience among delegates and asked her to stop.
Questions followed, led by Les Miles, an advanced neonatal practitioner from South Tyneside hospital, who asked how she could justify the understaffing he experienced, with one qualified nurse and one auxiliary having to care for 14 premature babies. It was the first of a number of questions that Ms Hewitt tried to answer while delegates chanted "yes or no" as they stamped their disapproval.
Before leaving, the health secretary said: "I know you are angry with me. You disapprove of some of the answers I have given ... But the more nurses are involved in the difficult decisions that have to be made, the better."
A source close to her said later she was annoyed at not being allowed to finish her speech, and described the reception she received as a political stunt. But Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said: "She is being held to account for her gross mismanagement and incompetence. It is intolerable arrogance that she is still denying the reality."
Her speech came after more NHS job losses were announced. Norfolk and Norwich University hospital said up to 450 jobs would go over the next 12 months to tackle a £14.8m shortfall. And Western General hospital in Weston-super-Mare said it was closing 56 beds and cutting 60 jobs to deal with a £6m overspend.
In an outspoken interview, one of Ms Hewitt's top civil servants admitted that the NHS had lost confidence in the leadership of the Department of Health. Andrew Foster, the department's workforce director, blamed John Reid, Ms Hewitt's predecessor as health secretary, for a breakdown of trust. He told the Health Service Journal: "When John Reid came in we produced a series of major policy changes without consulting people ... We produced a series of documents... and just sprung them on an unsuspecting NHS in 2004-05. It's not surprising that they didn't feel the same level of ownership."
Mr Foster was speaking on the eve of his retirement to take up a more lowly job as the human resources director of a hospital trust. He denied he was forced out after being blamed for increasing the NHS deficit by negotiating inflationary pay rises for doctors, nurses and other staff.
Mr Foster said morale in the NHS was beginning to improve since Sir Ian Carruthers took over in March as interim chief executive, but "there is a long way yet to go to build up a coalition of hearts and minds behind that reform programme". He added: "It's been almost tangible over the last 15 months, the growing sense of dislocation between the NHS and the DH and a growing lack of confidence in the leadership of the department."
:ibiggrin:
"Catcalls, barracking and laughter force Hewitt to abandon speech
· Delegates give health secretary 'dose of reality'
· Top civil servant blames Reid for NHS distrust
John Carvel, social affairs editor
Thursday April 27, 2006
The Guardian
Patricia Hewitt endured 50 minutes of catcalls, barracking and derisive laughter yesterday as she addressed the annual congress of the Royal College of Nursing. Almost 2,000 delegates in Bournemouth did not permit her to finish a prepared speech in which she battled, against persistent interruptions, to defend the government's record of increased investment in the NHS.
They shrieked in disbelief when she asserted that most trusts were not in financial difficulty, and started a slow handclap when she suggested that nurses could reorganise their rotas to make better use of permanent staff. The hostility continued when she repeated the government's boasts about record investment in new hospital building and bumper pay rises. After doggedly fielding a succession of hostile questions from nurses, she walked off to a deafening chorus of protest. Delegates chanted the slogan that will be paraded through London at a march to parliament on May 11 - "Keep nurses working, keep patients safe" - until long after she had left the stage.
Article continues
It was the most strident display of opposition in the college's 90-year history, and contrasted with the quiet contempt for her speech to the public service union Unison in Gateshead on Monday.
Beverly Malone, the college's general secretary, said: "The goal was to make sure our members were heard. They are hurting out there, making life and death decisions when under-resourced and understaffed. The RCN has warned the government that when it comes to nurses' goodwill, they're skating on thin ice. The secretary of state saw for herself just how quickly that ice is melting."
Ms Hewitt cut short her prepared speech when the conference chairman responded to increasing impatience among delegates and asked her to stop.
Questions followed, led by Les Miles, an advanced neonatal practitioner from South Tyneside hospital, who asked how she could justify the understaffing he experienced, with one qualified nurse and one auxiliary having to care for 14 premature babies. It was the first of a number of questions that Ms Hewitt tried to answer while delegates chanted "yes or no" as they stamped their disapproval.
Before leaving, the health secretary said: "I know you are angry with me. You disapprove of some of the answers I have given ... But the more nurses are involved in the difficult decisions that have to be made, the better."
A source close to her said later she was annoyed at not being allowed to finish her speech, and described the reception she received as a political stunt. But Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said: "She is being held to account for her gross mismanagement and incompetence. It is intolerable arrogance that she is still denying the reality."
Her speech came after more NHS job losses were announced. Norfolk and Norwich University hospital said up to 450 jobs would go over the next 12 months to tackle a £14.8m shortfall. And Western General hospital in Weston-super-Mare said it was closing 56 beds and cutting 60 jobs to deal with a £6m overspend.
In an outspoken interview, one of Ms Hewitt's top civil servants admitted that the NHS had lost confidence in the leadership of the Department of Health. Andrew Foster, the department's workforce director, blamed John Reid, Ms Hewitt's predecessor as health secretary, for a breakdown of trust. He told the Health Service Journal: "When John Reid came in we produced a series of major policy changes without consulting people ... We produced a series of documents... and just sprung them on an unsuspecting NHS in 2004-05. It's not surprising that they didn't feel the same level of ownership."
Mr Foster was speaking on the eve of his retirement to take up a more lowly job as the human resources director of a hospital trust. He denied he was forced out after being blamed for increasing the NHS deficit by negotiating inflationary pay rises for doctors, nurses and other staff.
Mr Foster said morale in the NHS was beginning to improve since Sir Ian Carruthers took over in March as interim chief executive, but "there is a long way yet to go to build up a coalition of hearts and minds behind that reform programme". He added: "It's been almost tangible over the last 15 months, the growing sense of dislocation between the NHS and the DH and a growing lack of confidence in the leadership of the department."
:ibiggrin: