Gordon Lees

Lead by walking in our shoes

I call on all directors of nursing and NHS leaders to search their consciences and challenge the government on their handling of the NHS.

Nurses will fight just like the doctors have if unsocial hours pay is attacked.

The ongoing exploitation of nurses and other healthcare staff is sickening for RCN activists and other union representatives. Do the masses have the stomach for a fight against the latest paltry 1% pay award, from a pay review body under the cosh of an arrogant government? I don’t think so. I hear from many nurses that bank shifts, in addition to the normal working week, are the norm. To consider industrial action against a 1% rise is a non-starter for many who are the main family breadwinner. The action of the junior doctors has been acknowledged and indeed supported by many staff and members of the public. The erosion of nurses’ pay by 14% over the past six years has also been noted. The 13% rise offered to doctors will be the minimum expected by nurses. If the government attempts to attack our terms and conditions, for example unsocial hours payments, the response will be very different from the reaction to the 1% award. By taking something away, I am confident of a reaction akin to that of our medical colleagues. More than 430,000 RCN members can make a difference if we all act together. Activists will lead the way, but we need you behind us when the crunch comes. Keep your powder dry for now. When we next call on you, be sure to react loud and clear. You deserve better.

Nurses should use the election to make their opinions heard.

Follow Nursing Standard @NurseStandard and join the #NScomment chat on Thursdays at 12.30pm be sure that the standards are being met in practice, or that they will remain relevant over time. Some trusts are making much-needed improvements to their hospital food. But the radical transformation so desperately needed will only happen if the government fixes these problems for good by introducing tougher food standards, putting them down in law, and asking a trustworthy body to check that they are being met. The DH must up the ante if it wants to deliver real improvements to hospital food in England. Until it does, we need campaigns like Nursing Standard’s Eat Well, Nurse Well to help keep up the pressure for change.

Criticism of nurses by nurses is unwelcome and unjustified.

Your letters page ( February 15 ) gave startlingly contrasting opinions on the Confessions of a Nurse series on More 4 - from inspirational to disreputable. I see it as refreshing.

Let us unite in challenging proposed cuts to our benefits

PROPOSED CUTS TO OUR BENEFITS At a time when we are worried about our jobs and pensions, it is a shrewd move for the RCN to delay a ballot of its members (news November 16).

CARING PROFESSION HAS NO PLACE FOR HIT AND RUN TACTICS

I agree with Cris Allen (letters December 1) that nurses need to lobby for fairness for mental health service users. We also need to lobby strongly so that we are treated fairly.

Paperwork and data collection can lead to frustration and low morale

I regularly see nurses cursing instead of nursing, sitting in front of computer screens or at their desks with piles of paperwork. It seems like such a waste of their time and expertise.

RCN has a chance to increase workplace representation

Further to the debate at this years RCN congress on activism, the professional development and labour relations roles of the RCN are key to nursing in the UK.

RCN staff deserve same fair treatment as members

I am sorry to hear that RCN staff are threatening industrial action over their pay award (News February 14).