Stafford Hospital chairman hits out at nursing profession

There is something "fundamentally wrong" with the nursing profession one of the Midlands leading hospital bosses has claimed.

Sir Stephen Moss, chairman of scandal-hit Stafford Hospital, has criticised the profession for letting down too many patients and has revealed plans to try and improve standards across the UK.

Sir Stephen, a nurse of more than 40 years who trained at the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals Trust, is now planning to spearhead a national campaign to improve nursing and has drawn together a group of six "big hitters" in the NHS and nursing.

The group, who all have high-level access to Government and NHS bosses, plan to put a spotlight on nursing standards and try to get changes to the way nurses are being trained and how they are working on hospital wards.

Sir Stephen, aged 64, who is originally from Beechtree Lane, in Cannock, said the group of seven came together after high-profile scandals exposed a worrying deterioration in standards.

He said nurses working in hospitals across the land were letting down "the most vulnerable members of society."

He said: "Not everything in nursing is bad, but after the events at Stafford Hospital, the recent concerns at New Cross Hospital and others around the country you can't tell me there isn't an issue here that needs addressing and we have to do something about it.

"There is something fundamentally wrong with the nursing profession and the way it is focussed at the moment.

"We are getting a lot right but we are also letting down too many patients and families. We can't just stand by and not do something."

Sir Stephen would not reveal the names of the other six members of the group who he said were all in sensitive positions but he said they hoped to go public with their plans in September.

He said the crisis facing nursing was not caused by a shortage of staff on wards and he said there needed to be changes in the way nurses were trained to make sure they "are prepared for the real world of the NHS rather than a classroom."

The miner's son originally from Cannock said that whilst there was a lot of good happening in nursing it was failing too many people.

He said: "There is not a problem with nurses, it is a problem with the nursing profession. I am not saying it is all bad but we are not getting it right as frequently as we should and the people we are letting down are the most vulnerable in society.

Among the issues which he said needed to be addressed included how nurses were trained for "the real world of the NHS rather than the classroom" in order that they could maintain their values on hospital wards.

But he also said hospital managers needed to make sure nurses were supported to do their job.

He added: "I'm very confident we will be listened to, because we are all people who are passionate about nursing and we all recognise there is a job to do here. We won't back off on this."

Sir Stephen joined the board of Stafford Hospital in February 2009 as the hospital was gripped by a crisis of care with hundreds of patients thought to have died as a result of poor care.

He has been praised for helping to transform the hospital's fortunes along with former chief executive Antony Sumara.

Sir Stephen said his concerns were not a case of looking back at the past with "rose tinted glasses" adding: "You are not comparing like with like.

But there were lots of good things we did as nurses in the past which we need to put a modern focus on now."

Sir Stephen spent his entire career in the NHS, which started after being treated as a youngster at Wolverhampton's eye infirmary.

He was cared for by a 16-year-old cadet which inspired Sir Stephen to become a nurse trainee himself.

Before taking early retirement in 2005 he was director of nursing then chief executive at Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham, one of the biggest hospitals in Europe.

He also served as a commissioner on the Commission for Health Improvement, and was instrumental in establishing the programme to review clinical care across England and Wales.

He was chairman of the Nurse Directors Association for five years and has advised Government on nursing in the past.