RCN Congress 2009
Congress week has been very busy here in the Eastern Region and I hope that you have spotted your local members in the press and media. Over the last week Eastern Region's members and staff have been interviewed for the following outlets and in many cases stories have been followed up with articles in the local press. For example, East Anglian Daily Times, Ipswich Evening Star, Eastern Daily Press, Cambridgeshire Evening News, BBC Radio Suffolk, BBC Radio Norfolk, BBC News Online, Essex Yellow Advertiser, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and Essex Chronicle Series.
Carol Watts, Substance Misuse Practitioner Nurse for young people in Cambridgeshire, led a debate on Wednesday am 13 May asking the RCN Council to make appropriate recommendations to governments to enable local authorities to license brothels.
Carol found her item on legalisation of brothels was picked up by much of the national press including the Daily Mirror, Telegraph, Mail and Nursing Times as well as Radio 5 Live. BBC Radio Cambridgeshire interviewed Carol on 14 May regarding her congress item. Carol said, "We are thinking in terms of health care provision following the murders in Ipswich which brought it to our attention. Legalising brothels is about ensuring some sort of safety and getting people into health care monitoring."
"Nurses call for brothels to be legal." Read the article from the Cambridge Evening News.
Richard Beauchamp, a retired nurse behavioural psychotherapist for mental health in Essex, asked the RCN Council to investigate where, when and why we need assistant practitioners, on Wednesday am 13 May.
Jackie Thurlow, an RCN Health and Safety Rep who works in the independent sector in Essex asked Congress to discuss how best to encourage people to make healthier lifestyle choices in the current economic climate, on Tuesday am 12 May.
Pauline Entwistle, a registered nurse in the critical care unit at Ipswich Hospital, asked Congress to consider whether foundation status is a healthy option for the NHS, on Tuesday am 12 May. Tom Bolger, speaking to the East Anglian Daily Times said, "There is a concern about keeping the focus on what we're really here to do, which is providing nursing and care to the people of the county, rather than meeting foundation trust targets. Many of our members feel that the demands on them to meet targets is such that they don't feel the benefit of the investment in the NHS."