Letter from the Editor

Published: 11 December 2012

Welcome to our end-of-year issue of Edlines. Since our last newsletter, the Olympics and the Paralypmic Games have taken place and, as usual, the Paralympics sparked a debate around our attitudes to disability. Has it changed the national attitude, do you think? What do we teach our students about disability? Do you think it is enough? What should and could we be doing? It would be good to hear from you on the issue.

It has been a busy year for the RCN as a professional organisation and we have been in the headlines several times. Most recently, the comments from the Frontline First campaign on the NHS changes and the effects on staffing. The conclusion of the document is ominous. It says: “The RCN believes that the NHS is sleepwalking into a nursing crisis in England that is drawing closer as the size of the cuts increase. If the Government continues on its current path it will find itself stranded in a perfect storm of an ageing population with increasing health care demands, but without the adequate nursing workforce to deal with it.”      

Read the Frontline First November 2012 update (PDF 792 KB).

The Education Forum is anxious to involve our membership in as many ways as possible.  We would welcome your comments, topics for debate or anything else with which you would like to contact us.  A further opportunity to get involved is of course Congress 2013 which is fast approaching (well, I like to think of spring in these long winter months). While the submission date for agenda items has passed, if there is something that you feel has arisen since that submission date, you can submit an emergency agenda item at any point up to and including during Congress itself.  Visit the "how to submit an agenda item" webpage to find out more.

Congress 2013 is being held at the Liverpool Arena and Convention Centre between 21 and 25 April. We hope to see you there.

If there is anything that you would like to see featured in the next Edlines, we would welcome your suggestions. If there is anything that you would like to contribute in terms of news or to stimulate debate or discussion, we would equally welcome your contact.  Please simply email Monicahaggart@btinternet.com.

Monica Haggart