History made at Congress 2009

Gordon Brown becomes the first Prime Minister to address delegates. STACEY FARROW reports.

Once again, all committee members of the TB Nurses' Forum attended RCN Congress in the beautiful Yorkshire town of Harrogate.

The sun shone down to welcome delegates to what was a very eventful Congress, with its theme "Counting on care", recognising and celebrating the role of nurses. History was made when Gordon Brown became the first Prime Minister to address Congress since it began 93 years ago. Attending with his wife, Sarah, the Prime Minister said that the nation is indebted to nurses. "There is no other profession where you have to work with your heart, your head and your hands," he told delegates, acknowledging that the recession should not be an excuse for not investing properly in the NHS. The Conservative leader, David Cameron followed, speaking about how he passionately supports the NHS, while calling for an end to the repeated re-organisation of it.

RCN Chief Executive, Peter Carter had hard acts to follow, but in his keynote address he reassured nurses that they could count on the support and protection of the RCN to raise concerns about patient safety. He launched "Raising concerns, raising standards" - an initiative to encourage RCN members to call a dedicated helpline if they fear patients are at risk. He reinforced that this system will protect nurses and make patients safer. The new helpline number for reporting concerns about patients' safety, in confidence, is: 0845 772 6300.

After those very significant opening remarks, it was onto the main agenda of congress - debating and resolutions. Resolutions are put forward by RCN forums and groups and if they receive support at Congress, they help to establish the work of the RCN over the next 12 months. Often these are important issues that nurses feel strongly about and can result in changes in legislation.

Some resolutions stimulate heated debate. For example, a resolution by the RCN Cambridgeshire Branch asked: "That this meeting of RCN Congress makes appropriate recommendations to the UK government to enable local councils to license brothels". Lots of RCN members had opinions on this, but the general consensus was that it is a public health and safety issue, and we should protect people within the industry, for instance by offering free condoms and screening for sexually transmitted infections. The resolution was passed with a 93.43 per cent majority.

Not just debate

Congress isn't just about debate and raising the voice of nursing. At lunch and in the evening there is opportunity to visit the exhibition stands and find out about new and existing products. You can also attend one of the many fringe events hosted by forums. This year we held our own fringe, asking: "should masks be worn when nursing patients with TB?" National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines for the control of TB state that masks need not be worn to nurse patients with TB, unless they are suspected to have multi-drug resistance TB (MDRTB). Given that this part of the guidelines is not based on evidence, the aim of this fringe event was to look at the reality of the situation, taking into account guidelines, practice, employers' duty of care, and the impact on the nurse/patient relationship.

In the debate, Gary Porter-Jones put forward the argument for not wearing masks, while Kelvin Karim argued to the contrary. After a stimulating discussion, the audience was split 50/50. Click here to read their arguments for and against.

Of course, RCN Congress wouldn't be the same without the evening entertainment. Our forum attended all the evening events, particularly enjoying the Congress dinner, followed by the 70s disco and ABBA tribute band.