Congress 2007 - Tuesday's highlights
Congress overwhelmingly rejects pay offer. Peter Carter outlines next steps
Never before has Congress been moved to discuss invoking Rule 12 in support of national industrial action in the way it did today during the emergency debate on pay.
The message from RCN members at Congress is loud and
clear – they are disillusioned, demoralised and disgusted. They said enough is enough and want the pay award now, in full across the UK.
Council member Mike Travis said that Council is listening and Council is acting. “We need to get it right” he said, “Otherwise we will be losing more and more nurses”.
The debate was loud and passionate as members spoke against the government's staged pay offer, and demanded that the independent Pay Review Body recommendations are implemented.
Read more in UK news on Peter Carter's explanation of the steps being taken in the next few weeks created an electric atmosphere in the auditorium. Read the report on the emergency resolution on pay.
Nurses are my heroes
Frank Gardner, the BBC reporter left paralysed after being shot by Al-Qaeda terrorists, spoke of his admiration for nurses yesterday, in the annual John Goodlad lecture.
Frank described his courageous recovery from the attack that took place in 2004, how he came to terms with being disabled, and the help and support he received from the nursing profession.
“You guys are my heroes,” he told delegates. “All the nurses who looked after me were wonderful. The nurses I most enjoyed meeting were those who didn’t talk down to me and who talked to me on a level basis.
“We put my injuries and the procedures to one side and would just chat,” he added.
It was this care and support, he says, that rekindled his interest in journalism and inspired him to return to work.
A security correspondent for the BBC, Frank was shot six times at point blank range by Al-Qaeda terrorists while reporting in Saudi Arabia, in 2004. His cameraman, Simon Cumbers, was killed.
After 12 operations and eight months’ recovery in numerous hospitals, he went back to work. Having a job to return to, he said, made all the difference.
Frank gave the fifteenth John Goodlad lecture, named in honour of the RCN Labour Relations Officer at the RCN from 1977 until 1991.
Footballers sign up for nurses
Delegates rose to their feet and cheered as economist Noreena Hertz told them of her plan to use Premiership footballers to kick the government into putting more money into nursing. More on this story