Rod's blog
The penultimate day of Congress has arrived and so far we have seen some extremely interesting and significant debates, speeches and fringes.
Yesterday we saw Austin Thomas give a great speech about his current role as Lead Nurse for the British Paralympics team and as a patient after a serious motorbiking accident. Austin received a standing ovation as he shared stories and his perception of nursing, developed from his experiences. After the speech, Austin generously stayed on in the hall long after the session had finished to chat with members. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank Austin for his speech and time given to Congress.
We also held the Extraordinary General Meeting discuss whether to authorise RCN Council to withdraw the RCN from membership of the International Council of Nurses (ICN). The context and background of the RCN’s membership of the ICN was presented by Kath McCourt, Chair of RCN Council, and Dr Peter Carter, RCN Chief Executive and General Secretary. This session received a significant amount of comment from the floor and instigated a great amount of questions, emotion and deliberation. Congress voted in favour of the resolution. We will keep you up to date on this important topic.
Today Lord Willis of Knaresborough gave the keynote speech to Congress. His speech challenged the myth that the nursing profession is not recruiting, educating and retaining an intelligent and compassionate workforce. Lord Willis Chaired an independent UK-wide commission in 2012 looking at pre-registration nurse education. He gave an emotional and eloquent speech about the Commission’s findings and received a standing ovation.
Today we saw reports in the national press about the very serious issue of patients being lost in hospitals across the UK because they are constantly being switched from ward to ward amid pressures on A&E. This story has been reported in the BBC, The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Daily Mail.
Finally, I would like to thank you all for getting involved in RCN Congress this year. Once more #RCNCongress trended yesterday on twitter, particularly in relation to Austin’s speech and the EGM meeting. I’m really happy to see that so many people are getting involved in Congress here in Liverpool and from across the country.
Many thanks
Rod
