Nursing Times Comments

• Comment on: Hospitals’ duty of care in smoking cessation

• Brid Hehir's comment 19-Jan-2014 4:25 pm
  NICE guidance is all about supporting people to quit which is fine for those who want to. But what about people who don't want to quit -be they patients, visitors or carers? How will their choice be supported? I wrote the attached in an attempt to draw attention to the way in which their rights and choices are being overlooked and/or denied. http://bridhehir.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/this-was-first-published-here-13-nice.html#more

Heart disease halved

NHS communications colleagues struggle to get the media interested in positive health stories. That’s replicated at a national and even international level. It seems the only time the press expresses an interest is when there’s a whiff of a scandal. Bad news sells. That we’re living longer and healthier lives doesn’t.

A mission statement with a difference

On March 3, NHS Change Day, thousands of people in and outside the NHS made a pledge to improve the care given to patients. Roy Lilley, a former NHS chair, listed with pride many of the changes staff had pledged that would make a difference to their working lives and the care they deliver to patients and their families, or act as simple reminders that they were valued. These pledges included: introducing themselves by name, a clothes sale with proceeds being invested in patient care,creating a ‘Harlem shake’ video to break barriers between patients and staff, and many, many more.