NHS (Contracts and Conditions)
Debate between Valerie Vaz and Maria Caulfield(9 years, 3 months ago)
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Maria Caulfield
I declare an interest as a former NHS nurse—in fact, I still work as a nurse. I do not want to be political about this, because I want progress to be made on supporting the NHS, and particularly staff, but one of the single biggest factors in demoralising nurses and leading many skilled nurses to leave the practice was the last Labour Government’s change to the skill mix. That was crucial, because we were forced to cut our budgets, particularly on the wards, and junior nurses were left in charge of wards, instead of experienced senior staff nurses and sisters—
Valerie Vaz (in the Chair)
Order. I remind Members that interventions should be brief.
Maria Caulfield
Can I just say that it is the change to the skill mix that has demoralised nurses, and that did not happen under this Government?