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The increase of incident reporting in hospitals in recent years, and the way these incidents are dealt with, have contributed to patient safety becoming one of the hot topics of the early 21st century. An important and necessary issue to tackle, yes, but has the safety of nurses been cast aside in the pursuit of patient safety?

Oh, the joys of Government hype … After a gruelling and ruthless assault in recent months on party policy, direction, results and above all, leadership, it is no surprise that the Government are almost frothing at the mouth on publication of their new End of Life Care Strategy (Department of Health [DH], 2008) – at last they have something to shout about. I admit, that sounds rather negative and maybe a bit harsh, but it is not the strategy I have quarrel with – I challenge anyone to oppose a £286 million injection of any sort into the NHS – it is more the song and dance over a plan that is so simple and so obviously going to help thousands of people as they near their end of life, yet one that is so late, and which could and should have been implemented years go.

Almost exactly a year ago, it seemed that the state of nursing pay and conditions was in free-fall: the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) was at loggerheads with the Government and Congress had rejected a Department of Health (DH) pay offer of 1.5%, calling it ‘unacceptable and miserly’, passing a unanimous emergency motion threatening industrial action if the Government did not agree a full 2.5% rise immediately.

And so it begins – barely 2 months into 2008 and already the number of newspaper column inches racked up by a selection of NHS Trusts regarding shoddy infection control procedures and meticillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) rates is snowballing. Happy New Year! And unfortunately, everyone involved has been lightening quick to apportion blame – the Government now blames patients for being too pushy when asking for antibiotics, patients blame hospital staff and cleaners for not doing their jobs properly, hospital staff apparently blame the cleaners and upper management, and management blame everyone but themselves. Is it not time for everyone involved, including patients, to realize that it is everyone’s responsibility?

Christmas came, the goose got fat, and if the World Health Organization’s (WHO) predictions are correct, so will 27% of the population of the UK by the year 2015 (WHO, 2006a). And by that, the WHO do not just mean ‘overweight’, they mean ‘obese’, i.e. a body mass index equal to or more than 30, which presents a major risk factor for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders and some cancers (WHO, 2007b)

Yet another cold, wet, windy morning on my way into work, and getting more so everyday; it must be that time of year again – yes, is Christmas! I’m almost ashamed of myself, I promised myself I wouldn’t write about Christmas, and technically I’m not, more the weather conditions that come with it, the over-eager and often misplaced perceptions of so many people of the warm, family joy of the festive season and the healthcare-associated problems that arise during the winter months.

When it comes to feeling exhausted or tired all the time, I’d say that I suffer more than most. Yet most people would probably tell me I’m just lazy! Obviously, being tired every now and then is normal – for many of us it is an unavoidable consequence of a busy work schedule and we accept it as ‘one of those things’ and deal with it. Yet for some people this tiredness and exhaustion never retreats: it is prolonged and debilitating. These people may have a condition called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

The bad news it is then – which isn’t difficult considering that a daily perusal through the news these past 2 weeks reveales more bad than good. For once the sport section seems glowing amidst heroics on the field (well, in the rugby anyway); however, casting eyes on the latest events in health care seem poor to say the least.

Stale, smoke-smelling clothes, sore burning eyes, coughing, as well as the obvious array of health implications for both smokers and non-smokers... The days of smoking in public places is now eventually coming to an end, and not before time.

As I write this editorial, RCN Congress winds down for another year. But will all the seminars, talks, negotiations and debates on pay, conditions and education for nurses held this year amount to anything, or will the Government continue to push ahead with reforms, blind to consensus?

on 5 July 1948 the birth of the NHS saw the opening of Park Hospital in Manchester, the climax of Aneurin Bevan’s ambitious plan to bring good healthcare that is free at the point of delivery to all citizens of Great Britain. Sixty years later, the very same NHS is refusing patients life-saving drugs, and then penalizing them for acquiring the drugs elsewhere. Not quite what Aneurin Bevan had in mind, I imagine.

These were the words of 41-year-old Rod Lenette in a report on BBC Breakfast News this morning (4 September). Rod, a father of three, has spent more than 4 years on dialysis, every day making a 1-hour trip each way to the unit at Addenbrooke’s hospital. Physiologically speaking, yes, dialysis is keeping Rod alive, but from his stark words and emotional responses, it is clear that Rod’s quality of life is severely lacking, affecting not only himself, but also his wife and children.

A fairly reasonable comment I suppose, but also slightly concerning as it suggests that anyone who could be outside enjoying the sun might choose to be cooped up in a salon or ‘tanning parlour’ paying hard-earned cash to be slow roasted as the filling in a sunbed sandwich. Yet millions do. Regularly.

Determined and resolute words from the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, on an emotive issue which has understandably provoked passionate feelings both for and against it – United Kingdom (UK) organ donation and a proposed system of ‘presumed consent’.

The last time I heard the word ‘chimera’ was in a rather questionable Tom Cruise fi lm. Chimera was the deadly armageddontype virus that was going to kill the world unless somebody stopped it. In the real world, however, beyond its Greek mythological roots of being a monster and an amalgam of different animals – depicted as an animal with the head of a lion, the body of a she-goat, and the tail of a dragon – chimera is an animal or human which contains cells from a different animal or human (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority [HFEA], 2008). And as odd as it may seem, anyone who has undergone any kind of transplant or blood transfusion is a chimera because their body contains cells from a donor

Everybody knows that children and teenagers like to experiment in their early years, be it with alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sexual relations – or indeed any activity that is generally thought to be the domain of the adult and has the potential to harm them in some way or another. Unfortunately, these most damaging of activities are often the most enticing and appealing to young people, not least because of the way these activities, their effects, and consequences are portrayed in the media and hence acquire an almost taboo status.

Shock revelation: Britain’s smoking ban has led to a massive drop in exposure to second-hand smoke for bar staff in England. Amazing eh? Who would have thought it... apparently it’s better for their health too!

In years to come we may look back at the spectre of healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) as a mere unwieldy obstacle of a past age where our ignorance to infection prevention and control led to an unnecessarily high level of morbidity and mortality in the early 21st century; a time when new strains of bacteria threatened the integrity of the NHS, but quick thinking, scientific development and a dedicated healthcare workforce eliminated this threat, making it a thing of the past. Conversely we may look back and see it as the single most important precipitating factor to the downfall of a national institution put in place to safeguard the nation’s health, to provide free healthcare to all citizens.

Times change and so do governments – and the transition from Blair to Brown a few weeks back has been enough to eventually oust Patricia Hewitt from the top spot at the Department of Health (DH) – the political coalface she managed to erode away so efficiently.

Just over a year ago I took over as Editor of an excellent and beautiful journal with a very loyal and enthusiastic Editorial Board and readership. Luckily for me that journal was Gastrointestinal Nursing. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and, as such, I have now moved on to pastures new as the Editor of the British Journal of Nursing. As of now, the new Editor of GIN is my colleague Polly Moffat, who I know is very excited at the prospect of editing the journal and who I know will do an excellent job.

Unbelievably (to me at least), according to new research presented at the Royal College of Nursing’s 2007 International research Conference on 1st of May, nearly half of student nurses surveyed by a London University have been verbally abused while on their work experience placements.