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Wednesday Jun 18
Nurses are to be rated according to the levels of care and empathy they give to patients under government plans.
Health Secretary Alan Johnson told the Guardian newspaper that he wants the performance of every nursing team in England to be scored. He said he believes compassionate care was as crucial to the recovery of patients as the skills of surgeons.
Nurse leaders welcomed the move and said they would work with ministers on developing the system.
Mr Johnson said plans were to be outlined in the forthcoming review of the NHS by health minister Lord Darzi.
Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland are not planning to introduce a similar scheme, although nurse performance is already monitored through patient surveys and core standards.
Mr Johnson suggested the results, compiled by regulators using patient surveys, could be displayed on an official website. But he ruled out rating individual nurses and also said it would not affect pay.
Mr Johnson said he hoped to encourage friendly rivalry between wards over which nursing team could achieve the best ratings. The scheme will be piloted and the first results are likely to emerge next year.
Mr Johnson said: "What nurses tell us is that you can have the best surgeon in the world, who carries out the most terrific operation on you, but your stay in hospital won't be satisfactory if you don't get a high level of compassion and care.
"If your experience involves nurses looking grumpy, or someone being rude, or not getting people there when you need them, then it ruins the whole experience."
But Steve Barnett, acting chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents health managers, warned: "It will be very difficult to measure and benchmark compassion - particularly at the level of the ward."
Article from BBC News
18th June 2008
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