Spectator letters: A defence of nursing assistants, a mystery shotgun, and a response to Melanie Phillips

Poor treatment

Sir: Jane Kelly’s article (‘No tea or sympathy’, 2 August) on the lack of empathy and emotional support shown to patients is humbling. It is also worth noting that showing patients a lack of compassion has wider consequences. We know for instance that around 13,000 cancer patients feel like dropping out of treatment each year because of how they are treated by staff. In other words, it could risk their lives.

It is unfair to say, however, that the nurses who used to be ‘angels’ have been replaced by the ‘mechanistic bureaucrats’ of assistants. Healthcare assistants often have the toughest time of all healthcare professionals, not only because of their busy workloads, which Ms Kelly highlights, but also because they often receive little training and feel undervalued and are without a voice. If we want to see genuine, widespread change, we need to see the government fully committing to creating a compassionate NHS. The upcoming general election is the perfect opportunity to do this. Political parties should commit, in their manifestos, to ensuring that all patients are treated with the highest levels of respect and that staff are supported to deliver this.
Ciarán Devane
Chief Executive, Macmillan Cancer Support, London SE1

Bring back Matron

Sir: Regarding Jane Kelly’s article, I am among the last generation trained as a Nightingale nurse in the 1950s. The recruitment process was highly selective. Individuals were handpicked for their compassionate attitudes. It was consistently emphasised throughout our training that the patient’s welfare was paramount. If you were short with a patient, you had the worst fate of all — being sent to see Matron.

There needs to be a return to a stricter discipline, with accountability held by one individual and not a committee ‘team’.
Angela Craig
Twyford, Winchester, Hants