Don’t Carry On, Nurse

When it comes to the issue about NHS nurses needing degrees in the future, I have only one thing to offer. Personal experience.

I’m not going to go into detail but a few years ago I was in hospital for a while following an operation. The service I received from the nurses, as I recovered, was nothing short of impeccable.

Now, look, I’d be the last person to claim that the NHS is perfect. It’s not. But the nurses that aided me through my recovery, particularly in the first few difficult days, were nothing short of brilliant.

And were they ‘educated’? Did they have high class degrees? Would they win Brain of Britain?

No, no, and no again. But were they perfect nurses? Yes, yes, yes a thousand times.

Let me tell you about Julie. Julie grew up in a house without running water or an inside toilet. She did not go to university. To be honest, she never had the option. She didn’t even receive what we now call A Levels.

What was she trained in? Nursing.

And what was she brilliant at? Nursing.

Ok, so it’s a simple argument. But you can NOT teach empathy. You cannot teach bedside manner. Some people are born nurses. Some people are born doctors. There is a difference.

Please, let’s not confuse the two.

Being a nurse is a very different profession from being a doctor. Doctors, in my experience, are cold, analytical and brilliant. Nurses, on the other hand, are warm, responsive and brilliant.

Being a nurse is like being a teacher. It’s a vocation.

Don’t put people off with degree courses and the like. I would have really struggled without Julie. And she would have struggled with a degree.

This is backwards thinking from people with no experience of the frontline of the NHS.

@2 years ago