RCN Council meeting in spite of COVID 19

The meeting was challenging, with 32 of us accessing the meeting from all over the UK and seven hours with earphones on was not comfortable but on the whole it worked really well. 

The meeting began with a one minute’s silence held in memory of the health care workers who have died during the COVID-19 outbreak. It was a sad moment for us all.

As you can imagine the issues around COVID-19 were at the forefront of our thinking, in particular the protection of and help to our members. Dame Donna Kinnair, RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary, has weekly updates with the executive team and then Council are briefed. I should however say that we are in contact daily, sometimes several times daily, to discuss issues as they arise and action where required.

A primary focus remains the shortage of PPE. This does not affect every employer but it is still a significant issue, especially in the independent sector and nursing homes and, together with access to testing sites, this has been a key focus by the RCN.

We Council members are also asked to feed back any intelligence and concerns from members through their country or regional director. Emerging issues appeared to be the lack of local consultation by employers with staff side and RCN reps which I have discussed with Council.

We have a business response plan which has been put together to ensure the RCN is able to provide support and advice to a growing number of members at this time. The regional and national teams are working tirelessly to ensure our voice is heard and you will have seen our profile is high in the media. Additionally, the RCN has written to the Health and Safety Executive in strong terms on the duty to protect employees, and had the response to the latest Public Health England guidance on considerations for acute personal protective equipment shortages, saying it was unacceptable for any health care setting in the UK not to have PPE as required by HSE and set out in the existing guidance.

Other discussion included:

• Work on the next round of pay negotiations is continuing and evidence to the pay review body is due for submission in September, but Council are firm on the point that members need to be fully briefed and consulted. Never has the profile of nursing and health care been so high and that must be taken into consideration with any pay award.
• In light of this year’s RCN Congress not going ahead it was decided to defer the election of Chair and Vice Chair of Congress until 2021.
• Jane Cummings, Chair of the RCN Foundation briefed Council on the arrangements for setting up a new COVID 19 health care support fund and a significant donation of £5 million pounds from the social media company TicToc as well as other donations. The fund will be used to provide financial and health and wellbeing support for health care workers adversely effected by COVID 19. More information on the fund can be found on the RCN Foundation’s webpage.
• Council discussed guidance for committees and RCN boards on ways to ensure important business and decision making could continue during this challenging time. The Governance Support Committee will be finalising the guidance in light of Council comments and circulate in time for the May Council meeting.
• We have noted an unexpected but welcome increase in membership.
• The annual report and financial statements were presented and will come back to Council in July for finalising. However Council were assured that the financial position remains healthy.
• Representatives of the independent governance review body the Centre for Public Scrutiny presented their key findings from the independent governance review which was commissioned in response to a congress resolution in 2019. The plan had been for the report to be presented to members by the Centre for Public Scrutiny at Congress. As this will now not be possible the report will be published shorty together with a plan for how the recommendations in the report will be implemented.
• Council agreed to adjourn the AGM 2020 given that it is not possible to go with the original date in Liverpool. The date of the AGM will be confirmed later in the year once there is more certainty about how long the current restrictions on gatherings will last. Council discussed the feedback from the consultation and consequently agreed that the AGM from 2021 onwards will be held during Congress week.
• We also had briefings from the many committees including the RCN Trade Union Committee.
• We are very concerned about the effects of the COVID-19 virus among the BAME community and how we can support our members from these communities. We are constantly reviewing the research and findings regarding this.

It was a very comprehensive meeting and please be assured that your voices are being listened too. The wellbeing and support of our members is our key focus.

We are social beings and the lockdown and social distancing will have an effect on everyone, not least on our mental health. I know many of you are working in difficult and highly stressful situations and returning home to an empty house. Please keep in contact with each other even if it’s just to say “how are you?”.

A neighbour had decided to run a pub quiz last Saturday afternoon and invited us all via notes through our doors. We all sat in our front gardens, provided our own chairs, tables and, of course, beer and wine. He had a microphone, we were all the correct social distance from each other, and we had a fantastic time, although I did not win, but it showed what ingenuity we are capable of in these strange times. We then chatted from the appropriate distance and it really raised everyone’s spirits. We have planned another and a street party for when this is all over. It is a tough time but it is also bringing people together.

I am proud to be the RCN Council Member for the South West and will do all I can to ensure the protection of all our members and heath care workers as a whole. We are all in this together and I think we are one great team. In this international year of the nurse, 200 years since the birth of Florence Nightingale, never have the challenges been so great and never has the whole care sector risen to meet them as it has. Take care and keep safe.

“The measure of a country’s greatness is its ability to retain compassion in times of crisis” - Thurgood Marshall 

(Thurgood Marshall was an American lawyer who served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from October 1967 until October 1991. Marshall was the Court's first African-American justice.)

Best Wishes
Geoffrey

Please follow me on Twitter @gwalkerpoole1 and now on Facebook.