Carol Nolan on nurse pay, psychiatric staff shortages and Portleish
Carol Nolan spoke in support of a motion on nursing pay and conditions and urged that registration and retention fees be waived. She warned of stagnant recruitment of psychiatric nurses, described urgent cases left waiting for plans, and demanded certainty on the future of Portleish hospital.
Support for nurses
Carol Nolan praised the work of nurses and said they do not need applause but proper respect, pay and conditions. She explicitly supported the motion and the provision to waive registration and retention fees and warned against government "lip service." She also noted the absence of a minister who she would have questioned directly and thanked the minister who was present.
Psychiatric nurse shortages and urgent cases
She said recruitment of psychiatric nurses remains stagnant and is causing a desperate knock-on effect on mental health services. Nolan recounted being contacted by guardians about a teenager who had made several suicide attempts and who has been waiting for a care plan for an extended period, saying thousands of similar situations exist and action is required.
Portleish hospital and local campaign
Nolan called on the minister to give certainty that the future of Portleish hospital is safe and secure. She expressed support for the local action group campaigning on the hospital and asked the minister to confirm that Portleish's future remains protected.
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I want to begin, Minister, by saying that our nurses are fantastic, they do great work, we don't need to say that over and over again, they don't need a clap or a tap on the back, they want to be respected and given proper pay and conditions, which is only minimal and only right, but I do support the motion and I also support the provision within this motion to have the registration and retention fees waived, I think that has to happen, we can't have lip service here from government and it's a shame Minister Donnelly isn't still here in the Chamber, because there are a number of issues I would like to raise with him here tonight directly, I thank you Minister Butler for being here, but I would like to raise other issues with Minister Donnelly, which I will in due course. One issue I want to raise is the lack of psychiatric nurses and the recruitment of psychiatric nurses remains stagnant and this is having a desperate knock-on effect on our mental health services and I do want to emphasise here tonight that I was contacted by guardians who were dealing with a desperate situation where they had a teenager who has been making several attempts to commit suicide and a plan, they are waiting on a plan to be drawn up for this teenager for I don't know how long, so I mean I don't want to be the person getting the bad news over the phone, I think action needs to be taken here, it's a desperate situation and there are thousands of those desperate situations around this country and I think there has to be action. I am going to end on the note that given that we are speaking on health I want to call on the Minister to give a certainty to the people of Portleish and the wider Leish area that the future of Portleish hospital remains safe and secure, but the Minister needs to give that and I support the local action group on the hospital who have been very vocal on this issue and I would like Minister to confirm that that is secure, the future of Portleish hospital. Thank you very much.
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