Scotland's chief nursing officer defends blog post

Scotland’s chief nursing officer (CNO) has apologised to nurses who were upset about a forthright blog post she wrote criticising examples of poor nursing care.

In a new year message setting out her aims for the profession in 2016, Fiona McQueen raised examples of uncaring attitudes she witnessed in 2015. She said she never again wanted to hear a nurse say to a patient: ‘If you wet the bed, we’ll call you pishy pants.'

She wrote that nurses must put their patients first at all times. ‘There should be no skipping off for a break when relatives need to speak to you, or worse, when patients should be having their meals served,’ she said.

In the post on the unofficial Ayrshirehealth blog, Professor McQueen said nurses must speak to all patients and their families with ‘unconditional positive regard’.

The post drew some critical responses, such as ‘disappointing’ and ‘tarring nurses with the same brush’. Unison has written to the CNO to express its members’ concerns.

However, Professor McQueen has received praise from other nurses. She told Nursing Standard she is ‘genuinely sorry’ that some have been upset by it.

Admitting she had been a ‘bit surprised’ by some of the reaction, Professor McQueen said: ‘I am not pointing the finger, I am challenging the whole profession, including myself, to get to the best.’

She responded to nurses' negative comments on the blog by saying she would like to visit their workplace to discuss the issue.

A Scottish government spokesperson said the examples the CNO gave of poor care ‘were reflective of exceptional cases where treatment fell below what we demand, rather than generalisations’.