This week, on International Nurses Day, we celebrate the life of Florence Nightingale, who has many local connections. She is buried in St Margaret’s of Antioch church in Wellow and lived at Embley Park.

However, her national and global impact is highly significant. Whilst most people think of her as “The Lady with the Lamp” in the Crimean War and many regard her as the founder of modern nursing she was, in fact, far more than that.

In essence she was what we would disparagingly refer to today as “an administrator” and a statistician. But this highly educated woman was before her time and also pioneered what we now refer to as infographics with her development of the Nightingale Rose chart. She used a simple pictorial representation to represent deaths, by cause, and was able to demonstrate the scandalous situation in that more soldiers were killed by preventable diseases, caused by unsanitary conditions, than as a result of being wounded on the battlefield.

She was then able to clearly demonstrate the impact of improved hygiene before and after the arrival of the Sanitary Commission and the introduction of improved hygiene standards.

READ MORE HERE:  County council leader Rob Humby to stand down

She was also, in effect, a political lobbyist and used the diagram to simply explain the situation to MPs and army officials. She used her family’s local political connections to help her do this.

What a woman!

I do wonder what she would think if she was able to see our modern health service. I’m a publicly elected governor at University Hospitals Southampton and am acutely aware that a whole host of statistics are pored over, and acted upon, with regularity. The dreaded Excel spreadsheets really come into their own and are most useful when used to quickly spot an adverse trend so that it can be examined and remedial matters can be put in place.

Hampshire Chronicle: Florence Nightingale graph of Crimean War casualties

 

Statistics are sometimes used inappropriately; for politicians to set targets which can have unforeseen consequences. I can recall the introduction in the early 2000s of a target for a maximum 13 week wait to see a consultant. This meant that the consultants were so busy seeing patients for an initial appointment that treatment times got pushed back and patients were waiting longer in pain and discomfort.

So, eventually the 18-week target, from the time a patient was referred to the start of treatment, was introduced. It went quite well for a while but there are now over three million patients who have been waiting for longer than the suggested 18 weeks.

It would be easy to blame COVID but the fact is that waiting lists were increasing before then. The real cause is the chronic underfunding of our NHS. Despite that I am pleased to say that our local hospital in Southampton is one of the top five performers in the country, dealing with 14 per cent more patients than last year. Unfortunately, the list is still growing and staff cuts loom, in the interests of balancing the budget.  In truth, our health service is badly underfunded. Bed occupancy is at an all-time high at well over 90 per cent which means that patients do not always end up on the ward that is most appropriate for their care.

This is bleak but I am at the time of my life when friends and family need care, sometimes urgently, at all too regular intervals. In these cases, they invariably speak highly of the quality of care received. Yet, staff surveys also show that staff are experiencing record levels of stress.

So, at this time of the year it is good to remember the nurses and celebrate the invaluable work they do. But let’s also remember the many other health professionals and support workers who also do their bit, despite growing pressures, to provide us with the care we need.

Thank you.