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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Award-winning nurse to quit NHS | Award-winning nurse to quit NHS |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| A woman who won the title "Nurse of the Year" from a nursing magazine earlier this year is to leave the NHS because she is fed up with cuts and reforms. | A woman who won the title "Nurse of the Year" from a nursing magazine earlier this year is to leave the NHS because she is fed up with cuts and reforms. |
| Justine Whitaker won the award in February after inventing a special pouch to help men with prostate cancer. | Justine Whitaker won the award in February after inventing a special pouch to help men with prostate cancer. |
| The 36-year-old from the Ribble Valley is to leave East Lancashire NHS Primary Care Trust at the end of next month to become a university lecturer. | The 36-year-old from the Ribble Valley is to leave East Lancashire NHS Primary Care Trust at the end of next month to become a university lecturer. |
| She said she was leaving because of the "constant pressures with bureaucracy." | She said she was leaving because of the "constant pressures with bureaucracy." |
| Ms Whitaker currently works as a lymphoedema clinical nurse specialist at East Lancashire Hospice in Blackburn. | Ms Whitaker currently works as a lymphoedema clinical nurse specialist at East Lancashire Hospice in Blackburn. |
| As a nurse I just want to nurse, I want to look after patients Justine Whitaker | As a nurse I just want to nurse, I want to look after patients Justine Whitaker |
| She is set to take up a new post as a senior lecturer in lymphoedema, or the swelling of tissue, at the University of Central Lancashire (Uclan). | She is set to take up a new post as a senior lecturer in lymphoedema, or the swelling of tissue, at the University of Central Lancashire (Uclan). |
| She said: "I want to leave while I'm still useful and I can still nurse before I get ground down with it all. | She said: "I want to leave while I'm still useful and I can still nurse before I get ground down with it all. |
| "As a nurse I just want to nurse, I want to look after patients. | "As a nurse I just want to nurse, I want to look after patients. |
| "All these reports we have to write mean we have to sit at a desk and do this, and not sit with a patient. | "All these reports we have to write mean we have to sit at a desk and do this, and not sit with a patient. |
| "I got the point now where if I stay I won't be pro-active in my work. | "I got the point now where if I stay I won't be pro-active in my work. |
| "I have decided to work as a lecturer so I can pass on my skills to a new generation." | "I have decided to work as a lecturer so I can pass on my skills to a new generation." |
| 'National picture' | 'National picture' |
| She said it was nothing to do with the trust she worked for but that it was more of a national picture. | She said it was nothing to do with the trust she worked for but that it was more of a national picture. |
| She said she understood the need for taxpayer cash to be spent carefully but said cuts were being made in the wrong places. | She said she understood the need for taxpayer cash to be spent carefully but said cuts were being made in the wrong places. |
| She explained: "Sitting in meetings we are constantly being told 'We're going for this cheaper option with this bandage; we're going for that cheaper option with that dressing; we need to be mindful of resources; we need to watch what we are spending'. | She explained: "Sitting in meetings we are constantly being told 'We're going for this cheaper option with this bandage; we're going for that cheaper option with that dressing; we need to be mindful of resources; we need to watch what we are spending'. |
| "I'm absolutely fine with that - I run my household like that - but what I see as a waste of resources is when I'm sitting in a big meeting and as a clinician I am the cheapest person there at £35,000 a year and decisions are still being put off to another meeting. | "I'm absolutely fine with that - I run my household like that - but what I see as a waste of resources is when I'm sitting in a big meeting and as a clinician I am the cheapest person there at £35,000 a year and decisions are still being put off to another meeting. |
| "There are hours and hours of managerial meetings that don't deliver anything at the end of the day." | "There are hours and hours of managerial meetings that don't deliver anything at the end of the day." |
| Through her work in Lancashire, Ms Whitaker developed a pouch to help prostate cancer patients which has become known as the Whitaker pouch. At first she made the compression pouches, which help men who suffer from swollen scrotums, herself. | |
| But her idea has since been recognised by the medical industry and the products are now mass-produced and used around the world. | |