Nursing and the "Speckled Jim Trial"
Recently two nurses who worked at Mid Staffs were 'struck off' by the NMC for their actions whilst working for the trust. Like many people, they were members of a union - in this case the RCN. A collection of Tweets from Julie Bailey @CuretheNHS, Shaun Lintern @ShaunLintern and Rebecca @MsNaughtyCheese (who is an intensive care nurse working in London) questioned the role of the RCN in "supporting bad care". @MsNaughtyCheese even objected to her RCN fees being used to represent bad nurses.
All this is vaguely reminiscent of the episode of Blackadder Goes Forth where Captain Blackadder goes on trial for shooting a carrier pigeon, which is in fact the beloved pet, Speckled Jim of the mad General Melchitt. Melchitt opens the trial of "the Flanders pigeon murderer", and readily agrees to the defence lawyer being charged with wasting the court's time for turning up.
Representation is an important aspect of any judicial or quasi-judicial process, and this is what the majority of RCN members pay their fees for. As one Tweep pointed out to 'Rebecca', what if she made a mistake? Then she would be the bad nurse and wouldn't need any union representation? Of course she would be breaching the Cure the NHS requirement for 'right first time', that is to say zero harm and zero error rate.
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