A call to split the RCN's union function from its professional role has met with a mixed response, writes Erin Dean

摘要

Among the recommendations by the public inquiry into appalling failures of care at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust is one that could have a major impact on the future of the RCN.The report by inquiry chair Robert Francis calls on the college to consider splitting into two organisations, separating its professional work from its trade union activities.Mr Francis suggests that the RCN's credibility on standards of nursing care is being weakened by its union work.'The inherent conflict between the representation of the interests of nurses as employees and the representation of their interests as a profession is capable of diminishing the authority with which the RCN's views are received in relation to the standards of care capable of being provided by its members,' states the report, whichwas published in February.