Paul Heron

The Modernization of the Nursing Workforce: Valuing the healthcare assistant is based on recently completed research exploring the role of healthcare assistants (HCA) in acute hospitals. Whilst a support role working alongside registered nurses has been a longstanding feature of the NHS, the contemporary HCA role has become increasingly central to the process of health service modernization. The role is now assuming even greater importance as the ramifications of financial constraints, restructuring and other pressures on the NHS play out. The issue is becoming increasingly relevant as the government has commissioned an independent review into the role of healthcare assistants, the Cavendish Review, which uses this book extensively. The HCA role is unregulated and low paid, but by taking-on direct care tasks from registered nurses, the role has become politically sensitive. The HCA remains a cheap and flexible source of labour, but the unregulated role encourages dilemmas and public scrutiny over risk and patient safety. The book explores how public policy reform of the health service feeds through to impact upon the management and structure of the healthcare workforce. More specifically, the book provides a timely evidence base for the extended and growing use of the HCA role. The book draws upon a multi-method research design from four geographically located hospital trusts in England, which during a three year period saw over 270 staff interviewed, focus groups and interviews with over 100 patients, some 275 hours of ward-based observation, and detailed survey responses from over 3,000 members of staff and hospital patients. The unusual richness of the data allows a definitive examination of who undertakes the HCA role, its shape, nature and diversity, along with the consequences for those with a stake in the role - hospital managers, the assistants themselves, the patients they care for and the nurses they work alongside, making The Modernization of the Nursing Workforce: Valuing the healthcare assistant essential reading for health care studies and public management communities, and those charged with training and education policy.

They've survived Spain. Now they find themselves in another European country. This time the stormy weather of Germany makes for a different climate to what they've been experiencing recently. On a daring trip to the Mancini family home, the Sirani Seven run into an old enemy, someone who Sofia wants some quiet time with. An equally audacious move sees Michael and Mohammad sneak into a Mancini owned art gallery in the centre of Berlin where they discover something that may or may not change their lives and the lives of everyone. Michael receives a visit from the God of Greed and learns some unsettling news. More information that he must keep to himself in order to keep the Sirani Foundation's spirits high. But will these secrets have deadly consequences for the very people Michael's come to care about?

16-åriga Ahed Tamimi blev förstasidesnyheter världen över när hon arresterades av de israeliska ockupationsmyndigheterna strax före jul 2017. De israeliska soldaterna trängde in i familjen Tamimis hem mitt i natten och förde bort Nariman och Bassem Tamimi’s 16-åriga dotter Ahed. Dagen innan hade det varit en demonstration för att protestera mot att ockupationsarmén skjutit Aheds 14-åriga kusin i ansiktet under en annan demonstration. I samband med detta slog en israelisk soldat Ahed, men Ahed försvarade sig och gav soldaten en örfil. Detta var den föregivna anledningen till att denna unga flicka blev kastad i fängelse. Men Ahed Tamimi har stått upp mot ockupationen många gånger tidigare. Ahed själv säger: ”Vi vill bara leva ett fredligt liv. Vi vill leka som andra barn. Min dröm är att bli fotbolsspelare.” I hennes flickrum pryds väggarna av bilder på Disneys Smövit och My Little Pony, precis som hemma hos vilken flicka som helst. Men ockupationen hindrar barnen från att leva som barn. Ahed bor i byn Nabi Saleh på Västbanken, ett par mil norr om Jerusalem. Nabi Saleh är berömt för sitt fredliga motstånd mot ockupationen. Nabi Saleh är platsen där palestinska, palestinska och internationella kvinnor träffas för en gemensam picknick vid en liten bäck i parken. ”Nabi Saleh är platsen där jag förlorade min sionism”, skrev Lisa Goldman i ”+972 Magazine”. Ahed Tamimi förkroppsligar Nabi Salehs anda. Detta är hennes historia, skriven av Andrea Enisuoh.

Ahed Tamimi received prominent media coverage internationally when she was arrested by the Israeli Occupation authorities shortly before Christmas 2017. Israeli soldiers forced their way into the Tamimi’s home at night time, and arrested Nariman and Bassem Tamimi’s 16-year-old daughter, Ahed. The day before, there had been a demonstration to protest against the Occupation Army’s use of force when Ahed’s 14-year-old cousin Muhammed was shot in the face during another demonstration. In the course of the demonstration, an Israeli soldier hit Ahed, but Ahed defended herself, slapping the soldier in his face. That allegedly was the reason why this young girl was thrown into prison. But Ahed Tamimi has shown defiance towards the Occupation Army on several occasions. Ahed herself says: ”We only want to live a peaceful life. We want to play like other children. My dream is to become a football player.” In her room at home, the walls are adorned with pictures of Disney’s Snow White and My Little Pony, just like any other teenage girl. But the occupation prevents the children from being children. Ahed lives in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, some 20 kilometres north of Jerusalem. Nabi Saleh is famous for its peaceful resistance against the oppression. Nabi Saleh is a place where Palestinian, Israeli and international women enjoy picnics near a water spring in the park. ”Nabi Saleh is where I lost my Zionism”, wrote Lisa Goldman in ”+972 Magazine”. Ahed Tamimi embodies the spirit of Nabi Saleh. This is her story, written by Paul Morris, Paul Heron, Peter Lahti and Ahed Tamimi’s aunt, Manal Tamimi.