EWJ June 61 2025 web - Flipbook - Page 29
We look forward to working with the government and our
stakeholders to deliver on it. In the meantime, it is already an
offence for somebody to hold themselves out as a registered
nurse when they are not.
ensuring they can continually update their skill set.
The new measures reflect that.
Professor Nicola Ranger, Royal College of Nursing
General Secretary and Chief Executive, said: This is an
important moment for our safety-critical profession, after years
of campaigning.
Helga Pile, UNISON Head of Health, said: Nurses and
other NHS workers rightly enjoy a high level of trust because
of the brilliant and important work they do.
A change in the law will recognise the knowledge,
professionalism and clinical expertise that comes with being a
registered nurse. It will provide better legal protections for
nursing professionals and reassurance to patients.
Charlatans and conspiracy theorists mustn’t be allowed to
harm patients or damage nurses’ reputation and good standing with the public.
Crucially, this is an opportunity to begin the journey to properly valuing nursing as a profession, where respect, reward
and investment match the crucial nature of our work.
It’s only right that anyone that tries to will now feel the full
force of the law.
Rachel Power, Chief Executive of The Patients Association, said: We welcome this commitment to ensuring patients know who is treating them and offering healthcare
advice, and that those professionals are properly qualified.
With health misinformation increasingly common, it’s more
important than ever that patients can trust the expertise of
those caring for them.
Dr Crystal Oldman CBE, Chief Executive at the
Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing, said: Nurses
and the millions of people they care for will benefit by this
proposed change in legislation.
This is a patient safety issue that the QICN has been
campaigning on for some time.
Alison Morton, CEO, Institute of Health Visiting, said:
The Institute of Health Visiting fully supports the campaign
to protect the title ‘nurse’ in legislation. This is urgently needed
to protect the public and provide assurance that the person
providing their care has the qualifications, knowledge, skills,
expertise and professionalism to deliver safe and effective care.
Nursing is a safety-critical workforce. And, in our view, there
is only one clear path forward - the current gap in legislation
needs to be closed as a matter of urgency.
People need confidence that when the person caring
for them is described as a nurse, that person really is
a qualified and registered nurse.
Paul Rees MBE, Interim Chief Executive and
Registrar at the Nursing and Midwifery Council, said:
The public should always feel confident that anyone using the
title ‘nurse’ is a registered professional with all the safeguards
that brings.
Mr Radu Mihai
Mr Shyam A J Kumar
Consultant Endocrine Surgeon
Consultant Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon
MD PhD FRCS
FRCS (Trauma & Orthopaedics), November 2009.
FRCS Ed; Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, Feb 2002.
Mr Radu Mihai is an expert consultant
MFSTEd (RCSEdinburgh), July 2018.
endocrine surgeon specialising in thyroid,
LLM (Medical Law & Ethics) De Montfort University, November 2018.
parathyroid and adrenal surgery practising in Oxford.
He is Past-President of the British Association of Endocrine and Thyroid
Mr Shyam Kumar has worked as a Consultant Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Royal
Surgeons.
Lancaster Infirmary (University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust) since
Although adult operations represent the vast majority of his work, he regularly
2011. He has a special interest in upper limb surgery and is also involved in all aspects of
sees children who need thyroid or parathyroid operations and has an additional
orthopaedic trauma care, as part of the orthopaedic trauma on-call service.
interest in familial endocrine diseases (MEN-1 and MEN-2 syndromes).
His other roles include being an examiner for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
To date, he has performed over 1500 thyroid operations, 500 laparoscopic and
and a member of the Appointments Advisory Committee for the Royal College of Surgeons
retroperitoneoscopic adrenal operations and 750 parathyroid operations.
of England, overseeing consultant appointments in Trauma & Orthopaedics. He is also a
Mr Mihai is the Lead for the Thames Valley Thyroid Cancer MDT.
Performance Assessor for the General Medical Council (GMC).
Mr Radu Mihai areas of expertise include:
Medico-legal Practice:
O Adrenal surgery and adrenal cancer
O
Mr Kumar has been writing medicolegal reports since 2012.
Parathyroid gland surgery
Mr Kumar has undergone extensive training and has completed an LLM in Medical law and
O Thyroid surgeryMedicolegal work
O
He accepts instruction from
solicitors for both claimant and defendant, for personal injury and clinical negligence cases.
Ethics and provides high quality, unbiased reports, within accepted timeframes.
General surgery (gallstones, laparoscopic cholecystectomy, hernia surgery)
His research work led to 124 peer-reviewed papers and to his nomination as
Medico-legal clinic venues:
Hunterian Professor of Surgery by the Royal College of Surgeons. Recently he
Bolton, Nelson, Manchester, Lancaster and Lytham.
was co-author of the European guidelines for the treatment of adrenocortical
case-by-case basis.
Home visits can be arranged, on a
cancer (papers listed on www.radumihai.info).
Contact:
Tel: 07596 852737 (Secretary)
Contact: Tel: 01865 223555 - Mobile: 07966937851
Email: appointments.shyamkumar@gmail.com
Email: radumihai@doctors.org.uk - Website: www.radumihai.info
Address: Bay Orthopaedics Ltd, PO Box 922, Lancaster, LA1 9LY
Address: Nuffield Health Oxford, The Manor Hospital, Beech Rd, Oxford, OX3 7RP
Website: www.medicolegalorthopaedics.com
Alternate Address: Churchill Cancer Centre, Old Road, Headington, Oxford, OX3 7LE
EXPERT WITNESS JOURNAL
Alternate Website: www.upperlimbsurgery.net
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JUNE 2025
