Standing up for patient and public safety

This report describes the lack of clear roles, responsibilities and accountability for workforce planning and supply in England. In reality, this means that the health and care workforce is not growing in line with increasing population need for health and care services, and there are large numbers of vacant posts throughout the system. This impacts upon patient safety and outcomes, and leads to a challenging working environment for staff. To resolve this, we make the case for this to be resolved through legislation, alongside additional investment in the nursing workforce and a national health and care workforce strategy for England. The RCN is clear, it is no longer the time to be discussing whether legislation is needed, instead, we should also be focussed on how we go about securing these necessary changes in law.

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