RCN responds to Health Foundation report on staffing
Responding the the Health Foundation report 'Falling short: the NHS workforce challenge' Dame Donna Kinnair, Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing said:
“The danger to patients is not from the increase in support workers, but the absence of nurses. The shortage has reached record levels – 43,000 nurse jobs in England are unfilled and it is patients that can pay the heaviest price. It is unfair on healthcare assistants to ask them to take on work they aren’t trained or paid for in a desperate bid to plug gaps.
“The evidence demonstrates that where more registered nurses are on shift patient outcomes improve. It is essential that employers use vital support staff to supplement the work of nurses, not replace them.
“All the election pledges we’ve heard on boosting nursing staff must be about registered nurses, educated to degree-level – this report shows why that is vital. It must become the top priority for the new government."
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