Responding to the NHS Providers' report which shows trust leaders are concerned about winter in the NHS, Executive Director of RCN England Patricia Marquis said:
“A severely depleted nursing workforce is going into winter running on empty, whilst trust leaders sound the alarm that they can’t guarantee high quality care. This is a deeply worrying moment for patients and for plans to tackle waiting lists. Nothing can be done without investment in the skilled nursing staff our patients need.
“Across health and social care, nurse vacancies are preventing people getting care close to home, or being discharged on time. That means packed hospitals and patients lining corridors. There must now be mandatory reporting when patients are treated in such conditions to show the scale of the problem.
“Nursing staff and managers agree shifting more care into the community is the right thing to do. They also agree severe staff shortages are holding those same reforms back. Recruitment is collapsing whilst thousands are leaving the profession early each year. Ministers need to wake up to the crisis in our profession and deliver new investment.”
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Notes to editors
NHS Providers - State of the provider sector – November 2024
