Responding to the announcement from the UK Government and NHS that they will publish a refreshed NHS Workforce Plan, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Professor Nicola Ranger, said:
“Revising workforce plans must include resolving the fundamental reasons why the nursing workforce is in crisis. It should be the government’s first priority and will deliver better care for millions.
“Transforming care and shifting it into the community requires major investment. Our analysis shows that crucial parts of the community nursing workforce, including health visitors and district nurses, are set to be half of what they were 20 years ago, while the number of people studying nursing has collapsed in every region in England.
“The government’s reforms must come with a plan to rescue the largest NHS workforce. This means better pay and a loan forgiveness model to boost recruitment into the profession.”
Ends
Notes to editors
The RCN’s own analysis shows that the specialist nurse workforce is on track to halve in size compared with two decades ago. Without a funded intervention by the government, the number of district nurses will be down 61% by the end of this parliament (2029) compared with 2009. Health visitors are projected to fall by 44% and school nurses by 42%. In total, the workforce across the three specialties is set to halve in size (49.78%), from 18,070 in 2009, to 8,995 in 2029, just as demand for services continues to increase.
