Royal College of Nursing responds to the Budget statement
Responding to the Budget statement Dame Donna Kinnair, Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing said:
“The Chancellor is right to give frontline health and care services whatever they need to fight Covid-19. It is crucial that both current staff, and any retired nurses or students brought in to support them, are properly resourced. They also need to be sure they can raise the alarm at any point if they have any concerns.
“The Chancellor also reiterated the Government’s commitment to increase nurse numbers in the NHS in England by 50,000. What we need now are detailed plans for how the new nurses will be educated or recruited, and how nurses leaving the NHS will be persuaded to stay.
“This needs to be part of a comprehensive pay strategy for England. Pay is an important tool for recruiting and retaining staff - across the UK, we are calling for a meaningful pay rise in 2021/22 for all staff providing publicly-funded health and care services”.
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