Responding to The Times Health Commission report, Royal College of Nursing (RCN) General Secretary and Chief Executive Pat Cullen said:
“Nurses have been warning that the NHS is on life support for years – it will never be back on stable footing unless greater value is put on staff. There’s a crisis in the recruitment and retention of registered nurses. Pay must be improved to recognise their safety-critical skills and working conditions improved – right now abuse and burnout are normalised. It’s an unacceptable disgrace.
“Chronic staff shortages can cause high risk and unsafe patient care, where one nurse is looking after 10, 15 or more patients. We urgently call on the government to properly fund the NHS long-term workforce plan and ensure safe staffing levels on every shift, with a minimum number of nurses.
“Our evidence to the commission showed sky-high tuition fees deter people from entering the profession. Though we support student loans being written off, self-funded fees should be abolished too. Our health service will continue to fall over the precipice while there’s little incentive to become a nurse and those registered want to leave for better paid, less stressful jobs.
“We all want a solutions-focused health service, with prevention at its core, initiatives to ensure efficiency and investment in social care. This report sets out how that could be achieved, and any prospective government should take heed in this election year.”
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