Press Releases
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08/01/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to Recruitment and Employment Confederation study showing increasing demand for healthcare staff
Responding to a Recruitment and Employment Confederation study showing an increasing demand for healthcare staff, Royal College of Nursing General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen, said: “The labour choice that too many are making is not to enter nursing at all - there are falling numbers of students on nurse courses this year. People see the profession is not valued and rewarded fairly and are choosing not to join it, with many others quitting early too."
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07/01/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to the Prime Minister's claim that the government reached an agreement with nursing staff on their pay offer
Responding to the Prime Minister’s claim on ‘Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg’ that the government reached an agreement with nursing staff on their pay offer, Royal College of Nursing General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen, said: “The Prime Minister is forgetting basic facts – he never reached a pay resolution with nursing staff in the NHS. Our members rejected his pay offer and we remain in dispute."
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05/01/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing calls strike action in Northern Ireland and urges politicians to act on nursing pay
Rita Devlin, Director of the RCN in Northern Ireland said: “It has been four years since nurses in Northern Ireland first took strike action to ensure pay parity with colleagues in England and Wales. It is nothing short of immoral that we have been put in this position once again and are the lowest paid nursing staff in the UK. What an indictment on how we treat health care workers and the value we place on them."
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04/01/2024
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing sounds warning over Welsh government introduction of Nursing Associates in Wales
The RCN warning comes after the biggest review of nursing without any mandate, public consultation, or scrutiny by the Senedd.
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29/12/2023
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to the New Year Honours
Royal College of Nursing President Sheilabye Sobrany said: “On behalf of the RCN, I would like to share our warmest congratulations to all of those who have been recognised in the New Year Honours. Your work is truly inspiring and represents the very best of nursing."
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29/12/2023
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing comments on TUC warning on anti-strikes law
Royal College of Nursing General Secretary, and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen said: “The Strikes Act is dangerous and unwise. Ministers are seeking to silence nursing staff, stopping them from speaking out over patient safety concerns, or protesting poor pay and working conditions."
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28/12/2023
Press Release
Nursing union leader reflects on first UK-wide strike and year ahead
The anger and optimism of the year’s nursing strikes resulted in only modest progress as politicians did enough to ‘save their own skins, not the revolution needed’, Pat Cullen will say.
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27/12/2023
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to Liberal Democrats' analysis showing hospital car parking fees have soared by 50%
Royal College of Nursing Director for England, Patricia Marquis, said: “For nursing staff and support workers, the soaring cost of parking takes too much of their low wage. Nurses work around the clock to be there for their patients – and working odd shift times or in difficult locations means public transport is not always possible. District nurses even pay their own fuel costs to travel to patients."
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21/12/2023
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to NHS England Urgent and Emergency Care Daily Situation Report
Royal College of Nursing Director for England, Patricia Marquis, said: “Nursing staff are being stretched to their limit, and the public deserves better care. Bed occupancy is at its highest level this year, and is now higher than this time last year. This will inevitably lead to unsafe and undignified patient care. In some trusts, one nurse could be left caring for 10, 15, or more patients at a time, and patients are being treated in the back of ambulances, in corridors, and on chairs and trolleys."
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20/12/2023
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to the Pay Review Body letter
Royal College of Nursing General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen, said: “This letter is extremely late and it confirms the next pay award will be late too. There is no evidence that the government has honoured its commitment to improve how the process works despite a consultation earlier this year. Nursing staff received the lowest pay award in the public sector for 2023/24 - we end the year in formal dispute with ministers and campaigning for a pay rise that addresses the staffing crisis in the NHS."
Page last updated - 23/09/2024
