Press Releases
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06/10/2022
Press Release
Nurses' pay has fallen twice as much as private sector pay, union reveals as first UK-wide strike ballot of NHS nursing staff opens
RCN General Secretary & Chief Executive Pat Cullen, said: “Governments have repeatedly neglected the NHS and the value of nursing. We can change this if together we say ‘enough is enough'"
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04/10/2022
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to Nursing and Midwifery Council's report on international nurses and midwives' recruitment
RCN General Secretary & Chief Executive, Pat Cullen, said: “The over reliance on international nurse recruitment proves ministers have no grip on the nursing workforce crisis. The huge increase in overseas nurses joining the NMC register shows a focus on short-term fixes rather than long-term solutions."
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04/10/2022
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to Health Secretary's Conservative Party Conference speech
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Pat Cullen, said: “The Health Secretary pledged to ‘deliver’ for the NHS but she’ll struggle to deliver anything unless she urgently addresses the staffing crisis."
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30/09/2022
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to analysis from the Nuffield Trust
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen, said: “Liz Truss must ask herself why record numbers are quitting a career they’ve loved. And, more importantly, tell us what her government will do about it. We need the prime minister to show she’s grasped the urgency here. Nursing staff know that the care they give to patients is now too often unsafe."
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30/09/2022
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to NHS Providers survey on staff leaving the NHS
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen, said: “When half of the NHS needs to open food banks for its own staff, ministers’ heads should be hanging in shame. This long list from the heart of the NHS shows what’s really happening to our nation’s greatest asset and the hard working staff inside it."
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29/09/2022
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to latest NHS England workforce sickness data
RCN Director for England, Patricia Marquis, said: "That a quarter of all days lost to sickness in England’s NHS are due to stress, anxiety and depression speaks volumes about the unrelenting pressure nursing is under."
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23/09/2022
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to the emergency budget
Responding to the emergency budget, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen, said: “This statement gave billions to bankers and nothing to nurses. What clearer sign could there be of a government with the wrong priorities."
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21/09/2022
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to health secretary's new plan
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen, said: "Nursing staff provide the majority of patient care and we're concerned that, when it comes to making care safer, this announcement appears to be lacking."
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17/09/2022
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing calls for nursing workforce crisis to be addressed ahead of World Patient Safety Day
Speaking ahead of World Patient Safety Day, RCN Director for England, Patricia Marquis, said: "Keeping patients safe is at the heart of everything nurses and nursing support workers do and this year’s theme, medication safety, is about precisely that.
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15/09/2022
Press Release
Royal College of Nursing responds to Lancet COVID-19 Commission report
Responding to The Lancet COVID-19 Commission's report on “Lessons for the future from the COVID-19 pandemic”, RCN Director for England, Patricia Marquis, said: “Nursing staff were failed by the UK government time and time again during the pandemic. The government moved far too slowly on key guidance, including around risk assessments which help to protect healthcare workers. At the same time IPC guidance failed to acknowledge that COVID-19 can be spread via the airborne route under normal circumstances including activities such as talking, sneezing and coughing."
Page last updated - 22/03/2024